Anatolius was magister militum per Orientem from 433 to 446, reaching the consulate in 440, which he held with the Western Emperor Valentinian III as a colleague.
In 448 Anatolius concluded a peace agreement with Attila, agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 2,100 pounds of gold.
To an offer of parley, Attila replied that he would deal only with ambassadors of consular rank, and mentioned the names of Nomus, Senator and Anatolius.
Anatolius, who by then had become magister militum praesentalis (a position he held until at least the next year), and his friend went to meet Attila, who treated them badly at the beginning, but later succumbed to their oratorical arts and the gifts they had brought: Attila would accept the terms of the peace of 448, he would stop attacking the Emperor Theodosius II and give up the strip of land south of the Danube obtained with the peace of 448; it seems that the granting of the release of many prisoners to the Romans was a concession made personally to the two prestigious guests.
At the beginning of the reign of Marcian, Florentius and Anatolius dissuaded the Emperor from supporting the uprising of the Armenians against the Sassanid Empire.