Page "Alaric I" Paragraph 24

Alaric cashiered his ineffectual puppet emperor after eleven months and again tried to reopen negotiations with Honorius.

These negotiations might have succeeded had it not been for the malignant influence of another Goth, Sarus, an Amali, and therefore hereditary enemy of Alaric and his house.

Alaric, again outwitted by an enemy's machinations, marched southward and in deadly earnest, began his third siege of Rome.

Apparently, defence was impossible ; there are hints, not well substantiated, of treachery ; surprise is a more likely explanation.

However, this may be — for our information at this point of the story is meagre — on August 24 410, Alaric and his Visigoths burst in by the Porta Salaria on the northeast of the city.

Rome, for so long victorious against its enemies, was now at the mercy of its foreign conquerors.