[Footnote 52: Taceo de Alarico... saepe visto, saepe concluso, semperque
dimisso. Orosius, l. vii. c. 37, p. 567. Claudian (vi. Cons. Hon. 320)
drops the curtain with a fine image.]

The citizens of Rome had been astonished by the approach of Alaric;
and the diligence with which they labored to restore the walls of the
capital, confessed their own fears, and the decline of the empire.
After the retreat of the Barbarians, Honorius was directed to accept
the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to celebrate, in the Imperial
city, the auspicious aera of the Gothic victory, and of his sixth
consulship. [53] The suburbs and the streets, from the Milvian bridge to
the Palatine mount, were filled by the Roman people, who, in the space
of a hundred years, had only thrice been honored with the presence
of their sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where
Stilicho was deservedly seated by the side of his royal pupil, they
applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like that of
Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The procession passed
under a lofty arch, which had been purposely erected: but in less than
seven years, the Gothic conquerors of Rome might read, if they were able
to read, the superb inscription of that monument, which attested the
total defeat and destruction of their nation. [54] The emperor resided
several months in the capital, and every part of his behavior was
regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy, the
senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his frequent
visits and liberal gifts to the shrines of the apostles. The senate,
who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused from the humiliating
ceremony of preceding on foot the Imperial chariot, was treated with the
decent reverence which Stilicho always affected for that assembly.
The people was repeatedly gratified by the attention and courtesy of
Honorius in the public games, which were celebrated on that occasion
with a magnificence not unworthy of the spectator. As soon as the
appointed number of chariot-races was concluded, the decoration of
the Circus was suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded
a various and splendid entertainment; and the chase was succeeded by a
military dance, which seems, in the lively description of Claudian, to
present the image of a modern tournament.

[Footnote 53: The remainder of Claudian's poem on the sixth consulship
of Honorius,