The Visigoth sack of Rome in 410 A.D. was a milestone in thefall of the Empire. Not since Hannibal reached Rome in 218 B.C. had an invading force threatened the city. In thelatter case, there was no attack because Hannibal knew he could not prevail.Alaric, king of the Visigoths saw a different vista – an impotent westernempire without a future.
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I’m going to let Gibbon set the stage.
“In the arts ofnegotiation, as well as in those of war, the Gothic king maintained hissuperior ascendant over an enemy, whose seeming changes proceeded from thetotal want of counsel and design. From his camp, on the confines ofItaly, Alaric attentively observed the revolutions of the palace, watched theprogress of faction and discontent, disguised the hostile aspect of a Barbarianinvader.
The pressinginvitation of the malcontents, who urged the king of the Goths to invade Italy,was enforced by a lively sense of his personal injuries; and he mightespecially complain, that the Imperial ministers still delayed and eluded thepayment of the four thousand pounds ofgold which had been granted by the Roman senate, either to reward hisservices, or to appease his fury. His decent firmness was supported by anartful moderation, which contributed to the success of his designs. Herequired a fair and reasonable satisfaction; but he gave the strongestassurances, that, as soon as he had obtained it, he would immediatelyretire.
The modesty of Alaricwas interpreted, by the ministers of Ravenna, as a sure evidence of hisweakness and fear. They disdained either to negotiate a treaty, or to assemblean army; and with a rash confidence, derived only from their ignorance of theextreme danger, irretrievably wasted the decisive moments of peace and war.
While they expected,in sullen silence, that the Barbarians would evacuate the confines of Italy,Alaric, with bold and rapid marches, passed the Alps and the Po; hastilypillaged the cities of Aquileia, Altinum, Concordia, and Cremona, which yieldedto his arms; increased his forces by the accession of thirty thousandauxiliaries; and, without meeting a single enemy in the field, advanced as faras the edge of the morass which protected the impregnable residence of theemperor of the West. Instead of attempting the hopeless siege of Ravenna,the prudent leader of the Goths proceeded to Rimini, stretched his ravagesalong the sea-coast of the Hadriatic, and meditated the conquest of the ancientmistress of the world.
His troops, animatedby the hopes of spoil, followed the course of the Flaminian way, occupied theunguarded passes of the Apennine, descended into the rich plains of Umbria… Alofty situation, and a seasonable tempest of thunder and lightning, preservedthe little city of Narni; but the king of the Goths, despising the ignobleprey, still advanced with unabated vigor; and after he had passed through thestately arches, adorned with the spoils of Barbaric victories, he pitched his campunder the walls of Rome.”
Alaric initiated a siege against the city by blocking thetwelve gates to prevent any communication outside the city. He also took controlof the Tiber to prevent commerce from being conducted.
“The first emotions ofthe nobles, and of the people, were those of surprise and indignation, that avile Barbarian should dare to insult the capital of the world: but theirarrogance was soon humbled by misfortune…”
As food supplies ran out, the people of Rome began tounderstand the pain of famine. The daily allowance of three pounds of bread waseventually reduced to nothing.
“…the progress of famineinvaded the marble palaces of the senators themselves. The persons ofboth sexes, who had been educated in the enjoyment of ease and luxury,discovered how little is requisite to supply the demands of nature; andlavished their unavailing treasures of gold and silver, to obtain the coarseand scanty sustenance which they would formerly have rejected with disdain.”
Thousands starved to death and bodies lay in the streets.
Finally, the senate, acting as the supreme power of thegovernment, sent ambassadors to treat with the Gothic leader. Their approachwas in keeping with their position.
“When they wereintroduced into his presence, they declared, perhaps in a more lofty style thanbecame their abject condition, that the Romans were resolved to maintain theirdignity, either in peace or war; and that, if Alaric refused them a fair andhonorable capitulation, he might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give battleto an innumerable people, exercised in arms, and animated by despair.”
His famous reply was "The thicker the hay, the easierit is mowed," laughing at the gall of the Romans in their pitiableposition. He set the ransom for breaking the siege at “all the gold and silver in the city, whether it were theproperty of the state, or of individuals; all the rich and precious movables;and all the slaves that could prove their title to the name of Barbarians”.
“The ministers of thesenate presumed to ask, in a modest and suppliant tone, "If such, O king,are your demands, what do you intend to leave us?" "Your Lives!" replied the haughtyconqueror: they trembled, and retired.
Yet, before theyretired, a short suspension of arms was granted, which allowed some time for amore temperate negotiation. The stern features of Alaric were insensiblyrelaxed; he abated much of the rigor of his terms; and at length consented to raisethe siege, on the immediate payment of five thousand pounds of gold, of thirtythousand pounds of silver, of four thousand robes of silk, of three thousandpieces of fine scarlet cloth, and of three thousand pounds weight of pepper.”
His terms were met in principle.
The gates were opened and the Roman people allowed to obtainthe food they so severely required. Meanwhile the Goths moved north to setup winter quarters in Tuscany. But the administration in Ravenna did not trustAlaric, thinking he had some sinister purpose beyond their knowledge.
