3/39 Yet Alaric, instead of resenting this act of impotent hostility, immediately renewed his proposals of peace; and the second embassy of the Roman senate, which derived weight and dignity from the presence of Innocent, bishop of the city, was guarded from the dangers of the road by a detachment of Gothic soldiers. [83] [Footnote 82: Zosimus, l.v.p.367 368, 369.] [Footnote 83: Zosimus, l.v.p.360, 361, 362. The bishop, by remaining at Ravenna, escaped the impending calamities of the city. 573.] Olympius [84] might have continued to insult the just resentment of a people who loudly accused him as the author of the public calamities; but his power was undermined by the secret intrigues of the palace. |