AETIUS (died 454), a Roman general of the closing period of the Western empire, born at Dorostolus in Moesia, late in the 4th century. He was the son of Gaudentius, who, although possibly of barbarian family, rose in the service of the Western empire to be master of the horse, and later, count of Africa. Aetius passed some years as hostage, first with Alaric and the Goths, and later in the camp of Rhuas, king of the Huns, acquiring in this way the knowl edge which enabled him afterwards to defeat them. In 424 he led into Italy an army of 6o,000 barbarians, mostly Huns, which he employed first to support the primicerius Ioannes, who had pro claimed himself emperor, and, on the defeat of the latter, to enforce his claim to the supreme command of the army in Gaul upon Placidia, the empress-mother and regent for Valentinian III. His calumnies against his rival, Count Boniface, which were at first believed by the emperor, led Boniface to revolt and call the Vandals to Africa. Upon the discovery of the truth, Boniface, although defeated in Africa, was received into favour by Valen tinian ; but Aetius came down against Boniface from his Gallic wars, and in the battle which followed wounded Boniface fatally with his own javelin. From 433 to 450 Aetius was the dominating personality in the Western empire. In Gaul he won his military reputation, upholding for nearly 20 years, by combined policy and daring, the falling fortunes of the empire. His greatest victory was that of Chalons-sur-Marne (Sept. 20, 451), in which he led the Gallic forces against Attila and the Huns. This was the last triumph of the empire. Three years later (454) Aetius presented himself at court to claim the emperor's daughter in marriage for his son Gaudentius ; but Valentinian, suspecting him of designs upon the crown, slew him with his own hand.
"That he was the one prop and stay of the Western empire dur ing his life is the unanimous verdict of his contemporaries; but whether he was a really great general or statesman we cannot tell. He was beaten by Boniface; and it was not he, but the Goths and their king, who really triumphed in the Mauriac plain ; yet he recovered Gaul in a series of campaigns, and he kept the Visigoths in check. . . . If he was less Roman than his predecessor Con stantius, he was far more Roman than his successor Ricimer; and if he had occasionally used the arms of the Huns for his own ends, he had also used them to maintain the empire. One merit he had which must count for much—the merit of recognizing and encour aging men of ability. Majorian and Marcellinus, two of the finest figures in the history of the fallen empire, were men of his training." (Ernest Barker in Cambridge Mediaeval Hist., vol. i., I., 418-419.) See T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vols. i. and ii. (188o).