History of the Wars, Books III and IV | Page 3

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
valour 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 about 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 valour 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. After making
this declaration and sending the youths not 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 barbarian. 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. [Aug. 24, 410 A.D.] 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, Rome 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 Rome 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 harbour 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