Theodoric arrested it first by the timely relief of Orleans and then by the victory of Chalons (Greg. Turon. 2.7; Jornandes, de reb. Get. 36), and was only prevented from following up his successes in Italy by want of support both from Valentinian and his barbarian allies. (Idatius and Isidorus, in anno 450.) [ATTILA.] The greatness of his position as the sole stay of the empire, and as the sole link between Christendon and the pagan barbarians, may well have given rise to the belief, whether founded or not, that he designed the imperial throne for himself and a barbarian throne for his son Carpilio (Sid. Apoll. Paneg. Avit. 204), and accordingly in 454, he was murdered by Valentinian himself in an access of jealousy and suspicion (Procop. Bell. Vand. 1.4), and with him (to use the words of the for contemporary chronicler Marcellinus, in anno 454), "cecidit Hesperium Imperium, nec potuit relevari."
His physical and moral activity well fitted him for the life of a soldier (Gregor. Turon. 2.8), and though destitute of any high principle, he belongs to the class of men like Augustus and Cromwell, whose early crimes are obscured by the usefulness and glory of later life, and in whom a great and trying position really calls out new and unknown excellences.
(Renatus Frigeridus, in Gregor. Turon. 2.8.; Procop. Bell. Vand. 1.3, 4; Jornandes, de Reb. Get. 34, 36; Gibbon, Decline and Fall. c. 33, 35 ; Herbert's Attila, p. 322.) [A. P. S.]
AE'TIUS (Ἀέτιος), surnamed the Atheist, from his denial of the God of Revelation (St. Athanas. de Synod. § 6, p. 83, of the translation, Oxf. 1842 ; Socr. Hist. Eccl. 2.35; Sozom. Hist. Eccl. 4.29), was born in Coele Syria (Philostorg. Hist. Eccl. 3.15; St. Basil, ad v. Eunom. i. p. 10) at Antioch (Soc. 2.35; 1 Suidas, s. v. Ἀέτιος), and became the founder of the Anomnoean (ἀνόμοιον) form of the Arian heresy. He was left fatherless and in poverty when a child, and became the slave of a vine-dresser's wife (St. Gregory Nazianz. c. Eunom. p. 292, C. D; but see Not. Vialesii ad Philost. 3.15), then a travelling tinker (S. Gr. ibid.) or a goldsmith. (Phil. ibid.) Conviction in a fraud or h ambition led him to abandon this life, and he applied himself to medicine under a quack, and soon set up for himself at Antioch. (Soc. 3.15.) From the schools of medicine being Arian, he acquired a leaning towards heresy. He frequented the disputatious meetings of the physicians (S. Gr. p. 293, D) and made such progress in Eristicism, that he became a paid advocate for such as wished their own theories exhibited most advantageously. On his mother's death he studied under Paulinus H., Arian Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 331; but his powers of disputation having exasperated some influential persons about Eulalius, the successor of Paulinus, he was obliged to quit Antioch for Anazarbus, where he resumed the trade of a goldsmith, A. D. 331. (Phil. 3.15.) Here a professor of grammar noticed him, employed him as a servant, and instructed him; but he was dismissed in disgrace on publicly disputing against his master's interpretation of the Scripture. The Arian Bishop of the city, named Athanasius, received him and read with him the Gospels. Afterwards he read the Epistles with Antonius, a priest of Tarsus till the promotion of the latter to the Episcopate, when he returned to Antioch and studied the Prophets with the priest Leontius. His obtrusive irreligion obliged him again to quit Antioch, and he took refuge in Cilicia (before A. D. 348), where he was defeated in argument by some of the grossest (Borborian) Gnostics. He returned to Antioch, but soon left it for Alexandria, being led thither by the fame of the Manichee Aphthonius, against whom he recovered the fame disputation which he had lately lost. He now rezsumed the study of medicine under Sopolis and practised gratuitously, earning money by following his former trade by night (Phil. 3.15) or living upon others. (Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 2.23.) His chief employment, however, was an irreverent application of logical figures and geometrical diagrams to the Nature of the Word of God. (S. Epiphan. ad v. Hacres. § 2, and comp. § 6, p. 920.) He returned to Antioch on the elevation of his former master Leontius to that See, A. D. 348, and was by him ordained Deacon (S. Ath. § 38, transl. p. 136), though he declined the ordinary duties of the Diaconate and accepted that of teaching, A. D. 350. (Phil. 3.17.) The Catholic laymen, Diodorus and Flavian, protested against this ordination, and Leontius was obliged to depose him. (Thdt. 2.19.) His dispute with Basil of Ancyra, A. D. 351 (fin.), is the first indication of the future schism in the Arian heresy. (Phil. 3.15.) Basil incensed Gallus (who became Caesar, March, A. D. 351) against Aetius, and Leontius' intercession only saved the latter from death. Soon Theophilus Blemmys introduced him to Gallus (S. Gr. p. 294), who made him his friend, and often sent him to his brother Julian when in danger of apostacy. (Phil. 3.17.) There is a letter from Gallus extant, congratulating Julian on his adesion to Christianity, as he had heard from Aetius. (Post Epist. Juliani, p. 158, ed. Boisson. Mogunt. 1828.) Aetius was implicated in the murder of Domitian and Montius (see Gibbon, c. 19), A. D. 354 (S. Gr. p. 294, B), but his insignificance saved him from the vengeance of Constantius. However, he quitted Antioch for Alexandria, where St. Athanasius was maintaining Christianity against Arianism, and in A. D. 355 acted as Deacon under George of Cappadocia, the violent interloper into the See of St. Athanasius. (St. Ep. 76.1; Thdt. 2.24.) Here Eunomius became his pupil (Phil. 3.20) and amanuensis. (Soc. 2.35.) He is said by Philostorgius (3.19) to have refused ordination to the Episcopate, because Serras and Secundus, who made the offer, had mixed with the Catholics; in A. D. 358, when Eudoxius became bishop of Antioch (Thdt. 2.23), he returned to that city, but popular feeling prevented Eudoxius from allowing him to act as Deacon.
The Aetian (Eunomian, see ARIUS) schism now begins to develop itself. The bold irreligion of Aetius leads a section of Arians (whom we may call here Anti-Aetians) to accuse his to Constantius (Soz. 4.13); they allege also his connexion with (Gallus, and press the emperor to summon a general Council for the settlement of the Theological
- After the first reference, the references in this article are thus abbreviated :-- St. Athanasius, de Synodis [S. Ath.]; St. Basil, adv. Eunomianos [S. Bas.]; St. Gregory Nazianzen adv. Eunomian. [S. Gr.] The Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Philostorgius, the Arian panegyrist of Aetius [Soc., Soz., Thdt., Phil.]; S. Epiphanius, adv. Haereses [S. Ep.].
