Marcellinus (Treasurer)

Marcellinus († 351 near Mursa [today Osijek ]) was a late antique Roman civil servant living in the 4th century AD .

Marcellinus served Emperor Constans , who ruled the west of the empire, as comes rerum privatarum and was thus responsible for the administration of the imperial crown treasure. On January 18, 350, Marcellinus, who was evidently very ambitious, organized a feast in Augustodunum to celebrate his son's birthday , which was also attended by several high-ranking officers of the Gallic army. In the course of the celebration he suddenly brought before the officer Magnentius (a heathen of barbarian descent who commanded the elite regions of the Ioviani and Herculiani ), who, like only the emperor, was dressed in a purple cloak and wore a diadem. In the high spirits of the festival, Magnentius was proclaimed Augustus at Marcellinus' instigation .

Since Constans was not very popular anyway, the uprising soon found widespread support in the army, and Constans was killed in February 350. Marcellinus was appointed magister officiorum of Magnentius for the role he played in the usurpation and was probably very influential. In this capacity he threw down the Nepotian revolt in Rome in June 350 . Only one year later, however, Marcellinus fell in the bloody battle of Mursa , in which Magnentius Constans' brother Constantius II was defeated.

literature

• Manfred Clauss : The Magister Officiorum in late antiquity . Munich 1980, esp.p. 168f.
• Alexander Demandt : History of Late Antiquity . Special edition, Munich 1998, p. 61f.
• Adolf Lippold : Marcellinus 12. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, column 990 (with references).
• David S. Potter: The Roman Empire at Bay . London and New York 2004, pp. 471-474.