eldest of the sons of Constantinus Magnus and Minervina, derived his name without doubt from his greatgreat-grandfather [CRISPUS], the brother of Claudius Gothicus. Having been educated, as we are told by St. Jerome, under Lactantius, he was nominated Caesar on the 1st of March, A. D. 317, along with his brother Constantinus and the younger Liciniusand was invested with the consulship the year following. Entering forthwith upon his military career, he distinguished himself in a campaign against the Franks, and soon after, in the war with Licinius, gained a great naval victory in the Hellespont, A. D. 323. But unhappily the glory of these exploits excited the bitter jealousy of his step-mother Fausta, at whose instigation he was put to death by his father in the year A. D. 326. [CONSTANTINUS, p. 835.] (Euseb. Chron. ad ann. 317; Sozomen. Hist. Eccl. 1.5; Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 100.)
A great number of coins, especially in small brass, are extant bearing the name and effigy of this youth, commonly with the titles Caesar and Princeps Juventutis annexed; on the reverse of one we read the words Alamannia Devicta, which may refer to his success in the West, but the legends for the most part commemorate the exploits of his father rather than his own achievements.
[W.R]