The Inheritance of a Divided Empire

When Constantine the Great died in 337 AD, he left behind an empire that had been unified under his rule for three decades. Yet his legacy was entrusted not to a single successor, but to three young sons: Constantine II (20), Constantius II (19), and Constans (17). None had military experience, an alarming fact for a civilization where emperors were first and foremost expected to be imperators—triumphant generals defending Rome’s borders.

The brothers’ upbringing offered little reassurance. Raised in the shadow of their formidable father, their formative years were spent in an increasingly orientalized court dominated by eunuchs—a practice borrowed from Eastern despots and alien to traditional Roman governance. These palace intrigues shaped their personalities: Constantine II was impulsive, Constantius II paranoid and distant, while Constans embodied aristocratic frivolity. Their lack of battlefield credentials and genuine friendships foreshadowed the instability to come.

The First Blood: Constantine II’s Downfall

The initial division of the empire in 337 seemed amicable, but resentment festered. Constantine II, ruling Gaul, Spain, and Britain, soon accused his brothers of unfair territorial allocations. His demand for North Africa was rebuffed by Constans, triggering an ill-planned invasion of Italy in 340. The campaign ended disastrously near Aquileia, where Constantine II was captured and killed—his body discarded in a river. At just 23, the eldest son of Constantine the Great vanished without a tomb or Christian rites, his death met with eerie indifference.

A Decade of Fragile Balance

With Constantine II gone, Constans absorbed his territories, governing two-thirds of the empire from the Rhine to North Africa. Remarkably, Constantius II—embroiled in Persia’s eastern wars—raised no objection. For ten years, this uneasy duality held. Constans proved a competent defender against Germanic incursions, relying on his father’s seasoned generals, many of barbarian origin. Yet his reign was marred by unchecked eunuch influence, corrupt taxation, and growing alienation from his armies.

The Usurper’s Gambit: Constans’ Assassination

In 350, the simmering discontent erupted. Magnentius, a Frankish general, orchestrated a coup during a hunting trip. Constans fled but was slain near the Pyrenees, his corpse left to scavengers. The western empire now lay in the hands of a barbarian-born usurper—an unprecedented crisis for Rome.

Constantius II: The Last Son Standing

Facing dual threats—Persia in the east and Magnentius in the west—Constantius II prioritized the latter. A shrewd diplomat, he neutralized a rival claimant, Vetranio, through propaganda and pageantry, invoking their father’s ghost. Meanwhile, Magnentius’s alliance with Constantius’s embittered sister, Constantina, added dynastic intrigue. The stage was set for a final confrontation.

Legacy of the Constantinian Collapse

The brothers’ reigns exposed Rome’s systemic decay: reliance on barbarian armies, eroding civic identity, and the toxic rise of palace cabals. Their failures paved the way for future divisions, culminating in the empire’s permanent split. Constantius II’s victory over Magnentius in 353 preserved unity briefly, but the dynasty’s bloody infighting foreshadowed Rome’s decline.

The sons of Constantine, raised to inherit a superpower, instead accelerated its unraveling—a cautionary tale of ambition without wisdom, and power without legitimacy. Their story remains a pivotal chapter in the fall of the ancient world’s greatest empire.