Constantius II dispatches Paulus, an imperial notary,…
353 CE
Constantius II dispatches Paulus, an imperial notary, or senior civil servant, to Roman Britain in 353 to control subversive elements.
So harsh are his measures that he earns the nickname Catena meaning 'The Chain'.
His acts in Britain are recorded in Ammianus XIV v. 6-9.
His brief in Britain was to hunt down known supporters of the recently defeated usurper Magnentius in the army garrisons in Britain.
Once arrived however, he widened his remit and began arresting other figures, often on apparently trumped-up charges and without evidence.
Constantius appears to have tacitly approved of the purges initiated by Paulus and to have made no effort to rein in his campaign of arrest, conviction and punishment of leading figures in the Romano-British administration.
Magnentius had counted on British support for the previous three and a half years and it is likely that few in positions of power in the province can have convincingly argued that they had not sided with the usurper.
Similar witch-hunts are taking place in Gaul at this time for the same reasons.
Paulus' methods are so extreme and the injustices he commits so great, however, that eventually the vicarius of Britain, Flavius Martinus, although a loyal supporter of Constantius, feels obliged to end them.
He tries to persuade Paulus to release the innocent prisoners he has taken using the threat of his own resignation as leverage.
Paulus refuses, however, and turns on Martinus, falsely accusing him and other senior officers in Britain of treason.
In desperation, Martinus attacks Paulus with a sword; the attack fails, however, and the vicarius commits suicide.
Paulus' ruthless destruction of so much of the Romano-British ruling class may be one of the reasons for the eventual breakdown of Roman rule in the province over the succeeding decades.
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