A native of Naissus in the Balkans, Constantius III (d. 421 CE) served in the army, where he was eventually promoted to the senior rank of magister militum in 411 CE, a post that allowed him to dominate political life in the West for the next decade. His victory over the usurper Constantine in Gaul was rewarded with the honorific but still prestigious office of consul in 414 CE, and he then campaigned successfully against the Goths in Gaul, finally settling them in Aquitaine in 418 CE. He held the consulship for a second time in 41…