At the head of an army encumbered with rich and weighty spoils,
their intrepid leader advanced along the Appian way into the southern
provinces of Italy, destroying whatever dared to oppose his passage, and
contenting himself with the plunder of the unresisting country.
Above four years elapsed from the successful invasion of Italy by the
arms of Alaric to the voluntary retreat of the Goths under the conduct
of his successor Adolphus; and during the whole time they reigned
without control over a country which, in the opinion of the ancients,
had united all the various excellences of nature and art. The
prosperity, indeed, which Italy had attained in the auspicious age of
the Antonines had gradually declined with the decline of the Empire. The
fruits of a long peace perished under the rude grasp of the Barbarians;
and they themselves were incapable of tasting the more elegant
refinements of luxury which had been prepared for the use of the soft
and polished Italians. Each soldier, however, claimed an ample portion
of the substantial plenty, the corn and cattle, oil and wine that was
daily collected and consumed in the Gothic camp; and the principal
warriors insulted the villas and gardens, once inhabited by Lucullus and
Cicero, along the beauteous coast of Campania.
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