ns, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A military
council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the Gothic nation;
of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in furs, and whose stern
countenances were marked with honorable wounds. They weighed the glory
of persisting in their attempt against the advantage of securing their
plunder; and they recommended the prudent measure of a seasonable
retreat. In this important debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the
conqueror of Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their
achievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating speech by
the solemn and positive assurance that he was resolved to find in Italy
either a kingdom or a grave. [42]

[Footnote 37: Every traveller must recollect the face of Lombardy, (see
Fonvenelle, tom. v. p. 279,) which is often tormented by the capricious
and irregular abundance of waters. The Austrians, before Genoa, were
encamped in the dry bed of the Polcevera. "Ne sarebbe" (says Muratori)
"mai passato per mente a que' buoni Alemanni, che quel picciolo
torrente potesse, per cosi dire, in un instante cangiarsi in un terribil
gigante." (Annali d'Italia, tom. xvi. p. 443, Milan, 1752, 8vo edit.)]

[Footnote 3711: According to Le Beau and his commentator M. St. Martin,
Honorius did not attempt to fly. Settlements were offered to the Goths
in Lombardy, and they advanced from the Po towards the Alps to take
possession of them. But it was a treacherous stratagem of Stilicho, who
surprised them while they were reposing on the faith of this treaty. Le
Beau, v. x.]

[Footnote 38: Claudian does not clearly answer our question, Where was
Honorius himself? Yet the flight is marked by the pursuit; and my idea
of the Gothic was is justified by the Italian critics, Sigonius (tom.
P, ii. p. 369, de Imp. Occident. l. x.) and Muratori, (Annali d'Italia.
tom. iv. p. 45.)]

[Footnote 39: One of the roads may be traced in the Itineraries, (p.
98, 288, 294, with Wesseling's Notes.) Asta lay some miles on the right
hand.]

[Footnote 40: Asta, or Asti, a Roman colony, is now the capital of a
pleasant country, which, in the sixteenth century, devolved to the dukes
of Savoy, (Leandro Alberti Descrizzione d'Italia, p. 382.)]

[Footnote 41: Nec me timor impulit ullus. He might hold this proud
language the next year at Rome, five hundred miles from the scene of
danger (vi. Cons. Hon. 449.)]

[Footnote 42: Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel mor