Tetricus I Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was Emperor of the Gallic Empire ( " Imperium Galliarum " ) from 271 to 274 , following the murder of Victorinus . Tetricus , who ruled with his son , Tetricus II , was the last of the Gallic emperors following his surrender to the Roman emperor Aurelian . Reign . Tetricus was a senator born to a noble family of Gallic extraction . He was appointed to the administrative position of " praeses provinciae " ( provincial governor ) of Gallia Aquitania in 270 , a position he still held when the murder of Victorinus was announced in early 271 . Victorinus ' mother , Victoria , located at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium , managed to keep control of the political situation after her son ’ s death ; through her influence ( and a large amount of money ) , she bribed the army to declare the absent Tetricus emperor . Tetricus accepted the army ’ s nomination and took the purple at Burdigala in Gaul . Moving from Burdigala , he was on his way to Augusta Treverorum when Tetricus was forced to repel Germanic tribes that took advantage of the confusion following the death of Victorinus to invade Gaul . By the end of 271 Tetricus had made Augusta Treverorum , near the vital Rhine border , his capital , and had celebrated a " Victoria Germanica " , but was again called out in 272 to deal with a fresh incursion that reached the River Loire . However , continued invasions across the Rhine and along the coasts forced Tetricus to abandon the frontier forts and withdraw the troops to defend the interior of Gaul . Regardless of his difficulties with the Germanic invasions , Tetricus was recognised as emperor throughout Britain and most of Gaul apart from Narbonensis , where Placidianus had reclaimed some territory under Claudius II Gothicus . Although Tetricus made no move to expand his territorial reach , he did invest time and resources reclaiming some provinces that had been reconquered by the central empire , such as south - eastern Aquitania and the western parts of Narbonensis . Nevertheless , his regime was destabilised by attempts of certain areas to declare their allegiance to the Roman emperor Aurelian , such as the city of Argentoratum in 272 . It was to shore up his internal support that Tetricus eventually appointed his son , Tetricus II , as " Caesar " sometime in 273 , after celebrating his second consulship on 1 January 273 . It did little to stem his faltering regime as in late 273 or early 274 , Faustinus , provincial governor of Gallia Belgica , rebelled against him in Augusta Treverorum . To add to his woes , by the middle of 273 , the emperor Aurelian set out to reconquer the western provinces of the Roman empire , following his victories in the east . Preparing for his advance , Tetricus and his son celebrated their joint consulship on 1 January 274 before marching southward from his capital at Augusta Treverorum to meet Aurelian , who was advancing into northern Gaul . The decisive battle took place near Châlons - sur - Marne , in late February 274 where Tetricus ’ army was cut to pieces in an event remembered as the " Catalaunian catastrophe " . By March 274 , both Tetricus and his son had surrendered to Aurelian . Later imperial propaganda declared that Tetricus had agreed to surrender to Aurelian in exchange for his life , but the price was to be his betrayal of his army prior to battle , which continued to fight even when notified of Tetricus ’ actions . It was claimed that Tetricus quoted Virgil in his letter to Aurelian : " eripe me his , invicte , malis " ( “ rescue me undefeated from these troubles ” ) . According to literary sources , after being displayed as trophies at Aurelian ' s triumph in Rome , the lives of Tetricus and his son were spared by Aurelian , and Tetricus was even given the title of " corrector Lucaniae et Bruttiorum " , that is governor of a southern region of Italia . Tetricus died at an unknown date in Italy ; he is listed as one of Rome ' s Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta . Numismatics . The antoninianii ( silver coins ) of Tetricus were the most frequently imitated prototypes for barbarous radiate s , barbaric imitations of Roman coins .