Flavius Gaudentius

:"For other people named Gaudentius see Gaudentius"Flavius Gaudentius or simply Gaudentius (unknown - 432) was the father of the Roman magister militum Flavius Aetius. It is said that he was of Scythian birth,Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", The Modern Library, New York, volume II, p.1089.] [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01177b.htm Aëtius] . "Catholic Encyclopedia".] ["Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology", vol. 1, page 51.] [Tirnanog (1997). [http://www.angelfire.com/film/bookofdarius/barbarian.html Goths, Sarmatians, and Huns: The Fictional Account of Darius' Barbarian Years Compared to Real History] . "The Book of Darius".] but more probably of Daco-Roman or other barbarian descent; Jordanes' "Getica" claims that Gaudentius was of Gothic background.

He served under the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I against the usurper Eugenius. Later, when his son Flavius Aetius was born in 396, Gaudentius served as Magister Equitum or Master of Cavalry under the Emperor Honorius. According to "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Gaudentius was still serving the Western Empire in the 420s as Magister militum of the Western Roman Empire. He served under the usurper Ioannes. However, when Ioannes was killed 425, he was forced to serve Galla Placidia and her son Emperor Valentinian III. Gaudentius served as Magister militum from 421 to his death in 432.

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