he
Goths; but now their leader did not join in it. His eye glowed in
triumphant scorn as he pointed to the prostrate Roman, exclaiming--

'So does the South fall beneath the sword of the North! So shall the
empire bow before the rule of the Goth! Say, as ye look on these
Romans before us, are we not avenged of our wrongs? They die not
fighting on our swords; they live to entreat our pity, as children that
are in terror of the whip!'

He paused. His massive and noble countenance gradually assumed a
thoughtful expression. The ambassadors moved forward a few
steps--perhaps to make a final entreaty, perhaps to depart in despair;
but he signed with his hand in command to them to be silent and remain
where they stood. The marauder's thirst for present plunder, and the
conqueror's lofty ambition of future glory, now stirred in strong
conflict within him. He walked to the opening of the tent, and
thrusting aside its curtain of skins, looked out upon Rome in silence.
The dazzling majesty of the temples and palaces of the mighty city, as
they towered before him, gleaming in the rays of the unclouded
sunlight, fixed him long in contemplation. Gradually, dreams of a
future dominion amid those unrivalled structures, which now waited but
his word to be pillaged and destroyed, filled his aspiring soul, and
saved the city from his wrath. He turned again toward the shrinking
ambassadors--in a voice and look superior to them as a being of a
higher sphere--and spoke thus:--

'When the Gothic conqueror reigns in Italy, the palaces of her rulers
shall be found standing for the places of his sojourn. I will ordain a
lower ransom; I will spare Rome.'

A murmur arose among the warriors behind him. The rapine and
destruction which they had eagerly anticipated was denied them for the
first time by their chief. As their muttered remonstrances caught his
ear, Alaric instantly and sternly fixed his eyes upon them; and,
repeating in accents of deliberate command, 'I will ordain a lower
ransom; I will spare Rome,' steadily scanned the countenances of his
ferocious followers.

Not a word of dissent fell from their lips; not a gesture of impatience
appeared in their ranks; they preserved perfect silence as the king
again advanced towards the ambassadors and continued--

'I fix the ransom of the city at five thousand pounds of gold; at
thirty thousand pounds of silver.'

Here he suddenly ceased, as if pondering further on the term