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Eugenius Solidus
Lot # 562
Eugenius (392-394). AV Solidus, Lugdunum mint. Obv. D N EVGENI-VS P F AVG. Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. VICTOR-IA AVGG. In field: L - D. In exergue, COM. Two emperors, nimbate, seated facing on throne; the emperor on right holding mappa and the two together holding globe. Above, Victory facing with spread wings; below, palm-branch. RIC IX 45; C. 6; Depeyrot 18/1. AV. 4.50 g. 20.50 mm. RR. Very rare. Superb portrait. Creased and skillfully straightened flan, otherwise. good VF.
Ex CNG 72, 2006,1873. From the Marc Poncin Collection. Ex NAC O (13 May 2004), lot 2114 (where it realized CHF 5600).
History records little of Eugenius, a professor of Latin and rhetoric who gave up teaching to occupy the throne of the Western Roman Empire for two years and a few days. The very fact that he was not qualified to be emperor made him the perfect candidate, for the Frankish general Arbogast wanted him as a puppet. It was a perfect follow-up to his murder of Valentinian II – the young Western emperor whom Theodosius had entrusted to Arbogast’s regency. Afterwards the throne remained vacant for three months as Arbogast sought a replacement. Although only Theodosius I, the senior reigning emperor in the East, had the constitutional right to appoint the next emperor in the west, this did not deter Arbogast, who was firmly in control of the West. The elevation of Eugenius was of value to Arbogast on some level, for the old professor was not prone to religious fanaticism, and (as his bearded effigy attests) he was tolerant of pagans. When the army backing Eugenius seized Italy in 393, Theodosius responded with a campaign of his own, and routed them in September, 394. In the aftermath Eugenius was executed and the former Master of Infantry, Arbogast, was driven to flight and soon took his own life. During the six months between the defeat of Eugenius and Theodosius’ natural death in January of 395, he remained in Milan and from there ruled over a united empire. Unity occured on only two occasions after the empire had been divided by Valentinian I and Valens in 364, both of which were equally as brief and transient. With the death of Theodosius the temporary unity of east and west ceased, and the empires entered a period of great unrest under his two incompetent sons, Arcadius and Honorius, who promptly divided the empire between themselves. (NAC 51, 2009, 448).