Vetranio Steps Down, and Gallus Is Made Caesar

When Athanasius was driven out, which happened about this time, George persecuted all those throughout Egypt who refused to agree with his views. [a]

The emperor marched into Illyria and entered Sirmium, where Vetranio had come by arrangement. The soldiers who had proclaimed Vetranio emperor suddenly changed their minds and saluted Constantius as sole sovereign and as Augustus; for the emperor and his supporters had worked for exactly this. Vetranio saw that he had been betrayed and threw himself at Constantius’s feet as a suppliant. Constantius pitied him, but stripped him of the imperial ornaments and the purple and made him return to private life. He provided generously for his needs from the public treasury, and told him that it was more fitting for an old man to stay clear of the cares of empire and to live in quiet. After settling these matters for Vetranio, Constantius sent a large army into Italy against Magnentius. He then gave the title of Caesar to his cousin Gallus and sent him to Syria to defend the provinces of the East.