1 Alaric s Sack of Rome History of the Wars Procopius of Caesarea ca 550 CE But the Visigoths separating from the others removed from there and at first entered into an alliance with the Emperor Arcadius but at a later time for faith with the Romans cannot dwell in barbarians under the leadership of Alaric they became hostile to both emperors and beginning with Thrace treated all Europe as an enemy s land Now the emperor Honorius had before this time been sitting in Rome with never a thought of war in his mind but glad I think if men allowed him to remain quiet in his palace But when word was brought that the barbarians with a great army were not far off but somewhere among the Taulantii in Illyricum he abandoned the palace and fled in disorderly fashion to Ravenna a strong city lying just about at the end of the Ionian Gulf while some say that he brought in the barbarians himself because an uprising had been started against him among his subjects but this does not seem to me trustworthy as far at least as one can judge of the character of the man And the barbarians finding that they had no hostile force to encounter them became the most cruel of all men For they destroyed all the cities which they captured especially those south of the Ionian Gulf so completely that nothing has been left to my time to know them by unless indeed it might be one tower or one gate or some such thing which chanced to remain And they killed all the people as many as came in their way both old and young alike sparing neither women nor children Wherefore even up to the present time Italy is sparsely populated They also gathered as plunder all the money out of all Europe and most important of all they left in Rome nothing whatever of public or private wealth when they moved on to Gaul But I shall now tell how Alaric captured Rome After much time had been spent by him in the siege and he had not been able either by force or by any other device to capture the place he formed the following plan Among the youths in the army whose beards had not yet grown but who had just come of age he chose out three hundred whom he knew to be of good birth and possessed of valor beyond their years and told them secretly that he was about to make a present of them to certain of the patricians in Rome pretending that they were slaves And he instructed them that as soon as they got inside the houses of those men they should display much gentleness and moderation and serve them eagerly in whatever tasks should be laid upon them by their owners and he further directed them that not long afterwards on an appointed day at midday when all those who were to be their masters would most likely be already asleep after their meal they should all come to the gate called Salarian and with a sudden rush kill the guards who would have no previous knowledge of the plot and open the gates as quickly as possible After giving these orders to the youths Alaric straightway sent ambassadors to the members of the senate stating that he admired them for their loyalty toward their emperor and that he would trouble them no longer because of their valor and faithfulness with which it was plain that they were endowed to a remarkable degree and in order that tokens of himself might be preserved among men both noble and brave he wished to present each one of them with some domestics 2 After making this declaration and sending the youths no long afterwards he commanded the barbarians to make preparations for the departure and he let this be known to the Romans And they heard his words gladly and receiving the gifts began to be exceedingly happy since they were completely ignorant of the plot of the barbarians For the youths by being unusually obedient to their owners averted suspicion and in the camp some were already seen moving from their positions and raising the siege while it seemed that the others were just on the point of doing the very same thing But when the appointed day had come Alaric armed his whole force for the attack and was holding them in readiness close by the Salarian Gate for it happened that he had encamped there at the beginning of the siege And all the youths at the time of the day agreed upon came to this gate and assailing the guards suddenly put them to death then they opened the gates and received Alaric and the army into the city at their leisure And they set fire to the houses which were next to the gate among which was also the house of Sallust who in ancient times wrote the history of the Romans and the greater part of this house has stood half burned up to my time and after plundering the whole city and destroying the most of the Romans they moved on At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna received the message from one of the eunuchs evidently a keeper of the poultry that Rome had perished And he cried out and said And yet it has just eaten from my hands For he had a very large cock Roma by name and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly But I my good fellow thought that my fowl Roma had perished So great they say was the folly with which this emperor was possessed But some say that Rome was not captured in this way by Alaric but that Proba a woman of very unusual eminence in wealth and in fame among the Roman senatorial class felt pity for the Romans who were being destroyed by hunger and the other suffering they endured for they were already even tasting each other s flesh and seeing that every good hope had left them since both the river and the harbor were held by the enemy she commanded her domestics they say to open the gates by night Now when Alaric was about to depart from Rome he declared Attalus one of their nobles emperor of the Romans investing him with the diadem and the purple and whatever else pertains to the imperial dignity And he did this with the intention of removing Honorius from his throne and of giving over the whole power in the West to Attalus With such a purpose then both Attalus and Alaric were going with a great army against Ravenna But this Attalus was neither able to think wisely by himself nor to be persuaded by one who had wisdom to offer So while Alaric did not by any means approve the plan Attalus sent commanders to Libya without an army Thus then …
View Full Document
Unlocking...