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286 THE DECLINE AND FALL officers, who adhered to the Pagan worship, or who had im- bil)ed the opinions of Arianism.'* These measures, so advan- tageous to an enemy, Alaric would have approved, and might perhaps have suggested ; but it may seem doubtful whether the Barbarian would have j)romoted his interest at the expense of the inhuman and absurd cruelty which was perpetrated by the direction, or at least with the connivance, of the Imperial ministers. The foreign auxiliaries who had been attached to the person of Stilicho lamented his death ; but the desire of revenge was checked by a natural apprehension for the safety of their wives and children ; who were detained as hostages in the strong cities of Italy, where they had likewise deposited their most valuable effects. At the same hour, and as if by a common signal, the cities of Italy were polluted by the same horrid scenes of univei-sal massacre and pillage, which involved, in promiscuous destruction, the families and fortunes of the Barbarians. Exasperated by such an injury, which might have awakened the tamest and most servile spirit, they cast a look of indignation and hope towards the camp of Alaric, and unani- mously swore to pursue, with just and implacable war, the perfidious nation that had so basely violated the laws of hospitality. By the imprudent conduct of the ministers of Honorius, the republic lost the assistance, and deserved the enmity, of thirty thousand of her bravest soldiers ; and the weight of that formidable army, which alone might have deter- mined the event of the war, was transfeiTed from the scale of the Romans into that of the Goths. Alaric In the arts of negotiation, as well as in those of war, the marches to,-,,.,. ■j.-ii- • i^ Rome. A.D. (jrothic kuig mauitauied his superior ascendant over an enemy whose seeming changes proceeded from the total want of counsel and design. From his camp, on the confines of Italy, Alaric attentively observed the revolutions of the palace, watched the progress of faction and discontent, disguised the hostile aspect of a Barbarian invader, and assumed the more popular appearance of the friend and ally of the great Stilicho ; to whose virtues, Avhen they were no longer formidable, he could pay a just tribute of sincere praise and regret. The pressing invitation of the malcontents, who urged the king of ^ Eos qui catholicas sectoe sunt inimici intra palatium militare prohibenius. NuUus nobis sit aliqua ratione conjunctus, qui a nobis fide et religione discordat. Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. v. leg. 42, and Godefroy's Commentary, torn. vi. p. 164. This law was applied in the utmost latitude, and rigorously executed. Zosimus, 1. V. p. 364 [c. 46].