FALL OF AETIUS—A ROMANCE OF COURT LIFE—MURDER OF VALENTINIAN III. 455—MAXIMUS EMPEROR—EUDOXIA SUMMONS GENSERIC, THE VANDAL KING

Fall of Aetius, 455

The Western Empire was already tottering to its fall, although the death of two Emperors and a second sack of the city—a sack which, like the first, followed hard upon the tragic death of a hero—were yet to intervene.

The fall of the valiant Aetius, which, like that of Stilicho, is hidden in the darkness of court intrigue, was linked with the fortunes of two beautiful women. The conqueror of the Huns, adored by the Romans as their deliverer, hated by the envious, the possessor of boundless wealth, and at the summit of power, cherished the natural ambition of allying himself yet more securely with the Imperial house through the ties of blood. He was the father of two sons, Carpilion and Gaudentius; Valentinian of two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia. By a solemn oath the Emperor had promised to marry one of these princesses to one or other of the youths. The courtiers, amongst them the eunuch Heraclius, how ever, apparently thwarted the union, and while recollecting perhaps his double dealing with Boniface, they represented Aetius as an overbearing traitor, whispered that he had secret understandings with the Huns, who, since the days of the tyrant John, had been his devoted friends, and asserted that with the help of his barbarian allies he hoped to gain supreme power.