Aëtius in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

A Roman general born in Moesia towards the end of the fourth century A.D. He led an army of Huns to suppress the usurpation of the emperor John. In A.D. 433 he became consul and general- in-chief, and as such kept back the Western barbarians for twenty years, defeating the Goths, Burgundians, Gauls, and Franks; and at Châlons routed the famous Attila (q.v.) in the year 451. In 454, the emperor Valentinian, jealous of his fame, slew him with his own hand.