ess of these buildings,
which often consisted of hasty work and insufficient materials, was the
cause of frequent and fatal accidents; and it was repeatedly enacted by
Augustus, as well as by Nero, that the height of private edifices within
the walls of Rome, should not exceed the measure of seventy feet
from the ground. III. Juvenal laments, as it should seem from his own
experience, the hardships of the poorer citizens, to whom he addresses
the salutary advice of emigrating, without delay, from the smoke
of Rome, since they might purchase, in the little towns of Italy, a
cheerful commodious dwelling, at the same price which they annually paid
for a dark and miserable lodging. House-rent was therefore immoderately
dear: the rich acquired, at an enormous expense, the ground, which they
covered with palaces and gardens; but the body of the Roman people was
crowded into a narrow space; and the different floors, and apartments,
of the same house, were divided, as it is still the custom of Paris, and
other cities, among several families of plebeians. IV. The total number
of houses in the fourteen regions of the city, is accurately stated in
the description of Rome, composed under the reign of Theodosius, and
they amount to forty-eight thousand three hundred and eighty-two. The
two classes of _domus_ and of _insul_, into which they are divided,
include all the habitations of the capital, of every rank and condition
from the marble palace of the Anicii, with a numerous establishment of
freedmen and slaves, to the lofty and narrow lodging-house, where
the poet Codrus and his wife were permitted to hire a wretched garret
immediately under the files. If we adopt the same average, which,
under similar circumstances, has been found applicable to Paris, and
indifferently allow about twenty-five persons for each house, of every
degree, we may fairly estimate the inhabitants of Rome at twelve hundred
thousand: a number which cannot be thought excessive for the capital
of a mighty empire, though it exceeds the populousness of the greatest
cities of modern Europe.

Such was the state of Rome under the reign of Honorius; at the time when
the Gothic army formed the siege, or rather the blockade, of the city.
By a skilful disposition of his numerous forces, who impatiently watched
the moment of an assault, Alaric encompassed the walls, commanded the
twelve principal gates, intercepted all communication with the adjacent
country, and vigil