The savage Radagaisus was a stranger to the manners, the religion, and even the language, of the civilized nations of the South.
The fierceness of his temper was exasperated by cruel superstition; and it was universally believed, that he had bound himself, by a solemn vow, to reduce the city into a heap of stones and ashes, and to sacrifice the most illustrious of the Roman senators on the altars of those gods who were appeased by human blood.

The public danger, which should have reconciled all domestic animosities, displayed the incurable madness of religious faction.

The oppressed votaries of Jupiter and Mercury respected, in the implacable enemy of Rome, the character of a devout Pagan; loudly declared, that they were more apprehensive of the sacrifices, than of the arms, of Radagaisus; and secretly rejoiced in the calamities of their country, which condemned the faith of their Christian adversaries.
Florence was reduced to the last extremity; and the fainting courage of the citizens was supported only by the authority of St.Ambrose; who had communicated, in a dream, the promise of a speedy deliverance.

On a sudden, they beheld, from their walls, the banners of Stilicho, who advanced, with his united force, to the relief of the faithful city; and who soon marked that fatal spot for the grave of the Barbarian host.

The apparent contradictions of those writers who variously relate the defeat of Radagaisus, may be reconciled without offering much violence to their respective testimonies.