Theodosius, "the friend of the Goths," died in
395 A.D., leaving the defense of the Roman world to his weakling sons, Arcadius
and Honorius. In the same year the Visigoths raised one of their young nobles,
named Alaric, upon a shield and with joyful shouts acclaimed him as their king.
The Visigothic leader despised the service of Rome. His people, he thought,
should be masters, not servants. Alaric determined to lead them into the very
heart of the empire, where they might find fertile lands and settle once for
all.
ALARIC IN GREECE AND ITALY
Alaric at first fixed his attention on Constantinople.
Realizing, at length, how hopeless would be the siege of that great city, he
turned toward the west and descended upon Greece. The Germans marched unopposed
through the pass of Thermopylae and devastated central Greece, as the Persians
had done nearly nine centuries before. Then the barbarians entered the
Peloponnesus, but were soon driven out by Stilicho, a German chieftain who had
risen to the command of the army of Honorius. Alaric gave up Greece only to
invade Italy. Before long the Goths crossed the Julian Alps and entered the
rich and defenseless valley of the Po. To meet the crisis the legions were
hastily called in, even from the distant frontiers. Stilicho formed them into a
powerful army, beat back the enemy, and captured the Visigothic camp, filled
with the spoil of Greek cities. In the eyes of the Romans Stilicho seemed a
second Marius, who had arisen in an hour of peril to save Italy from its
barbarian foes.
