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Constans – Roman Emperor: 337-350 A.D.
Bronze AE4 14mm (1.71 grams) Rome mint 337-350 A.D.
Reference: RIC 11 (VIII, Rome), LRBC 588
DNFLCONSTANSAVG – Diademed (rosettes), draped and cuirassed bust right.
SECVRITASREIP Exe: R (branch) S – Securitas standing left, leaning on
column and with legs crossed,
holding scepter.
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Constans (Latin:
Flavius Julius Constans Augustus)
(c.323–350) was
Roman Emperor
from 337 to 350. He defeated his
brother
Constantine II
in 340, but anger in the army
over his personal life and preference for his barbarian bodyguards led the
general Magnentius
to rebel, resulting in the
assassination of Constans in 350.
Career
Constans was the third and youngest son of
Constantine the Great
and
Fausta
, his father’s second wife. He was
educated at the court of his father at
Constantinople
under the tutelage of the poet
Aemilius Magnus Arborius
.
On 25 December 333, Constantine I elevated Constans to the rank
of
Caesar
at
Constantinople
. Constans became engaged to
Olympias
, the daughter of the
Praetorian Prefect
Ablabius
, but the marriage never came to
pass.With Constantine’s death in 337, Constans and his two brothers,
Constantine II
and
Constantius II
, divided the Roman world between
themselves and disposed of virtually all relatives who could possibly have a
claim to the throne.The army proclaimed them
Augusti
on September 9, 337. Almost
immediately, Constans was required to deal with a
Sarmatian
invasion in late 337, over whom he
won a resounding victory.
Division of the Roman Empire among the Caesars appointed by
Constantine I
: from left to right,
the territories of
Constantine II
, Constans,
Dalmatius
and
Constantius II
. After the death of
Constantine I (May 337), this was the formal division of the Empire,
until Dalmatius was killed and his territory divided between
Constans and Constantius.
Constans was initially under the guardianship of Constantine II. The original
settlement assigned Constans the
praetorian prefectures
of
Italy and Africa
.[6]
Constans was unhappy with this division, so the brothers met at
Viminacium
in 338 to revise the boundaries.[6]
Constans managed to extract the prefecture of
Illyricum
and the
diocese of Thrace
,[6]
provinces that were originally to be ruled by his cousin
Dalmatius
, as per Constantine I’s proposed
division after his death.[5]
Constantine II soon complained that he had not received the amount of territory
that was his due as the eldest son.[7]
Annoyed that Constans had received Thrace and
Macedonia
after the death of Dalmatius,
Constantine demanded that Constans hand over the African provinces, which he
agreed to do in order to maintain a fragile peace.[7][8]
Soon, however, they began quarreling over which parts of the African provinces
belonged to Carthage
, and thus Constantine, and which
belonged to Italy
, and therefore Constans.[9]
This led to growing tensions between the two brothers, which were only
heightened by Constans finally coming of age and Constantine refusing to give up
his guardianship. In 340 Constantine II invaded Italy.[8]
Constans, at that time in
Dacia
, detached and sent a select and
disciplined body of his Illyrian troops, stating that he would follow them in
person with the remainder of his forces.[7]
Constantine was eventually trapped at
Aquileia
, where he died, leaving Constans to
inherit all of his brother’s former territories –
Hispania
,
Britannia
and
Gaul
.[4]
Constans began his reign in an energetic fashion.[4]
In 341-42, he led a successful campaign against the
Franks
, and in the early months of 343 he
visited
Britain
.[3]
The source for this visit,
Julius Firmicus Maternus
, does not provide a
reason, but the quick movement and the danger involved in crossing the
channel
in the dangerous winter months suggests
it was in response to a military emergency, possibly to repel the
Picts
and
Scots
.[3]
Regarding religion, Constans was tolerant of Judaism but promulgated an edict
banning pagan sacrifices in 341.[3]
He suppressed Donatism
in Africa and supported
Nicene orthodoxy
against
Arianism
, which was championed by his brother
Constantius. Although Constans called the
Council of Sardica
in 343 to settle the
conflict,[10]
it was a complete failure,[11]
and by 346 the two emperors were on the point of open warfare over the dispute.[12]
The conflict was only resolved by an interim agreement which allowed each
emperor to support their preferred clergy within their own spheres of influence.[12]
Death
In the final years of his reign, Constans developed a reputation for cruelty
and misrule.
Dominated by favourites and openly preferring his select
bodyguard, he lost the support of the
legions
who were also offended by his
homosexuality. In 350, the general
Magnentius
declared himself emperor at
Augustodunum
with the support of the troops on
the Rhine
frontier, and later the western provinces
of the Empire. Constans was enjoying himself nearby when he was notified of the
elevation of Magnentius.
Lacking any support beyond his immediate household, he was
forced to flee for his life. As he was trying to reach either Italy or Spain,
supporters of Magnentius cornered him in a fortification in
Vicus Helena
(now
Elne) in the
Pyrenees
, southwestern
Gaul
, where he was killed after seeking
sanctuary in a temple.
Securitas – Security, as a goddess worshipped by the Romans, is delineated in
a great variety of ways on their imperial coins. She appears for the most part
under the form of a woman in matronly costume; though in some few instances she
is but half clothed, having a veil thrown over the lower extremities. Sometimes
she is quietly seated, as if perfectly at her ease and having nothing to fear.
That is to say, her right or her left elbow rests on her chair, and the hand
supports her head, as in Nero. Or else one of her arms is placed above the head;
an attitude which ancient artists regarded as characteristic of repose. She
holds in one or other of her hands either a sceptre, or a scipio, or the hasta
pura, or a cornucopia, or a patera, or a globe. On some medals there is near her
a lighted altar; on others she stands leaning against, or with her arm upon, a
column or cippus, having sometimes the legs crossed in a tranquil, easy posture,
carrying one of the above-mentioned symbols, or otherwise holding before her a
branch or a crown of olive, or a palm branch. The meaning of these various
attitudes and attributes is on the whole too evident to require explanation.
There are medals of nearly all the emperors (with flagrant inappropriateness to
most of the reigns) from Otho and Vitellius to Constans and Constantius jun.,
which have for the type of their reverses this figure of Security, and present
for their legend the word SECVRITAS, with the addition of the words, AVGVSTI, or
AVGVSTORVM (security of the emperor or of the emperors); ORBIS (security of the
world) ; PVBLICA (public security) ; PERPETVA (perpetual security) ; POPVLI
ROMANI (security of the Roman people) TEMPORVM (of the Times) ; IMPERII (of the
empire) SAECVLI (of the age) ; REPVBLICAE (of the republic), etc.
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