Alaric was a Christian and a soldier, the leader of a disciplined army; who understood the laws of war, who respected the sanctity of treaties, and who had familiarly conversed with the subjects of the empire in the same camps, and the same churches.

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.

[75] [7511] [Footnote 70: Cujus agendi Spectator vel causa fui, -- -( Claudian, vi.Cons.Hon.