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ABOUT this same time it happened that Rome was taken by the
barbarians; for a certain Alaric, a barbarian who had been an ally of
the Romans, and had served as an ally with the emperor Theodosius in
the war against the usurper Eugenius, having on that account been
honored with Roman dignities, was unable to bear his good fortune.
He did not choose to assume imperial authority, but retiring from
Constantinople went into the Western parts, and arriving at
Illyricum immediately laid waste the whole country. As he marched,
however, the Thessalians opposed him at the mouths of the river
Peneus, whence there is a pass over Mount Pindus to Nicopolis in
Epirus; and coming to an engagement, the Thessalians killed about
three thousand of his men. After this the barbarians that were with
him destroying everything in their way, at last took Rome itself,
which they pillaged, burning the greatest number of the magnificent
structures and other admirable works of art it contained. The money
and valuable articles they plundered and divided among themselves.
Many of the principal senators they put to death on a variety of
pretexts. Moreover, Alaric in mockery of the imperial dignity,
proclaimed one Attalus emperor, whom he ordered to be attended with
all the insignia of sovereignty on one day, and to be exhibited in the
habit of a slave on the next. After these achievements he made a
precipitate retreat, a report having reached him that the emperor
Theodosius had sent an army to fight him. Nor was this report a
fictitious one; for the imperial forces were actually on their way;
but Alaric, not waiting for the materialization of the rumor,
decamped and escaped. It is said that as he was advancing towards
Rome, a pious monk exhorted him not to delight in the perpetuation of
such atrocities, and no longer to rejoice in slaughter and blood. To
whom Ala-tic replied, ' I am not going on in this course of my own
will; but there is a something that irresistibly impels me daily,
saying, 'Proceed to Rome, and desolate that city.' Such was the
career of this person.
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