275. On his march to attack Persia, Aurelian is assassinated; Tacitus is elected by the senate.
276. Aurelian's murderers are punished by Tacitus; he dies while leading an expedition against the Goths, who had invaded Asia. Florian, his brother, succeeds him; he is slain. Probus is proclaimed emperor by the army; the senate confirms it.
277. Probus drives out the Franks, Burgundians, and other German tribes that had overrun Gaul. A number of his prisoners, removed to Pontus, seize a fleet in the Euxine, escape through the Bosporus, plunder many cities on the shores of the Mediterranean, and reach Germany again.
278. Probus repairs the fortified line from the Rhine to the Danube, expels the Goths from Thrace, represses the Isaurian robbers, and arrives in Syria, where he arranges terms of peace with Persia.
282. Probus, successful since 276 against the enemies of Rome, is killed in a mutiny of the army at Sirmium.
Accession of Carus; he gives the title of cæsar to each of his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus.
283. Carus wages a successful campaign against Persia; he dies mysteriously in his tent, near Ctesiphon, during a violent storm. Carinus and Numerianus become joint emperors of Rome.
284. Murder of Numerianus; Diocletian proclaimed emperor.
285. Carinus is murdered.
286. Maximian made Imperial colleague of Diocletian.