Page "Constantius II" Paragraph 54

Constantius II is a particularly difficult figure to judge properly, mainly as a result of the hostility of most sources that mentions him.

A. H. M Jones writes that Constantius " appears in the pages of Ammianus as a conscientious emperor but a vain and stupid man, an easy prey to flatterers.

He was timid and suspicious, and interested persons could easily play on his fears for their own advantage.

" However, Kent & M. and A. Hirmer suggest that Constantius " has suffered at the hands of unsympathetic authors, ecclesiastical and civil alike.

To orthodox churchmen he was a bigoted supporter of the Arian heresy, to Julian the Apostate and the many who have subsequently taken his part he was a murderer, a tyrant and inept as a ruler ".

They go on to add, " Most contemporaries seem in fact to have held him in high esteem, and he certainly inspired loyalty in a way his brother could not ".

In the military sphere, the campaigns of Constantius and his subordinates on the Rhine and Danube frontiers in the late 350s restored stability to those regions after the troubles caused by Magnentius ' revolt.