G O 
'®f gold and dlv^r ; and the martial (lionts of the barba- 
ri ms were mingled witJi the found ol’reli'gidus pfalmody. 
From all tlie adjacent houles, a crowd of Cliriflians 
hadened to join tltis edifying procelTion ; and a multi¬ 
tude of fugitives, without didinction of age, or rank, 
or even of feed, liad the good fortune to efcape to tlie 
fecure faneduary of tlie Vatican. The learned work, 
concerning the City of God, was profclfedly compofed 
by St. Augudin, to judify the ways of Providence in 
the dedruction of the Roman greatnefs. He celebrates, 
with peculiar fatisfaidion, this memorable triinnph of 
Chrid ; and inftilts his advcrf.uics, by challenging them 
to produce fome fimil.ir example, of a town taken by 
dorm, in which Uie fabulous gods of antiquity had been 
able to pimteet either themlelves or tlieir votaries. 
Auguftin, dc Civitat. Dei, 1 . i. c. i- 5 . 
After the fack of Rome, on the fixth day, the vicdc- 
rious Goths prepared to complete the blow they had 
thus partially given. At the head of an armv, en¬ 
cumbered with weighty fpoils, their intrepid leader ad¬ 
vanced along the Appian. way into the foutheVn pro¬ 
vinces of Italy, dedroying whatever dared to oppofe his 
palfage, and enriching-himfelf with the plunder of the 
unrelidiiig country, whicli now became fubject to the 
Goths. 
Whether fame, or cojiqued, or riches, were the objedt 
of Alaric, he purfued that object with an indefatigable 
ardour, whicii could neither be quelled by adverfity, 
nor fatiated by fuccefs. No fooner had he gained the 
extremett land of Italy, than he was attracted by the 
neighbouring profpeCt of a fertile and peacelul idand. 
Yet even the podedion of Sicily he co.nlidered only as 
an intermediate dep to the important expedition, wiiich 
he already meditated againd tlie continent of Africa. 
The dreights of Riieginm and ?Teflina are twelve mil^s 
in length, and, in tlie narrowed palfage, about one mile 
and a half broad ; and the fabulous monders of the deep, 
the rocks of Scylla, and the whirlpool of Charybdis, 
could terrify none but timid and unllciiful manners. 
Yet as foot! as the firu divifibn of the Goths had em¬ 
barked, a I'udden temped arofe, wliich lunk, or fcal- 
tered, many of tlie tranfports ; their courage was blunt¬ 
ed by the terrors of a new element; and-their fuither 
dedgn was defeated by the fudden death of Alaric, 
A.D.qio, and wiiich, after a Ihort illnefs, here termi¬ 
nated the career of his conqueds and glory. Tlie fero¬ 
cious character of the barbarians was dngulatly dif- 
played in the funeral of a liero, wliofe valour and for¬ 
tune they celebrated witii mournful applaufe. By the 
labour of a captive multitude they forcibly diverted the 
courfe of the Bufentinus, a fmall river that wadies the 
Confentia. The royal- fepulchre, adorned with . the 
fpoils and trophies of Rome, was condrudted in the 
centre of the vacant bed ; the waters were then redored 
to their natural channel; and the fpot where tlie re¬ 
mains of Alaric had been depodied, was for ever con¬ 
cealed by the inhuman malfacre of the prifoners wlio 
had been employed to execute the work. Jornandcs, de 
Reb. Get. c. 30, p. 654. 
All perfonal animofities among the barbarians were 
fufpended by the drong necellity of their alfairs ; and 
Adolphus, tlie brother-in-law of the deceafed monarch, 
was unaninioudy eletted to the throne. With pacific 
views, the faccelfor of Ahiric liifpended the operations 
of war; and ferionlly negociated vrith the imperial court 
a treaty of friendihip and alliance. It was the iiuered 
of the minillers of Honorlus, wlio were now relealed 
from the dread of Alaric himfelf, to embrace tite pre- 
fent propdfals for delivering Italy froll) the intolerable 
weight of .the Gothic war; and Konorius now readily 
accepted their fervices againd the tyrants and barba¬ 
rians who were infeding the provinces beyond the Alps. 
