Gaudentius (died before AD 425) was the father of the Roman magister militum Flavius Aetius and married to an Italian noblewoman.
[1] He is described as a native of the Roman province Scythia[1] (although some misread this to portray him as an ethnic Scythian).
[2][3] Gaudentius 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.
[4] Gaudentius, along with Jovius, are described by Gibbon as destroying Pagan temples under orders from Theodosius I.