He said: As for King Diocletian, he used to hunt down the Christians and put them to death. While he was on one such campaign he arrived at a place called Maltiyyah, whereupon Allah poured out His vengeance upon him: he was struck by grievous ailments and dreadful diseases until his body wasted away, worms dropped from his flesh to the ground, his tongue fell from the roof of his mouth, and he died.
After him two Caesars took power—one ruling the East, al-Shām, and the Roman provinces, the other Rome and its environs. One was named Alanius and the other Maqsutiyus. They raged against the Christians like ravenous beasts, unleashing upon them trials, expulsions, and torments beyond all description, and they inflicted upon them what no earlier kings had ever done.
Reigning alongside them over Byzantium and its dependencies was Qustus, the father of Constantine,