Late Roman Empire, Valentinian-Theodosian Dynasty (364-455), 76*Theodosius II: Alaric’s Second Invasion of Italy (408-410) [2/2]

76*THEODOSIUS II (49; r.402-450) (East)

In the West the situation was deteriorating. The Burgundians had established themselves west of the Rhine; the Vandals, Alani and Suebi were sacking cities and moving southwestwards and in September 409 would cross the Pyrenees and enter Spain; and now the only military authority in Gaul was in the hands of the usurper Constantine III, who was at that time technically in rebellion against Honorius in Ravenna.

In Italy, following Stilicho’s death, there was a violent backlash from the Roman part of the army. Stilicho’s Gothic troops (some twelve thousand of whom were warriors that Stilicho had drafted after his defeat of their leader Radagaisus) in danger of being massacred with their wives and children, defected to Alaric and thus reduced the Roman army to numbers inadequate to attack or even deter him.

Alaric, who had not yet received the promised four thousand pounds weight of gold, opened negotiations with Honorius who promptly rejected the former’s request for a modest payment and also permission to move his army from Noricum to Pannonia, where they would presumably have settled. 

In 408 Honorius was in his imperial residence Ravenna (northeast Italy), with access to the Adriatic, surrounded by great almost impenetrable marshes, and far more secure as a western capital than Mediolanum (=Milan). In the autumn, Alaric led his men over the Alps, down the peninsula and blockaded Rome. In December the Senate to raise the siege agreed to pay an enormous indemnity and send an embassy to the emperor to persuade him to make peace with Alaric.

Honorius refused to make an agreement with Alaric. Instead he sent six thousand men from Dalmatia to protect Rome in future. Their commander, ⁰⁴Valens, imprudently engaged Alaric in open warfare and his force was destroyed (409).

At Ravenna the emperor’s advisor Olympius was ousted and his place taken by Jovius, praetorian prefect of Italy, who now proposed a peace conference at Ariminum (=Rimini). Alaric agreed but raised his demands: he wanted the provinces of Noricum, Venetia and Dalmatia for his people, plus a regular subsidy of gold and supplies and the post of magister militum utriusque (master of infantry and cavalry) to secure his position over his own followers. When Honorius refused all this Alaric tried again, demanding only Noricum plus reasonable supplies, proclaiming that his new kingdom would act as a buffer from threats beyond the frontier. These, his latest and more modest demands, were also refused.

Alaric resumed the blockade of Rome (October) and the Senate offered to negotiate. Since it was now obvious that Honorius cared little about the plight of the city, Alaric decided to set up as emperor of Rome, the praefectus urbanus (=urban prefect) of the city, Priscus Attalus, who promptly gave Alaric the military post he had asked for (November). 

Alaric turned his attention to Africa, long regarded as the granary of the Western Empire, to secure regular supplies of food he was seeking for his men. He said that a force should be sent to seize the diocese, but Attalus, confident that he could win Carthage without fighting a battle, sent a small force of soldiers under his officer Constans (1), while he himself marched with Alaric against Ravenna.

Honorius prepared to escape by sea to the East, but he was saved by the timely arrival of a force dispatched from the East by Anthemius. It was only about four thousand men, but enough to hold the marshes around Ravenna against an investing enemy. In Africa the force sent by Attalus was repulsed and its leader killed. Frustrated, Alaric dethroned Attalus and recognized Honorius as the sole emperor in the West.

A settlement now seemed possible and the two men met a few miles outside Ravenna in July 410. But at this point the Gothic officer Sarus brought his troops from Picenum and launched an attack on Alaric’s camp. Suspecting the collusion of Honorius, Alaric broke off negotiations and for the third and last time marched on Rome. On 24 August 410 he forced the Salarian Gate in the northern wall and his troops sacked and pillaged the city for three days.

However, taking the city offered no solution to Alaric’s predicament. He marched his men south to Campania but a storm wrecked his fleet in the Messina Strait and prevented him from crossing to Sicily, where he no doubt intended to obtain food and other supplies, and perhaps land. Returning northwards through Italy he was taken ill and died early in 411.