Aetius

Flavius Aetius was the leading commander of the western Roman empire in the generation of Attila. For two decades he relied on Hun auxiliaries. In 451 he led the coalition that met Attila on the Catalaunian Plains.^[1] Jordanes says he was born at Durostorum, the son of Gaudentius, “of the bravest Moesian stock”.^[2]

Hostage and ally of the Huns

After 408 the western government obtained help from the Huns by a treaty that involved the giving of hostages.^[3] One of them was the young Aetius.^[3] A later writer says that among the Huns he became “a most ready horseman, skilled in shooting arrows”.^[4] One account puts his years as a hostage between 405 and 408. It infers that he learned the Hunnic language there.^[5]

The usurper John hired many Huns against Valentinian III. Aetius led this action, which one account dates to 424.^[6] A second account dates the mission to 425.^[7] Aetius came back too late, because John had been dead three days. He fought an indecisive battle with the eastern commander Aspar. Then he persuaded the Huns to go home for gold, and he was made a count.^[7] The figure of 60,000 Huns given for that army was probably ten times too high.^[8]

In 432 Aetius was defeated by his rival Boniface near Ariminum.^[9] He crossed Pannonia to the Huns, whom he had long counted as friends. With the help of Rua he re-established himself in Italy as patrician. In 433 Aetius and the Huns made a treaty, and as a result the western government surrendered Pannonia Prima to them.^[9] Priscus says that the region of Pannonia on the river Save obeyed Attila “by the treaty made with Aetius, general of the western Romans”.^[10] Aetius’s son Carpilio served as a hostage with Attila.^[11]^[12]

Hun auxiliaries in Gaul

Contingents of Hun cavalry enabled Aetius and the landowners of Gaul to hold their own against the Burgundians, the Visigoths and the Bagaudae.^[13] In 439 the Romans marched against the Visigoths with Hun auxiliaries under his lieutenant Litorius.^[14] It has been argued that between 425 and 439 Aetius maintained himself solely by means of the Hun auxiliaries that Rua and Attila supplied.^[15] After the defeat of Litorius in 439, Attila sent him no further army.^[16]

Aetius sent Attila secretaries, among them an Italian named Constantius. He received from Attila, as a gift, Bleda’s Moorish jester Zercon, whom he passed on to Aspar.^[17] There are three views. The first holds that the two remained on friendly terms after the murder of Bleda. It adds that Attila held the honorary rank of a western commander with its pay.^[18] The second holds that Attila and Aetius had been allies until the Hun attack on the West in 451.^[19] The third holds that Attila was appeased but never became Aetius’s friend. The secretaries and gifts then mean little.^[20]

Around 445, with Hun support, Aetius brought Gaul under his control. He began to involve himself in the affairs of the Franks on the Rhine.^[21] A Frankish king died, and his sons disputed the kingdom. The elder son called in Attila, and the younger called in Aetius. Aetius adopted the younger as his son and gave him many gifts. He sent him home bound in friendship and alliance. Priscus saw this prince in Rome. No beard grew yet on his cheeks, and his fair hair was so thick and long that it fell over his shoulders.^[22]

The war of 451

Against Attila’s invasion of Gaul Aetius gathered auxiliaries from the Franks, Sarmatians, Armoricans, Burgundians, Saxons and other peoples. He also won the Visigothic king Theodorid as an ally.^[23] He moved cautiously and withdrew deeper into Gaul, because he was aware of the strength of the Huns.^[24] Jordanes writes that before Attila arrived, Theodorid and Aetius threw up great earthworks around Orleans.^[25]

According to Jordanes, Attila desired the death of Aetius above all. His soothsayers foretold that the chief commander of the enemy would fall, and he took this to mean Aetius. It was Theodorid who fell.^[26] In the battle Aetius held the left wing with the Romans. With Theodorid’s son Thorismud he took the height that Attila’s men tried to seize.^[27] At night he lost his way among the enemy. He spent the rest of the night among the shields of the Goths.^[28]^[29]

Thorismud wanted to avenge his father on the Huns. Aetius advised him to go home before his brothers seized the kingdom. Jordanes gives the reason: Aetius feared that if the Goths totally destroyed the Huns, the Roman empire would be overwhelmed.^[30] Aetius also sent his Frankish allies away.^[29] A different explanation is that he let Attila retreat from Gaul at his leisure because he hoped to use the Huns again.^[31]

The war of 452

When Attila invaded Italy in 452, the passes over the Julian Alps were unguarded.^[32] Rarely in history, it has been said, has a statesman been caught so completely off his guard as Aetius was in the spring of 452.^[32] Others reject the charge of negligence. They point out that no defender of Italy in the fifth century ever held the passes of the Julian Alps against an enemy coming from the east.^[33] Aetius lacked the strength to face Attila directly. He hindered Attila’s advance by strategic measures.^[34]

Death

In 454 the senator Petronius Maximus and the chamberlain Heraclius persuaded the emperor Valentinian III that Aetius meant to kill him.^[35] Aetius came to the palace to lay a financial statement before the emperor. Valentinian leapt from his throne and accused him of treason. He attacked Aetius with his sword, together with Heraclius. Aetius died on 21 September 454.^[35] Whatever his limits in other respects, he has been counted a general of unusual ability.^[36]

References

^ Thompson 1948, p. 140–143
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 176, p. 100
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 33
^ Thompson 1948, p. 53
^ Sinor 1990, p. 187
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 95
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 35
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 77
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 63–64
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 7, p. 76
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 81
^ Thompson 1948, p. 64
^ Thompson 1948, p. 64–65
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 176–177, p. 100–101
^ Thompson 1948, p. 209
^ Thompson 1948, p. 125
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 8, p. 80; fr. 11, p. 96
^ Thompson 1948, p. 128
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 98
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 107
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 99
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 16, p. 99
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 190–191, p. 104–105
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 100
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 195, p. 105
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 196, p. 106; § 209, p. 109
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 197, p. 106; § 201, p. 107
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 212, p. 110
^ a b Yavuz 2025, p. 101
^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 215–216, p. 111
^ Thompson 1948, p. 143
^ a b Thompson 1948, p. 144
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 135–136
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 102
^ a b Bury 1923, p. 299
^ Thompson 1948, p. 207

Sources

Priscus
Jordanes (after Priscus and Ammianus Marcellinus)

Literature

Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
Charles Christopher Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes in English Version, with an Introduction and a Commentary (1915)
J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, vol. I (1923)
Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (1973)
E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)