[darkagebritain] Re: Aetius' fourth consulship
- From: "Dane Pestano" <dane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <darkagebritain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 15:46:08 +0100
Hi Robert and Mat
Good stuff. But why could this Aetius not be `our Aetius'? (Hydatius refers
to both as Aetio Duce) He had recently defeated the Hun in Gaul in 451 and
would be available to take them on in Italy in 452, having made sure the
Visigoths had returned home. Gibbon says that Aetius harried Atilla with a
smaller force as Atilla made his way through Italy. This may be what
Hydatius is referring to. Or is Gibbon using Hydatius to make this
connection. Hydatius doesn't seem to indicate it is an eastern General? He
just says that Aetius commanded the auxiliaries sent by Marcian.
The consular lists do seem to list Aetius as 4th consul according to
Mommsen, so I agree with you in that it's not at all clear there was an
eastern general of the same name.
Regards
Dane
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Subject: [darkagebritain] Aetius' fourth consulship
Hi Dane,
I came across something we briefly discussed on The Other Place: Aetius'
fourth consulship. According to Thompson (Romans and Barbarians p. 151), the
consulship of 454 was not awarded to Flavius Aetius, but to an eastern
general. This is based on information from Hydatius, who alone reported that
it was not the pope whose valiant resistance made Attila turn back on his
invasion of Italy, but the emperor Marcian. He apparently sent an army under
a general by the name of Aetius (obviously not 'our' Aetius) in to the
Hunnic heartlands, ravashing their home base. Attila, realising that his
loss of prestige damaged his ability to control his Germanic subjects, knew
it was time to head home. It might also explain his next intended move: to
attack Constantinople and claim the tribute which Marcian cut off.
But it was not to be: Attila dead in early 453, and a year later the Huns
were crushed by their former subjects on the river Nedao (summer), forever
breaking their power. Aetius, bereft of his support among the Huns, was dead
soon after (september). According to Thompson, it was the eastern dux who
received the eastern consulship for 454, based on his victory of 452.
Personally I'm not totally convinced, but it must be taken into account as a
possibility. Hydatius is not likely to mave mixed up Aetius with another
man - he knew Aetius personally, having visited him in 431 in a fultile
attempt to ask for aid against the Sueves. So the report of the eastern
expedition must be seen as a real acccount, and therefore the possibility
that another Aetius was consul in 454 might be a real one.
Link to Thompson:
http://books.google.nl/books?id=BiXgsE7vsjcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=thompson
+romans+and+barbarians#PPA151,M1
Hydatius:
XXIX. (Eus. MMCCCCLXI.) Secundo regni anno principis Marciani, Hunni qui
Italiam praedabantur, aliquantis etiam civitatibus irruptis, divinitus
partim fame, partim morbo quodam plagis coelestibus feriuntur: missis etiam
per Marcianum principem Aetio duce caeduntur auxiliis; pariterque in sedibus
suis et coelestibus plagis, et per Marciani subiguntur exercitum: et ita
subacti, pace facta cum Romanis proprias universi repetunt sedes, ad quas
rex eorum Attila mox reversus interiit.
Best,
Robert
Vortigern Studies
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