The senate, who in this emergency assumed the supreme powers of government, appointed two ambassadors to negotiate with the enemy.

This important trust was delegated to Basilius, a senator, of Spanish extraction, and already conspicuous in the administration of provinces; and to John, the first tribune of the notaries, who was peculiarly qualified, by his dexterity in business, as well as by his former intimacy with the Gothic prince.

When they were introduced into his presence, they declared, perhaps in a more lofty style than became their abject condition, that the Romans were resolved to maintain their dignity, either in peace or war; and that, if Alaric refused them a fair and honorable capitulation, he might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give battle to an innumerable people, exercised in arms, and animated by despair.

"The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed," was the concise reply of the Barbarian; and this rustic metaphor was accompanied by a loud and insulting laugh, expressive of his contempt for the menaces of an unwarlike populace, enervated by luxury before they were emaciated by famine.

He then condescended to fix the ransom, which he would accept as the price of his retreat from the walls of Rome: _all_ the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the property of the state, or of individuals; _all_ the rich and precious movables; and _all_ the slaves that could prove their title to the name of _Barbarians_.