Christenverfolgung unter Diokletian

299: Diocletian was somewhat paranoid, and so he often sought to know the future from fortune tellers. Once during his stay in the East he began to slay animals, so that he could learn the future from the livers. While he sacrificed, some attendants of his, who were Christians, stood by and put the sign of the cross on their foreheads. At this the demons were chased away, and the holy rites interrupted. The soothsayers trembled, unable to investigate the wonted marks on the entrails of the victims. They frequently repeated the sacrifices, as if the former had been unpropitious; but when the victims were slain they gave no tokens for divination. Finally Tages, the chief of the soothsayers, either from guess or from his own observation, said, There are profane persons here, who obstruct the rites. Then Diocletian, in furious passion, ordered not only all who were assisting at the holy ceremonies, but also all who resided within the palace, to sacrifice, and they refused he ordered them to be scourged. And further, by letters to the commanding officers, he enjoined that all soldiers should be forced to perform similar impieties, or else be dismissed the service. Thus far his rage proceeded; but at that time he did nothing more against the law and religion of God.

Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 10.6