Alaric, al'a-rik (376?-410), king of the Visigoths. The name is from the Gothic al reiks, all ruler. The date of his birth is uncertain, but Alaric was born on the island of Peuce in the Danube. He belonged to a princely family, members of a Gothic horde in the Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire. In 394 we find Alaric, at the head of a body of Gothic auxiliaries, employed by Emperor Theodosius the Great in putting down a revolt at the head of the Adriatic, in what is now Austrian territory. Theodosius, dying, left his empire to be ruled jointly by his two sons-Arcadius to rule the east at Constantinople; Honorius to rule the west at Ravenna. Both were weak. Alaric was declared king of the Visigoths and threw off allegiance to the empire. He began a series of invasions. He entered Greece in 396, but was met by Stilicho, a huge Vandal in the service of Honorius, and was compelled to withdraw. Seemingly to keep him still, Alaric was made prefect of a large district on the Danube. In 400 Alaric appeared in northern Italy at the head of a large force. He was met by Stilicho again, and was so far defeated that he accepted a second prefecture. Honorius, like many weak rulers, was jealous and suspicious. He caused Stilicho, the one mind in his service, to be murdered. In 408 Alaric rose again. For the first time since the day of Hannibal, Rome saw a hostile army at the gates. The inhabitants were reduced to the verge of starvation. Asked to name terms, Alaric offered to withdraw if given "all the gold and silver in the city, whether public or private property; all portable property of value, and all slaves of barbarian origin." Finally the Goth was induced to accept "five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand of silver, four thousand silken robes, three thousand pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds of pepper." The last item suggests the scarcity of the latter article, and the esteem in which it was held. To raise the whole ransom required the most strenuous exertions on the part of the city. The ransom was arranged in 409. A short year later, Honorius and Alaric fell out, and the Goth marched into the city August 24, 410, and gave his soldiers liberty to plunder for six days. Though called barbarians, the Goths had been converted to nominal Christianity. Comparatively few lives were taken. The churches were spared and church property was not molested. By a curious coincidence Alaric's pillage occurred just eight hundred years later than the sack of Rome by Brennus, the Gaul. From Rome Alaric led his host southward, intending to subjugate Sicily and to found an empire in Africa. Death cut short his plans. His followers made their slaves turn aside the stream of the Busentinus, in southern Italy. In the bed of the river the body of the chieftain was buried, and the stream restored to its course. The slaves who had done the work were then killed, that no enemy might know the burial-place of the great leader. The followers of Alaric, it may be said, made terms with the Roman emperor and went westward into Gaul and Spain, where they founded a Visigothic kingdom which came to an end early in the eighth century. It is not known to what extent Alaric was influenced by Christianity and by civilization. He was a leader of ability and ambition. He taught the hordes of Europe the road to Rome, and paved the way for subsequent invasions. See GOTHS; VANDALS; STILICHO.