Original sentence: Decius issued an unprecedented decree:  all subjects of the Empire must actively seek to benefit the state through witnessed and certified sacrifice to "ancestral gods", on (or possibly before) a specified date, or suffer a penalty.Decius was a traditionalist of provincial, senatorial stock.Early in his reign he identified the deified Emperors he thought worthy of the honour, and published them in a coin series which omitted Philip, the three Gordians, Pertinax and Claudius - in effect, Decius the Emperor censored the deities of the state.He adopted the name of Trajan to identify himself with (or to honour) one of the most universally admired of all emperors.In 249 CE, Philip lost his Imperial throne to ex-consul and governor Decius, under circumstances variously described as usurpation and reluctant accession.It may be that Decius needed to identify himself as "restorer and saviour" of Empire and its religio
Edited sentence: Almost at once, he issued an unprecedented decree:  all subjects of the Empire must actively seek to benefit the state through witnessed and certified sacrifice to "ancestral gods", on (or possibly before) a specified date, or suffer a penalty.Early in his reign he identified the deified Emperors he thought worthy of the honour, and published them in a coin series which omitted Philip, the three Gordians, Pertinax and Claudius.In 249 CE, Decius usurped Philip's Imperial throne and adopted the name of Trajan to seal his own status as a worthy military successor.It may be that Decius - who had deposed and killed his Emperor - needed to identify himself as "restorer and saviour" of Empire and its religio.Previous "good emperors" had done the same to restore the State