[Sidenote: A.D. 408.]
2. The feeble successors of Stil'icho had made no preparations for
resistance; they retired with their master into the fortress of
Raven'na, while the Goths, spreading ruin in their march, advanced to
the very walls of Rome. Six hundred years had now elapsed since an
enemy had appeared to threaten THE ETERNAL CITY; a worse foe than
Hannibal was now at their gates, and the citizens were more disabled
by luxury from attempting a defence, than their ancestors had been by
the carnage of Can'nae.[1] 3. The strength of the walls deterred the
Goth from attempting a regular siege, but he subjected the city to a
strict blockade. Famine, and its usual attendant, pestilence, soon
began to waste the miserable Romans; but even the extreme of misery
could not induce them to sally forth, and try their fortune in the
field. They purchased the retreat of Al'aric by the sacrifice of their
wealth; and the victorious Goth formed his winter quarters in Tuscany,
where his army was reinforced by more than forty thousand of his
countrymen who had been enslaved by the Romans.
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