Pentadius ( 354–361) was an officer of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Biography

Solidus-Constantius Gallus-thessalonica RIC 149

He was holding the office of ''notarius'' when, in 354, Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

ordered him,

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

and

Mallobaudes Mallobaudes or Mellobaudes was a 4th-century Frankish king who also held the Roman title of ''comes domesticorum''. In 354 he was a ''tribunus armaturarum'' in the Roman army in Gaul, where he served under Silvanus, who usurped power in 355. Mal ...

to interrogate

Constantius Gallus Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (326 – 354) was a statesman and ruler in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire from 351 to 354, as Caesar (title), ''Caesar'' under emperor Constantius II (), his cousin. A grandson of emperor Constantius ...

, formerly

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

of the East and cousin of Constantius II, while he was held prisoner in

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

, asking him reason for each man he had put to death. Gallus was sentenced to death and

Serenianus Serenianus (Greek: Σερενιανός; died in Lydia, 366) was an officer of the Roman Empire, involved in the death of Caesar Constantius Gallus and in the usurpation of Procopius. Biography Serenianus was born in Pannonia.Ammianus Marcelli ...

, Apodemius and Pentadius executed him. In 358 Pentadius was raised to the rank of ''

magister officiorum The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'' of the new Caesar of the West Julian, brother of Gallus, whom he followed in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

. Pentadius, however, opposed Julian; together with Paulus Catena and Gaudentius he had

Salutius Saturninius Secundus Salutius ( 355–367) was a Roman official and Neoplatonist author. A native of Gaul, he had a successful career as a provincial governor and officer at the imperial court, becoming a close friend and adviser of the Emperor J ...

, a friend and a collaborator of Julian's, removed from his office. In 360, together with Nebridius and

Decentius Magnus Decentius (died 18 August 353) was ''caesar'' of the Western Roman Empire from 350 to 353, under his brother Magnentius. History Nothing is known of Decentius prior to 350. Magnentius usurped power from Constans on 18 January 350, and ...

, he suggested Julian to obey Constantius, who had asked to his caesar to send him back his best troops; when the troops who did not want to leave Gaul for the eastern front acclaimed Julian emperor, Pentadius and Euterius were sent to bring Constantius some letters announcing the events. In 361, Julian became the only Emperor; after entering

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, he formed the

Chalcedon tribunal Shortly after the death of Roman emperor Constantius II, his successor Julian held a tribunal at the city of Chalcedon, which was then a suburb of Constantinople. Saturninius Secundus Salutius, who was raised to the rank of Praetorian Prefect was ...

to put under trial Constantius' officers; Pentadius was accused for his involvement in Gallus' trial and death, but was found not guilty.Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii.3.5.

Notes

Bibliography

;Primary sources *

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

, ''Res gestae'' * Julian, ''Letter to the Athenians'' *

Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to: People * * Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints * Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy * Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alch ...

, ''New History'' ;Secondary sources * Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin,

John Robert Martindale John Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British historian specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires. Martindale's major publications are his ''magnum opus'', the ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', begun by A. H. M. Jones an ...

, John Morris, ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN, 0-521-07233-6, p. 687. 4th-century Romans Magistri officiorum