Page "Honorius (emperor)" Paragraph 31

" At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna received the message from one of the eunuchs, evidently a keeper of the poultry, that Rome had perished.

And he cried out and said, ' And yet it has just eaten from my hands!

' For he had a very large cock, Rome by name ; and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric, and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly: ' But I thought that my fowl Rome had perished.

' So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was possessed.