The Historians' History of the World 06

Both sides claimed the victory, but the chief advantage was undoubtedly on the side of the Romans, who in this fight freed thousands of their imprisoned countrymen and plundered the enemy’s baggage. But the Goths were by no means conquered; for throughout the summer they maintained themselves in the vicinity of the Apennines, and held the city of Rome in constant fear. They only began to retire from Italy in the autumn; and Stilicho let them depart with their booty, thinking it advisable to build golden bridges for a flying enemy. Nevertheless he observed their march, and tried to induce individual tribes who served under Alaric to leave him; and delivered a second battle at Verona, which was more disastrous to the king of the Goths than the battle of Pollentia, for it was with only a small portion of his army that he reached his own country.

The Appian Way

For a few years the Goths remained quiet; but soon after their departure, other Germans visited Italy with far worse devastations than theirs had been (406). Radagaisus, one of the German princes who had accompanied Alaric in his first expedition to Italy, collected to the north of the upper Danube a number of private adventurers and whole tribes, whom he promised to lead to Rome itself, saying he had heard of an opportunity and a way of getting there. His expedition resembled a national migration, as women and children accompanied the army, which according to the lowest computation amounted to two hundred thousand men, and according to another and more probable one, to double that number. Stilicho did not dare to oppose this flood, but rather tried to keep it within bounds by the manner in which he divided and disposed his troops.

[407-411 A.D.]

Watched from all sides, the barbaric hordes advanced through Lombardy and over the Apennines to the neighbourhood of Florence. Here Stilicho, who had followed the expedition, took possession of all the approaches to the mountains, threw reinforcements into the towns, had his own army supplied from the sea, and quietly awaited the result of the want which an innumerable and disorderly crowd must soon begin to feel. Hemmed in on all sides by the Roman troops, in a short time the barbarians suffered from famine, disease, and every kind of misery. Stilicho destroyed a part of this great body, but the remaining and larger portion died from want. Etruria resembled a vast grave; the leader of the unfortunate swarm in vain tried to fight his way through—he was captured and executed.

Alan horsemen, Huns, Goths, and other barbarians, who were among the Roman mercenaries, here did the best service. This is especially worthy of attention, as it shows us that the inhabitants of the most beautiful of countries, whose predecessors had conquered all nations of the earth, had sunk so low that they actually called in barbarians to defend them from other barbarians. On their weakness, their love of ease and pleasure, every law of their own government was wrecked, even when the latter sought to compel them to military service by severe punishments. They even preferred to mutilate themselves, as many did at this time so as to escape from serving in war, rather than risk dangers and hardships for the sake of their country.

For the second time Stilicho had saved Italy; his merit was greater than that of a Camillus or a Marius, as he had not, like these men, to lead a warlike nation into battle, but had first to create his army. Besides this, his whole life was not only a fight of civilisation with barbarism, but at the same time the struggle of force with underhand intrigue. For this reason we can no more weigh his private character against his political merits than we can those of other Roman heroes, especially of Camillus and Marius. Much of what has been made matter of reproach against him should rather be counted to him for merit. For instance, he kept his emperor under perpetual tutelage, but immediately after Stilicho’s death the advantage of depriving Honorius of a personal share in the government became apparent.