Magnus Decentius (died 18 August 353) was ''

caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, 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 Caes ...

'' 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 elevated Decentius as ''caesar'' later that year, perhaps on July or August. He was appointed consul in 352. In the following year, after he had lost the

battle of Mursa Major The Battle of Mursa was fought on 28 September 351 between the eastern Roman armies led by the Emperor Constantius II and the western forces supporting the usurper Magnentius. It took place at Mursa, near the Via Militaris in the province of Pa ...

, Magnentius' exactions to finance the war drove Gaul into revolt against his dictatorial rule, and Decentius was expelled from the capital, Treves, which headed the revolt. Constantius II, emperor of the East, had meantime incited the Alemans to invade the province in order to increase the pressure on the usurper. Decentius, who led his brother's forces in the north, was defeated in a pitched battle by the Alemannic chief Chnodomar, and besieged in

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...

. Decentius, when he heard of Magnentius' defeat by Constantius at the Battle of Mons Seleucus and his subsequent suicide, strangled himself in the besieged city, signalling the end of the civil war.Gibbon, chap. XVIII., p. 597.

References

* Ammianus Marcellinus
''Res Gestae'', XVI
* Edward Gibbon 789(1932) '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire''. The Modern Library.

External links

{{Roman Emperors Ancient Roman military personnel who committed suicide 4th-century Roman usurpers Suicides by hanging in France Imperial Roman consuls 353 deaths Year of birth unknown Flavii