ALARIC I., king of the Vi,igoths, and sprung from the noble race of the Cold, who fielded only to the Amali in the fame which arises from barbarous valour. He first became distinguished A. D. 376. when he pas sed the Danube at the head of 200,000 men ; and, af ter a life spent in continual warfare, he died in the year 410.
When the Roman emperors perceived the difficulty of ma.ntaining their possessions in Gaul and Germany, they adopted the policy of hiring one tribe of the bar barians who invaded them, to defend the provinces against the irruptions of another. Accordingly Alaric 1. served with great reputation in the war with the Goths, which was terminated A. D. 382; but after the death of Theodosius, he imagined that he was overlooked ; and, collecting an army, he ravaged Pannonia and Dacia, and burst with resistless fury into Greece. He soon laid waste the fairest regions of that country. The whole territory of Attica, from the promontory of Su num to the town of Megara, was desolated by the march of his troops ; and the city itself was spared only by the readiness with which the Athenians admitted the con queror within their walk. Having spent a short time at Athens, the Gothic leader advanced into Pelopon nesus, marking his way with all the cruelty and des truction which attend the progress of men N% ho are fierce by nature, and powerful by their numbers, and whose rapacity is stimulated by the immediate prospect of wealth. But though the Roman valour had declined, it was not extinct. The career or Alaric was stopt by Stilicho, a general of the empire, who compelled him to retreat to Arcadia; but either by negligence or con nivance, he was allowed to escape, and take refuge in Epirus. Cunning, however, as well as brave, he en tered into a treaty with Arcadius the eastern emperor, and was raised to the government of the provinces which he had laid waste ; till having amused both Ar cadius and Honorius, his rival in power, with deceitful procrastination, he invaded Italy A. D. .100, and ravaged
it for some time without opposition. Unable to resist the fury of the barbarians, Honorius fled at their ap proach. Alaric drove him from one fortress to another, and would have reduced hint w utter subjection, if Sti licho had not advanced to his relief ; and, by a success ful attack upon the Goths, when celebrating the festival if Easter, overthrown them with great slaughter, and i indicated the honour of the Roman name. After the death of Stilicho, Alaric invaded Italy a second time. He passed the Alps and the Po ; and being joined by 300,000 auxiliaries, lie pitched his camp before the walls of Rome. He was induced, however, by large sums of money, to raise the siege ; but having received a pow erful reinforcement of Goths and Huns, led front the banks of the Danube by Adolphus his relation, he again invested the capital, entered it by force, deprived Hono rius of the imperial dignity, and finally (A. D. 410, A. U. C. 1163) gave up the city to be plundered by his soldiers. Yet as some of the Goths were Christians, they spared many of the inhabitants, and respected the edifices sacred to the worship of God ; but the Huns, and other savage tribes, who formed a part of the vic torious army, indulged their cruelty, their ferocity, and ;laic lust, without pity or restraint ; and the awful de vastation continued no fewer than six days. After the '.alshig of Rome, Alaric died, while his troops were em barking for Sicily, and was buried in the channel of the fiver Busentius, the water of which had been (livened From its course, that the body might be interred.
Alarie was a Goth, but not one of the rudest sort. Ie not only possessed the direct and brutal courage of • barbarian, but was eminent, in some degree, for the penetration and the policy of more cultivated times. (rib bon, Met. vol. v. p. 147. chap. 30. ./Incient. Univ. !list. vol. xvii. p. 191, et seq. Goldsmith's Mat. of Rome, vol. ii. (h)