"Three senators, at hisearnest request, were sent ambassadors to the court of Ravenna, to solicit theexchange of hostages, and the conclusion of the treaty; and the proposals,which he more clearly expressed during the course of the negotiations, couldonly inspire a doubt of his sincerity, as they might seem inadequate to thestate of his fortune. The Barbarian still aspired to the rank ofmaster-general of the armies of the West; he stipulated an annual subsidy ofcorn and money; and he chose the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum, and Venetia,for the seat of his new kingdom, which would have commanded the importantcommunication between Italy and the Danube.
If these modest termsshould be rejected, Alaric showed a disposition to relinquish his pecuniary demands,and even to content himself with the possession of Noricum; an exhausted andimpoverished country, perpetually exposed to the inroads of the Barbarians ofGermany."
Amazingly, the chief minister of Honorius, Olympius,rejected the treaty and its alternatives. He ordered 6,000 troops to march fromRavenna to Rome to reinforce the city. This entire army was destroyed before itreached its destination.
"Yet Alaric, instead ofresenting this act of impotent hostility, immediately renewed his proposals ofpeace; and the second embassy of the Roman senate, which derived weight anddignity from the presence of Innocent, bishop of the city, was guarded from thedangers of the road by a detachment of Gothic soldiers."
As a result of this calamity, Olympius was replaced byJovius, the praetorian prefect. Initially, Jovius sought to craft a personal treatywith Alaric at Rimini. While he was away from Ravenna, Honorius drafted aletter negating the treaty. This missive fell into the hands of the King of theGoths.
“…the Goth, who in thewhole transaction had behaved with temper and decency, expressed, in the mostoutrageous language, his lively sense of the insult so wantonly offered to hisperson and to his nation.
While the emperor andhis court enjoyed, with sullen pride, the security of the marshes andfortifications of Ravenna, they abandoned Rome, almost without defense, to theresentment of Alaric. Yet such was the moderation which he stillpreserved, or affected, that, as he moved with his army along the Flaminianway, he successively dispatched the bishops of the towns of Italy to reiteratehis offers of peace, and to congratulate the emperor, that he would save thecity and its inhabitants from hostile fire, and the sword of the Barbarians.
These impendingcalamities were, however, averted, not indeed by the wisdom of Honorius, but bythe prudence or humanity of the Gothic king; who employed a milder, though notless effectual, method of conquest. Instead of assaulting the capital, hesuccessfully directed his efforts against the Port of Ostia, one of the boldestand most stupendous works of Roman magnificence.”
Alaric threatened an immediate attack on the grain silos ofOstia if the treaty was not completed immediately. At Ravenna, a usurper, namedAttalus, was named as co-emperor in an attempt to take matters in a differentdirection. The gates of Rome were thrown open to him and he was conducted in aprocession to the senate. He spoke to them about how the glory of Rome would berestored by his hand and sent envoys to measure of the loyalty of the provincesof Africa and Egypt.
Honorius, under threat of assassination from every quarter,was blessed with a stroke of luck when a ship landed at Ravenna with areinforcing army. The envoys of Attalus had been killed by a loyal count ofAfrica who sent money and men to the emperor. Attalus was stripped of his office. NowAlaric arrived within three miles of Ravenna intent on including the longdelayed treaty, but the handlers of Honorius could not see their way to anaccommodation. They received a rival Barbarian chief, who killed many Goths duringa foray from the city and proceeded to ridicule Alaric in a subsequent parade.
In a matter of a few days, the Gothic king and his armyappeared at the gates of Rome intent on revenge for the many slights given him.A conspiracy forged with slaves inside the city facilitated the gates beingopened to his army.
“The proclamation ofAlaric, when he forced his entrance into a vanquished city, discovered,however, some regard for the laws of humanity and religion. He encouraged histroops boldly to seize the rewards of valor, and to enrich themselves with thespoils of a wealthy and effeminate people: but he exhorted them, at the sametime, to spare the lives of the unresisting citizens, and to respect thechurches of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, as holy and inviolablesanctuaries.
In the sack of Rome,some rare and extraordinary examples of Barbarian virtue have been deservedlyapplauded. But the holy precincts of the Vatican, and the apostolicchurches, could receive a very small proportion of the Roman people; manythousand warriors, more especially of the Huns, who served under the standardof Alaric, were strangers to the name, or at least to the faith, of Christ; andwe may suspect, without any breach of charity or candor, that in the hour ofsavage license, when every passion was inflamed, and every restraint was removed,the precepts of the Gospel seldom influenced the behavior of the GothicChristians. The writers, the best disposed to exaggerate their clemency,have freely confessed, that a cruel slaughter was made of the Romans; andthat the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies, which remainedwithout burial during the general consternation. The despair of the citizenswas sometimes converted into fury: and whenever the Barbarians were provoked byopposition, they extended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble, the innocent,and the helpless.”
The Goths evacuated Rome on the sixth day. Weighted down by spoils,they proceeded south through Campania destroying everything in their path. Then,when Alaric reached Rhegium, he decided to cross to Sicily and see what he could findof value there. A crossing was arranged but a storm blew up during the passage thatsank many ships. The plan was permanently abandoned when Alaric died unexpectedly.
The sack of Rome is a story of the pride of ages and itsrefusal to see reason. Oddly, it was the barbarian, Alaric, who was reasonable instead of the Romans.All he wanted for himself, and his people, was land within the empire that would protect them from the Huns. They respected what the Romans hadaccomplished and sought friendship and affiliation, but the Romans lacked the ability to see the world in its new form.
