tum.]

In the sack of Rome, some rare and extraordinary examples of Barbarian
virtue have been deservedly applauded. But the holy precincts of
the Vatican, and the apostolic churches, could receive a very small
proportion of the Roman people; many thousand warriors, more especially
of the Huns, who served under the standard of Alaric, were strangers
to the name, or at least to the faith, of Christ; and we may suspect,
without any breach of charity or candor, that in the hour of savage
license, when every passion was inflamed, and every restraint was
removed, the precepts of the Gospel seldom influenced the behavior of
the Gothic Christians. The writers, the best disposed to exaggerate
their clemency, have freely confessed, that a cruel slaughter was made
of the Romans; [101] and that the streets of the city were filled
with dead bodies, which remained without burial during the general
consternation. The despair of the citizens was sometimes converted into
fury: and whenever the Barbarians were provoked by opposition, they
extended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble, the innocent, and the
helpless. The private revenge of forty thousand slaves was exercised
without pity or remorse; and the ignominious lashes, which they had
formerly received, were washed away in the blood of the guilty, or
obnoxious, families. The matrons and virgins of Rome were exposed to
injuries more dreadful, in the apprehension of chastity, than death
itself; and the ecclesiastical historian has selected an example of
female virtue, for the admiration of future ages. [102] A Roman lady, of
singular beauty and orthodox faith, had excited the impatient desires
of a young Goth, who, according to the sagacious remark of Sozomen, was
attached to the Arian heresy. Exasperated by her obstinate resistance,
he drew his sword, and, with the anger of a lover, slightly wounded her
neck. The bleeding heroine still continued to brave his resentment,
and to repel his love, till the ravisher desisted from his unavailing
efforts, respectfully conducted her to the sanctuary of the Vatican, and
gave six pieces of gold to the guards of the church, on condition that
they should restore her inviolate to the arms of her husband. Such
instances of courage and generosity were not extremely common. The
brutal soldiers satisfied their sensual appetites, without consulting
either the inclination or the duties of their female captives: and a
nice question of casuistry was s