act that all was lost. Eleven hundred and
sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, and eight hundred years
after its capture by the Gauls, it had again become the prey of
barbarians, and the imperial mistress of the world was delivered to the
fury of the German and Gothic hordes.

Alaric, while permitting his followers to plunder at discretion, bade
them to spare the lives of the unresisting; but thousands of Romans were
slain, and the forty thousand slaves who had joined his ranks revenged
themselves on their former masters with pitiless rage. Conflagration
added to the horrors, and fire spread far over the captured city. The
Goths held Rome only for six days, but in that time depleted it
frightfully of its wealth. The costly furniture, the massive plate, the
robes of silk and purple, were piled without stint into their wagons,
and numerous works of art were wantonly destroyed.

But Alaric and many of his followers were Christians, and the treasures
of the Church escaped. A Christian Goth broke into the dwelling of an
aged woman, and demanded all the gold and silver she possessed. To his
astonishment, she showed him a hoard of massive plate, of the most
curious workmanship. As he looked at it with wonder and delight, she
solemnly said,--

"These are the consecrated vessels belonging to St. Peter. If you
presume to touch them, your conscience must answer for the sacrilege.
For me, I dare not keep what I am not able to defend."

The Goth, struck with awe by her words, sent word to Alaric of what he
had found, and received an order that all this consecrated treasure
should be transported without damage to St. Peter's Church. A remarkable
spectacle, never before seen in a captured city, followed. From the
Quirinal Hill to the distant Vatican marched a long train of devout
Goths, bearing on their heads the sacred vessels of gold and silver, and
guarded on each side by a detachment of their armed companions, while
the martial shouts of the barbarians mingled with the hymns of devotees.
A crowd of Christians flocked from the houses to join the procession,
and through its sheltering aid a multitude of fugitives escaped to the
secure retreat of the Vatican.

Not satisfied with plundering the city, the conquerors ended by selling
its citizens, save those who could ransom themselves, for slaves. Many
of these were redeemed by the benevolent, but as a result of the taking
of Rome hosts of indigent fugitives were scatte