326 THE DECLINE AND FALL remained in the age of Justinian, a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration, 1'^ Yet a contemporary historian has ob- served that fire could scarcely consume the enormous beams of solid brass, and that the strength of man was insufficient to subvert the foundations of ancient structures. Some truth may possibly be concealed in his devout assertion that the Avrath of Heaven supplied the imperfections of hostile rage, and that the proud Forum of Rome, decorated with the statues of so many gods and heroes, was levelled in the dust by the stroke of lightning.i^^ furitivea*"^ Whatever might be the numbers, of equestrian or plebeian rank, who perished in the massacre of Rome, it is confidently affirmed that only one senator lost his life by the sword of the enemy.i^- But it was not easy to compute the multitudes, who, from an honourable station and a prosperous fortune, were suddenly reduced to the miserable condition of captives and exiles. As the Barbarians had more occasion for money than for slaves, they fixed at a moderate price the redemption of their indigent prisoners ; and the ransom was often paid by the benevolence of their friends or the charity of strangers. ii^ The captives, who were regularly sold, either in open market or by private contract, would have legally regained their native freedom, which it was impossible for a citizen to lose or to the church of St. Susanna, separated only by a street from the baths of Diocletian, and not far distant from the Salarian gate. See Nardini, Roma Antica, p. 192, 193, and the great Plan of Modern Rome, by Nolli. 11" The expressions of Procopius are distinct and moderate (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 2). The Chronicle of Marcellinus speaks too strongly, partem urbis Romae cremavit ; and the words of Philoslorgius ((v epeimois &k ttjt TrdAews Kn^en)?, 1. xii. c. 3) convey a false and exaggerated idea. Bargaeus has composed a particular dissertation (see toni. iv. Anliquit. Rom. Gra^v.) to prove that the edifices of Rome were not subvened by the Goths and Vandals. [On the forbearance of the Goths to Rome, see Gregor'ovius. Rome in the Middle Ages, i. p. 158 S(/f. (Eng. tr.).] Ill Orosius, 1. ii. c. 19, p. 143. He speaks as if he disapproved all statues ; vel Deum vel hominem mentiimtur. They consisted of the kings of Alba and Rome from ^-ncas, the Romans, illustrious either in arms or arts, and the deified Caesars. The expression which he uses of Forum is somewhat ambiguous, since there existed Jfve principal Foni ; but, as they were all contiguous and adjacent, in the plain which is surrounded by the C^apitoline, the Quirinal, the Esquiline, and the Palatine hills, they might fairly be considered as one. See the Roma Antiqua of Donatus, p. 162-201, and the Roma Antica of Nardini, p. 212-273. The former is more useful for the ancient descriptions, the latter for the actual topography. 1'- Orosius (1. ii. c. ig, p. 142) compares the cruelty of the Gauls and the clemency of the Goths. Ibi vix quemquam inventum senatorem, qui vel absens evaserit ; hie vix quemquam requiri, qui forte ut latens perierit. But there is an air of rhetoric, and perhaps of falsehood, in this antithesis ; and Socrates (1. vii. c. 10) affirms, perhaps by an opposite exaggeration, that wawj senators were putto death with various and exquisite tortures. 11^ Multi . . . Christian! in caplivitatem ducti sunt, Augustin, de Civ. Dei, 1. L c. 14 ; and the Christians experienced no peculiar hardships.
