been in Pannonia; but the question is then, in what part of Pannonia? they cannot have been on the north of the Danube. The whole epoch is very confused, and new materials are not to be found; yet I believe that by carefully and closely sifting the existing materials, many a question might be solved which Gibbon and others did not even put to themselves.—Alaric, not unlikely at the instigation of the eastern empire, now appears in the West. Honorius then held his court at Milan, which since Maximian had often become the abode of the emperor, and a regular capital; yet Milan, although very strongly fortified, and in the midst of a large plain, could not feel safe to Honorius, and therefore, when Alaric was advancing from Aquileia, he fled across the Alps. But at Asti in Piedmont he was already hemmed in by the Goths, when Stilicho came to his rescue, bringing with him all the forces that he could muster: these, however, consisted almost wholly of barbarians. Not only literature and creative genius, but also the spirit of bravery had died away: the Italians were now a mere helpless rabble; there was no making troops out of them. Even in our days, the States of the Church and Naples could not make head against a determined army of six thousand men: a few thousand Algerines might sack Rome, if they were but aware of this weakness. On Easter Day, Stilicho with his army fell upon the Goths near Pollentia in Montferrat, and gained a victory: fanaticism brought it as a crime against him that he had given battle on the holy day. The Goths, though not dispersed, had to think of retreating. Alaric, however, made a bold forward movement against Rome; but was pursued by Stilicho, and, after a second unlucky fight, concluded a convention by which he withdrew from Italy. Honorius had a triumph, and built a triumphal arch, which was still standing in the fourteenth century, when, alas! it was demolished. There exists another monument of that time, the inscription on a gate (_Porta S. Lorenzo_), in which one sees the traces of Stilicho’s name, who restored the walls, _egestis immensibus ruderibus_. Aurelian in fact had fortified Rome; but as the walls had got since then into a very bad state, they were now once more repaired. It was no doubt on this occasion, that the _Monte Testaccio_ was thrown up, as before that time the city wall was quite buried under a mass of rubbish: it is a marsh which has been filled up with potsherds.