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 a commander in whom they had a confidence approaching to devotion. Their first action against the city itself was rather in the nature of a blockade, for they cut off all communication with it by land, while they held the mouths of the Tiber; hence, in spite of their rage and humiliation, the Romans saw at once that they had no alternative but submission, and it is to the credit of the victorious leader of the Goths that the terms he imposed were neither severe nor extravagant.

From Rome Alaric continued his march into Tuscany, where vast numbers of enslaved barbarians flocked to his standard; so that with the reinforcement of a large body of Goths and Huns, who had fought their way from the banks of the Danube, he had now, under his command, an army sufficient to overawe the whole of Italy. By this time the prestige of Rome had gone for ever; she was now destined to become the frequent prey of the barbarians of the north, till the tribes of Germany and Scythia, who had so long coveted her wealth, at length accomplished her destruction.

The first half of the century which saw Rome blockaded was full of events, all tending towards her final overthrow. Spain, separated from the enemies of Rome by her insular position and the Pyrenean mountains, had been almost undisturbed for four hundred years by foreign invaders or civil wars. It was her turn now. Ten months after Alaric's attack on the capital, the Vandals and other barbarous tribes found their way thither, and plundered her rich and prosperous cities, her valuable mines, and her fruitful plains. Soon afterwards Africa revolted; the consul,