Adolphus, affumiiig the charatter of a Roman general, 
directed his march from the extremity of Campania to 
the fouthejn provinces of Gaul, His troops, eillier by 
Voi-. Vlli, No. 5319. 
r H s. 721 
force or agreement, immediately occupied the cities of 
Narbonne, Thouloufe, and Boiinieaux ; and though 
they were repull’ed by count Boniface from the vralls of 
Marfeiiles, they foon extended their quarters from the 
Mediterranean to the Ocean. The oppreOed provincials 
exclaimed, that they v/ere cruelly ravifhed by Hieir pre¬ 
tended allies; yet fome fpecioiis colours were not want¬ 
ing to palliate, or judify, the violence of the Gotlis. 
'I'.he cities of Gaul, which they attacked, might p>er- 
iiaps be coufidcred as in a date of rebcllian againd tlie 
government of Honorius: the articles of the treaty, or 
the fecret indructions of tlie court, might fometinies be 
alleged.in favour of tlie I'eeming ufurpations of Adol¬ 
phus ; and tlie guilt of any-irregular aT of hodiiitv, 
might be imputed,'' with an appearance of truth, to the 
ungovernable fpirit of a barbarian holt, impatient of 
peace or difcipline. 
The profeliions of Adolphus were probably fincere, 
and his atvachment to the caule of tiie republic was Ic- 
cured by the alceudant which a Roman princefs had ac¬ 
quired over tile heart and underdanding of the barbarian 
king. Placidia, the daughter of the great Theododus, 
and of Gaila, his fecon.i wife, was about twenty years 
ot age wlien Rome was firlt invefted by the arm-s of 
Alaric. The vikitorious barbarians detained lier, either 
as a liodagc or a captive ; and while ihe was expofed t-.r 
the difgrace of following round Italy tlie motions of a 
Gothic camp, Ihe made a deep imprellion on the mind 
ot Adolphus ;. and t!ie Gothic king afpired to call liim- 
filt the brother of the emperor. 'I'lic niinifters of Ho¬ 
norius rejected witii difdain the propofa! of an alliance, 
fo injurious to every fentiment or'Ri-man pride; and re¬ 
peatedly urged the rcftiti-uion of Piicidia, as an indif- 
penfihle condition of the treaty of peace. But the 
daughter of Tlieodolius fubmiued, witliout reluctance, 
to tlie defires of the conqueror, a young, and valiant 
prince, who yielded to Alaric in foftnefs of Itature, but 
who excelled in tlie more attractive qualities of grace 
anil beauty. The marriage of Adolphus and Placidia 
was coiilummated before the Goths retired from Italy; 
and the day of their nuptials was celebrated in tlie 
Gothic camp with a magni-Scent difplay of feltivity. 
The nuptial gift, which, according to the cultom of iiis 
nation, was offered to Placidia, confilfed of the rare and 
magnincent fpoils of her own country. 
'I'liis important event infenfibly paved the way to a 
better underftandiag between Adolphus and Honorius; 
and the king of the Goths, in the year 414, readily ac¬ 
cepted the propofal of turning his victorious arms againll 
the barbarians of Spain. ^Vith rapid movements he 
preffed his inarch towards the Pyrenees ; paffed the 
mountains, and furprifed, in the name of the empei'or, 
the city of Barcelona. I'he fondnefs of Adolphus for 
his Roman bride was not abated by time or poirciUon ; 
and the birth of a fon, furnamed, from his illultrious 
grandfire, Theodofus, appeared to fix him for ever in the 
interefl of tiie republic. The lofs of that infant, wliofe 
remains were depo/Ited in a filver coffin in one of the 
churches near Barcelona, alflicted his parents ; but the 
grief of the Gothic king was fufpende l by the labours 
of the field ; and the courfe of bis victories was foon 
interrupted by domeltic treafon. He had imprudently 
received into ins I'ervice one of the followers of Sams, 
a barbarla-n of a daring fpirit, wliofe fecret defire of re. 
venging the death of liis patron inftigated his favage 
hand to aliailiiute Adolphus in the palace of Barcelona, 
in the month of Augiift 415. The laws of the fuccefliou 
were inltuntly violated by a tumultuous faction ; and a 
ftranger to tlie royal race, Singeric, the brother of Sa¬ 
ms himfelf, was ieated on the Gothic tliroae. The firlt 
act of his reign was the inhuman murder of the fix chil¬ 
dren of Adolphus, the ilfue of a former marriage, whom 
he tore, without pity, from the feeble arms of a vene- 
r.ible bifhop. The unfortunate Placidia, infiead of the 
refpefliul cumpaiUon wliich ihe might have excited in 
8 X the 
