Alaric and his barbarian
Alaric and his barbarian Visigoth army stormed into Rome in August 410, sacking and looting the once-impregnable city and signaling the impending end of the Roman Empire. When word reached St. Jerome, he wrote, “My voice sticks in my throat, and, as I dictate, sobs choke me. The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken.” Rome would be sacked again, this time by the Vandals, before collapsing completely in 476, meeting the fate that eventually befalls all empires. When Alaric and his army left Rome, loaded down with loot from the city and from their rampages across Europe, they headed south, intending to migrate into North Africa. But along the way Alaric fell ill, possibly from malaria. He died near the present-day southern Italian city Cosenza, at the age of somewhere between 35 and 40. Upon his death, Alaric’s loyal followers proceeded to entomb him. Of course, as was befitting a chieftain of his status, Alaric would be buried with a great treasure hoard—ent...