23% DECREASE OF THE 



CHAP. IX. 



Two events occurred towards the conclusion 

 of the period we have been considering, which 

 show in a striking manner how vastly the stock 

 of the precious metals must have decreased in 

 the capitals of the eastern and of the western 

 empires, when compared with what Rome herself 

 alone possessed in the time of her highest pros- 

 perity and grandeur. 



Alaric, the Gothic king, at the head of a nu- 

 merous body, burst upon Italy in the reign of 

 Honorius, in the year 408, and, carrying alarm 

 and devastation in his rapid progress, laid siege 

 to Imperial Rome, and at length was induced 

 to abandon his purpose on the immediate pay- 

 ment of five thousand pounds of gold, of thirty 

 thousand pounds of silver, of four thousand 

 robes of silk, of three thousand pieces of scarlet 

 cloth, and of three thousand pounds weight of 

 pepper. 



Thus for the sum of two hundred and ninety 

 thousand pounds was rescued from destruction 

 a city which under the first of its emperors 

 could have numbered among its citizens several 

 individuals possessed of ten times that amount. 

 Within less than forty years from this ransom 

 of Rome, the more recently founded capital 

 was likewise assailed. Theodosius, the Emperor 

 of Constantinople, was forced to solicit the 

 clemency of Attila, the leader of the Huns, who 

 imperiously dictated harsh and humiliating 



