Three senators, at his earnest request, were sent
ambassadors to the court of Ravenna, to solicit the exchange of hostages
and the conclusion of the treaty; and the proposals, which he more
clearly expressed during the course of the negotiations, could only
inspire a doubt of his sincerity as they might seem inadequate to the
state of his fortune. The Barbarian still aspired to the rank of
master-general of the armies of the West; he stipulated an annual
subsidy of corn and money; and he chose the provinces of Dalmatia,
Noricum, and Venetia for the seat of his new kingdom, which would have
commanded the important communication between Italy and the Danube. If
these modest terms should be rejected, Alaric showed a disposition to
relinquish his pecuniary demands, and even to content himself with the
possession of Noricum; an exhausted and impoverished country perpetually
exposed to the inroads of the Barbarians of Germany.
But the hopes of peace were disappointed by the weak obstinacy, or
interested views, of the minister Olympius. Without listening to the
salutary remonstrances of the senate, he dismissed their ambassadors
under the conduct of a military escort, too numerous for a retinue of
honor and too feeble for an army of defence.
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