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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1653757, member: 42773&quot;]That&#039;s more than an aside. I believe it gets to the heart of the issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>The one player in this drama that nobody has mentioned yet is Constantius II&#039;s brother, Constans - Magnentius&#039; immediate predecessor. Constans had angered his legions by misrule and cruelty, and his open homosexuality didn&#039;t earn him any points. He also favored a barbarian guard, which was no doubt a cold, hard slap to the face of Roman soldiery.</p><p><br /></p><p>What little is known of Magnentius doesn&#039;t suggest that he had any ambitions to become an emperor. But he was elevated by an overwhelming majority of the military, to the point that Constans was left with the support of only a handful of his immediate cronies and forced to flee for his life, which he quickly lost. Magnentius just happened to be at the right place at the right time.</p><p><br /></p><p>I doubt that the average Roman citizen would have been consumed with the finer points of theology, and I&#039;m guessing that the symbolism on the coins of Magnentius had more to do with his desire to distance himself from Constans than Constantius II, who after all was in charge of the Eastern provinces.</p><p><br /></p><p>After Magnentius&#039; elevation, he still had to win the support of Britannia, Gaul, and Hispania, a task which he managed to accomplish by his tolerance toward both Christians and pagans. The coins would have been important tools of propaganda in that endeavor, but they may have had more to do with differentiating him from Constans than Constantius II.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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