[1] Eumenius was born in Gallia Lugdunensis at Augustodunum (modern-day Autun), the civitas capital of the Celtic Aedui.
Eumenius probably took his father's place, for it was from Augustodunum that he went to be magister memoriae (private secretary) to the emperor Constantius Chlorus, whom he accompanied on several of his campaigns.
During the periodic crises of 3rd-century Gaul, instruction had ceased, possibly for lack of funding or students, and the buildings had been greatly damaged during a siege of the city in 269 CE.
The emperor appointed Eumenius to the management of the schools, allowing him to keep the rank of a senior imperial officer and doubling his salary.
He praises the emperors (Constantius Chlorus and his colleagues of the tetrarchy) and sets forth the steps necessary to restore the schools to their former state of efficiency, stressing that he intends to assist the good work out of his own pocket.