Barbatio

Barbatio (died AD 359) was a Roman general of the infantry (Magister Peditum = Master of Foot) under the command of Constantius II. Previously he was a commander of the household troops (protectores domestici) under Gallus Caesar, but he arrested Gallus under the instruction of Constantius, thereby ensuring his promotion on the death of Claudius Silvanus. In 359, both he and his wife Assyria were arrested and beheaded for treason against Constantius, possibly as part of a plot by Arbitio, a senior cavalry commander (Magister Equitum = Master of Horse), and another exponent of the forms of scheming and political intrigue that became such a part of the later Roman Empire.

==Fall of Gallus== Barbatio, a soldier of unknown origin, began his rise when he was appointed to command the household troops of Caesar Gallus, a cousin of Constantius II. When Gallus fell out of favor with the emperor, it was Barbatio who arrested him and stripped him of his imperial attire. The Caesar was taken to Pola, where he was beheaded, and his face mutilated after execution. For his part in the affair, Barbatio was awarded by Constantius with a series of promotions, making him commander of the infantry in Gaul after the death of Claudius Silvanus in 355. According to Ammianus, Barbatio was a man of "rough manners and vaulting ambition, who incurred general hatred by his treacherous betrayal of Caesar Gallus". Having betrayed one Caesar, he soon found himself in a position to attempt to betray another.