 By March 297 , Maximian had begun a bloody offensive against the Berbers . The campaign was lengthy , and Maximian spent the winter of 297 – 298 resting in Carthage before returning to the field . Not content to drive them back into their homelands in the Atlas Mountains – from which they could continue to wage war – Maximian ventured deep into Berber territory . The terrain was unfavorable , and the Berbers were skilled at guerrilla warfare , but Maximian pressed on . Apparently wishing to inflict as much punishment as possible on the tribes , he devastated previously secure land , killed as many as he could , and drove the remainder back into the Sahara . His campaign was concluded by the spring of 298 and , on March 10 , he made a triumphal entry into Carthage . Inscriptions there record the people 's gratitude to Maximian , hailing him – as Constantius had been on his entry to London – as redditor lucis aeternae ( " restorer of the eternal light " ) . Maximian returned to Italy in 299 to celebrate another triumph in Rome in the spring . 
