us,
the Oglio, and the Addua, which, in the winter or spring, by the fall of
rains, or by the melting of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad
and impetuous torrents. [37] But the season happened to be remarkably
dry: and the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and
stony beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow
stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a strong
detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached the walls,
or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud satisfaction of
seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him. Honorius, accompanied
by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs, hastily retreated towards
the Alps, with a design of securing his person in the city of Arles,
which had often been the royal residence of his predecessors. [3711] But
Honorius [38] had scarcely passed the Po, before he was overtaken by
the speed of the Gothic cavalry; [39] since the urgency of the danger
compelled him to seek a temporary shelter within the fortifications of
Asta, a town of Liguria or Piemont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus.
[40] The siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize,
and seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed,
and indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold
declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his breast
had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably obtain much credit,
even in his own court. [41] In the last, and almost hopeless
extremity, after the Barbarians had already proposed the indignity of
a capitulation, the Imperial captive was suddenly relieved by the fame,
the approach, and at length the presence, of the hero, whom he had so
long expected. At the head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho
swam the stream of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost
in the attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of
much less hazard and difficulty; and the successful action, in which he
cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of Asta, revived the
hopes, and vindicated the honor, of Rome. Instead of grasping the fruit
of his victory, the Barbarian was gradually invested, on every side, by
the troops of the West, who successively issued through all the passes
of the Alps; his quarters were straitened; his convoys were
intercepted; and the vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain
of fortificatio