The Death of Constans and the Troubles at Rome

Four years after the Council of Sardica, Constans was killed in western Gaul. Magnentius, who had plotted his murder, brought the whole of Constans’s government under his own control. Meanwhile Vetranio was proclaimed emperor at Sirmium by the troops of Illyria. Nepotian, the son of the late emperor’s sister, gathered a band of gladiators around him and fought for the imperial power, and ancient Rome suffered the greatest share of these evils. Nepotian, however, was put to death by the soldiers of Magnentius. Constantius, finding himself the sole master of the empire, was proclaimed sole ruler, and he hurried to put down the usurpers. Meanwhile Athanasius, having arrived in Alexandria, prepared to call a synod of the Egyptian bishops, and had them confirm the decrees passed in his favor at Sardica and in Palestine. [a]