s house has stood half-burned up to my time; and after plundering the
whole city and destroying the most of the Romans, they moved on. 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, my good fellow, thought that my fowl Rome had
perished." So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was
possessed.

But some say that Rome was not captured in this way by Alaric, but that
Proba, a woman of very unusual eminence in wealth and in fame among the
Roman senatorial class, felt pity for the Romans who were being
destroyed by hunger and the other suffering they endured; for they were
already even tasting each other's flesh; and seeing that every good hope
had left them, since both the river and the harbour were held by the
enemy, she commanded her domestics, they say, to open the gates by
night.

Now when Alaric was about to depart from Rome, he declared Attalus, one
of their nobles, emperor of the Romans, investing him with the diadem
and the purple and whatever else pertains to the imperial dignity. And
he did this with the intention of removing Honorius from his throne and
of giving over the whole power in the West to Attalus. With such a
purpose, then, both Attalus and Alaric were going with a great army
against Ravenna. But this Attalus was neither able to think wisely
himself, nor to be persuaded by one who had wisdom to offer. So while
Alaric did not by any means approve the plan, Attalus sent commanders to
Libya without an army. Thus, then, were these things going on.

And the island of Britain revolted from the Romans, and the soldiers
there chose as their king Constantinus, a man of no mean station. [407
A.D.] And he straightway gathered a fleet of ships and a formidable army
and invaded both Spain and Gaul with a great force, thinking to enslave
these countries. But Honorius was holding ships in readiness and waiting
to see what would happen in Libya, in order that, if those sent by
Attalus were repulsed, he might himself sail for Libya and keep some
portion of his own kingdom, while if matters there s