He then sent into Gaul, with the authority of Caesar, his cousin Julian, the brother of Gallus, giving him his sister in marriage, at a time when the barbarians had stormed many towns and were besieging others, when there was everywhere direful devastation, and when the Roman Empire was tottering in evident distress.

"[11] According to Socrates of Constantinople: "The emperor recalled him [Julian], and after created him Caesar; in addition to this, uniting him in marriage to his own sister Helen, he sent him against the barbarians.

For the barbarians whom the Emperor Constantius had engaged as auxiliary forces against the tyrant Magnentius, having proved of no use against the usurper, were beginning to pillage the Roman cities.

"[12] Sozomen apparently confused Helena with her sister, calling her Constantia[1] He narrates: "Constantius recalled him [Julian], and proclaimed him Caesar, promised him his sister Constantia in marriage, and sent him to Gaul; for the barbarians whose aid had been hired by Constantius previously against Magnentius, finding that their services were not required, had portioned out that country.

"[13] Philostorgius reports: "He [Constantius] summoned Gallus' brother Julian from Ionia and appointed him Caesar in Milan, giving his own sister Helena to him as his wife and taking oaths with him.

"If we recollect that Constantine, the father of Helena, died above eighteen years before, in a mature old age, it will appear probable, that the daughter, though a virgin, could not be very young at the time of her marriage.

The historian considers that the image of a politically influential but "kind-hearted and philanthropic" Eusebia is directly based on her depiction in the works of Julian.

Tougher follows the example of senior historian Noël Aujoulat in considering the story of Helena's miscarriages being the result of abortifacients to be entirely plausible.

[20] Whatever the case, "The Cambridge Ancient History" notes that the occasion of her presence in Rome were the Vicennalia of Constantius II, a celebration in honor of completing twenty years on the throne.

Constantius and his Milan court moved to Rome for the occasion, marking the first and only known visit of this particular Augustus in the ancient capital of the Roman Empire.

[23] It describes an officer of Helena's guard contacting Julian with no prolonged journey mentioned, implying that at the start of the new reign she was attended by soldiers and in close proximity to her husband at Gaul.

"He was so conspicuous for inviolate chastity that after the loss of his wife it is well known that he never gave a thought to love…"[25] Barnes notes that Ammianus offers much praise of both Julian and Eusebia.

But he was so far from inquiring where there was a fair daughter, or wife, that had he not once been tied by Juno with the bond of marriage, he would have ended his days knowing nothing of sexual intercourse but by name.

But as it was he regretted his wife, yet did not touch another woman, either before or after her; being by his constitution enabled to be continent, and his constant occupation in the art of soothsaying concurring to require this restraint.

Gibbon used as his source another work by Libanius, "a very weak apology, to justify his hero [Julian] from a very absurd charge of poisoning his wife, and rewarding her physician with his mother's jewels.

"[28] Libanius suggests that this rumour, which is only known from this work, was spread by the former praetorian prefect Helpidius and Polycles who he sought to discredit while praising Julian.

[29] An entry of the Liber Pontificalis, the one covering Pope Liberius, mentions Helena being a devout Christian and an adherent of the Nicene Creed.