After the initial glosses of the headword, the main body of this entry comes from an historiographical source: [John of Antioch] fr.200 FHG (4.614) = Priscus fr.62. (For fr.63 see tau 635.) This fragment is not accepted as Priscan by Blockley, and seems in general out of character for what can be constructed of Priscus' acccount of this episode. Cf. [John of Antioch] fr.201, Blockley 1983: 68-69, and see further below.
[1] = Hesychius theta603, Synagoge theta88, Photius theta187; It is possible that this gloss derives from commentary to the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 23:2, where the headword occurs (cf. sigma 897) in a prohibition against eunuchs entering the temple. See also Leviticus 22:24. The headword refers originally to a eunuch whose testicles have been crushed (cf. epsilon 1474, phi 518) rather than excised. See also alpha 3929. Although the quotation that follows concerns eunuchs, neither the headword nor the more common gloss is used to refer to them.
[2] In the light of the identity of the Aetius mentioned later (see next note),'Valens' (emperor 364-378 CE; see generally omicron 764) is, as Kuster realized, a mistake for Valentinian (III, emperor 425-55 CE; omicron 762, omicron 763), either on the part of the Suda or its source (cf. gamma 500, where the same mistake is made).
[3] Flavius Aetius (ca. 390 - 454 CE; Neue Pauly s.v. 'Aetius 2') was a well known military leader (magister militum) in the West, responsible for defeating the Huns at the battle of Catalaunian Plains in 451 (cf. generally under zeta 29). His renown became such that it was easy to incite the emperor's apprehensions against him and he was slain, allegedly by Valentinian's own hand, in 454. Confusion with a different Aetius who is said to have lived in the reign of Valens (alpha 571, epsilon 3598) may explain the textual difficulties described in the previous note.
[4] In place of ὑποσμήχων ('smearing', 'coating'), Kuster makes the attractive suggestion of ὑποσμύχων ('smoldering'), rending the translation, "caused their insides to smolder".
[5] Whatever the provenance of the rest of the material, this final anecdote was cited without attribution by Gibbon (in ch.35 of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), who goes on to cite approvingly Sidonius Apollinaris' judgment (Carmen 7.359) that in murdering Aetius Valentinian was amens ('out of his mind') and something of a eunuch himself (semivir).