XXXI. African expedition, was the fource of mutual CHAP. complaint and recrimination in the party of Attalus; and the mind of his protector was infenfibly alienated from the interest of a prince, who wanted spirit to command, or docility to obey. The most imprudent measures were adopted without the knowledge, or against the advice, of Alaric; and the obftinate refufal of the fenate, to allow, in the embarkation, the mixture even of five hundred Goths, betrayed a fufpicious and distrustful temper, which, in their fituation, was neither generous nor prudent. The refentment of the Gothic king was exasperated by the malicious arts of Jovius, who had been raised to the rank of patrician, and who afterwards excufed his double perfidy, by declaring, without a blush, that he had only feemed to abandon the fervice of Honorius, more effectually to ruin the cause of the ufurper. In a large plain near Rimini, and in the prefence of an innumerable multitude of Romans and Barbarians, the wretched Attalus was publicly defpoiled of the diadem and purple; and those enfigns of royalty were fent by Alaric, as the pledge of peace and friendship, to the fon of Theodofius 94. The officers who returned to their duty, were reinftated in their employments, and even the merit of a tardy repentance was graciously allowed; but the degraded emperor of 94 See the cause and circumstances of the fall of Attalus in Zofimus, 1. vi. p. 380-383. Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 8. Philoftorg. I. xii. C. 3. The two acts of indemnity in the Theodofian Code, 1. ix, tit. xxxviii. leg, 11, 22. which were published the 12th of February, and the 8th of Auguft, A. D. 410, evidently relate to this ufurper. CHAP. the Romans, defirous of life, and infenfible of XXXI. Third fiege A.D. 410, difgrace, implored the permiffion of following the Gothic camp, in the train of a haughty and capricious Barbarian 9 95 The degradation of Attalus removed the only real obftacle to the conclufion of the peace; and Alaric advanced within three miles of Ravenna, to prefs the irrefolution of the Imperial minifters, whofe infolence foon returned with the return of fortune. His indignation was kindled by the report, that a rival chieftain, that Sarus, the perfonal enemy of Adolphus, and the hereditary foe of the house of Balti, had been received into the palace. At the head of three hundred followers, that fearless Barbarian immediately fallied from the gates of Ravenna; surprised, and cut in pieces, a confiderable body of Goths; re-entered the city in triumph; and was permitted to infult his adverfary, by the voice of a herald, who publicly declared that the guilt of Alaric had for ever excluded him from the friendship and alliance of the emperor 96. The crime and folly of the court of Ravenna was expiated, a third time, by the calamities of Rome. The king of the Goths, who no longer diffembled his appetite for plun 95 In hoc, Alaricus, imperatore, facto, infecto, refecto, ac defecto. Mimum rifit, et ludum fpectavit imperii. Orofius, I. vii. c. 42. p. 582. 96 Zofimus, 1. vi. p. 384. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 9. Philoftorgius, 1. xii. c. 3. In this place the text of Zofimus is mutilated, and we have loft the remainder of his fixth and laft book, which ended with the fack of Rome. Credulous and partial as he is, we must take our leave of that historian with some regret. der XXXI. der and revenge, appeared in arms under the CHAP. walls of the capital; and the trembling fenate, without any hopes of relief, prepared, by a defperate refiftance, to delay the ruin of their country. But they were unable to guard against the fecret confpiracy of their flaves and domestics; who, either from birth or intereft, were attached to the cause of the enemy. At the hour of midnight, the Salarian gate was filently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous found of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven hundred and fixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial city, which had subdued and civilifed fo confiderable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia 27. The proclamation of Alaric, when he forced his entrance into a vanquifhed city, difcovered, however, fome regard for the laws of humanity and religion. He encouraged his troops boldly to feize the rewards of valour, and to enrich themfelves with the fpoils of a wealthy and effeminate people: but he exhorted them, at the fame time, to fpare the lives of the unrefifting citizens, and 97 Adeft Alaricus, trepidam Romam obfidet, turbat, irrumpit. Orofius, 1. vii. c. 39. p. 573. He difpatches this great event in feven words; but he employs whole pages in celebrating the devotion of the Goths. I have extracted from an improbable story of Procopius, the circumstances which had an air of probability. Procop. de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 2. He fuppofes, that the city was surprised while the fenators flept in the afternoon; but Jerom, with more authority and more reafon, affirms, that it was in the night, nocte Moab capta eft; nocte cecidit murus ejus, tom. i. p. 121. ad Principiam. Refpect of for the the Goths Chriftian religion. XXXI. CHAP. to refpect the churches of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, as holy and inviolable fanctuaries, Amidft the horrors of a nocturnal tumult, several of the Christian Goths difplayed the fervour of a recent converfion; and fome inftances of their uncommon piety and moderation are related, and perhaps adorned, by the zeal of ecclefiaftical writers 9. While the Barbarians roamed through the city in queft of prey, the humble dwelling of an aged virgin, who had devoted her life to the service of the altar, was forced open by one of the powerful Goths. He immediately demanded, though in civil language, all the gold and filver in her poffeffion; and was astonished at the readiness with which the conducted him to a fplendid hoard of maffy plate, of the richeft materials, and the most curious workmanship. The Barbarian viewed with wonder and delight this valuable acquifition, till he was interrupted by a ferious admonition, addreffed to him in the following words: "Thefe," faid fhe, "are the con"fecrated veffels belonging to St. Peter; if you "prefume to touch them, the facrilegious deed "will remain on your confcience. For my "part, I dare not keep what I am unable to 3 98 Orofius (1. vii. c. 39. p. 573-576.) applauds the piety of the Chriftian Goths, without feeming to perceive that the greatest part of them were Arian heretics. Jornandes (c. 30. p. 653.) and Ifidore of Seville (Chron. p. 714. edit. Grot.), who were both attached to the Gothic caufe, have repeated and embellished these edifying tales. According to Ifidore, Alaric himself was heard to say, that he waged war with the Romans, and not with the apoftles. Such was the style of the feventh century; two hundred years before, the fame and merit had been afcribed, not to the apoftles, but to Chrift. "defend." 1 XXXI. "defend." The Gothic captain, ftruck with CHAP. reverential awe, dispatched a messenger to inform the king of the treasure which he had discovered; and received a peremptory order from Alaric, that all the confecrated plate and ornaments fhould be tranfported, without damage or delay, to the church of the apoftle. From the extremity, perhaps, of the Quirinal hill, to the diftant quarter of the Vatican, a numerous detachment of Goths, marching in order of battle through the principal streets, protected, with glittering. arms, the long train of their devout companions, who bore aloft, on their heads, the facred veffels of gold and filver; and the martial fhouts of the Barbarians were mingled with the found of religious pfalmody. From all the adjacent houses, a crowd of Chriftians haftened to join this edifying proceffion; and a multitude of fugitives, without diftinction of age, or rank, or even of fect, had the good fortune to escape to the fecure and hofpitable fanctuary of the Vatican. The learned work, concerning the City of God, was profeffedly compofed by St. Auguftin, to juftify the ways of Providence in the deftruction of the Roman greatnefs. He celebrates, with peculiar fatisfaction, this memorable triumph of Chrift; and infults his adverfaries, by challenging them to produce fome fimilar example, of a town taken by ftorm, in which the fabulous gods of antiquity had been able to protect either themfelves, or their deluded votaries 99. 99 See Auguftin, de Civitat. Dei, l. i. c. 1-6. He particularly appeals to the examples of Troy, Syracufe, and Talentum. |