Flore'ntius
praetorian prefect of Gaul in the reign of Constantius II., by the unscrupulous tyranny of his financial administration, excited the indignation of Julian, who refused to ratify his ordinances. When the embarrassing order arrived for the legions to march to the east [JULIANUS], Florentius, that he might escape the responsibility of compliance or disobedience, remained obstinately at Vienna, busily engaged, as he pretended, in the discharge of official duties; but upon receiving intelligence of the open revolt of the troops and their choice of an Augustus, he immediately repaired to the court of Constantius, that he might both display his own fidelity, and at the same time magnify the guilt of the rebel prince.
In recompense of this devotion, he was forthwith nominated consul for A. D. 361, and appointed praetorian prefect of Illyricum, in the room of Anatolius, recently deceased; but on the death of his patron in the same year (361), he fled, along with his colleague Taurus, from the wrath of the new emperor, during the whole of whose reign he remained in close concealment, having, while absent, been impeached and capitally condemned. Julian is said to have generously refused to be informed of the place where his former enemy had sought shelter. (Julian,
Epist. 15;
Amm. Marc. 16.12,
14,
17.3,
2,
20.4,
2. 8, 20, 21.6, 5, 22.3, 6. 7, 5; Zosim. 3.10.)
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W.R]
