Page "Honorius (emperor)" Paragraph 27

Whether this plan could have worked is perhaps debatable.

In any case it was overtaken by events.

Stricken by starvation, somebody opened Rome's defenses to Alaric and the Goths poured in.

The city had not been under the control of a foreign force since an invasion of Gauls some eight centuries before.

The sack itself was notably mild as sacks go ; Churches and religious statuary went unharmed for example.

The psychological blow to the Romans was considerably more painful.

The shock of this event reverberated from Britain to Jerusalem, and inspired Augustine to write his magnum opus, The City of God.