Paying off Alaric

Getting caught up on all the Sack of London stuff after being laid up sick means a bit of a long post.

As you can probably tell, I cannot help but see dangerous parallels between the riots in London, and by extension Philadelphia, Milwaukee, etc., and the Sack of Rome in 410 AD by Goths under the chieftain Alaric, that highlighted the complete failure of Roman government and heralded the downfall of the Western Empire some 66 years later.  First, take a look at the, um, "career" of Alaric:

In 394, Alaric served as a leader of foederati under Theodosius I in the campaign which crushed the usurper Eugenius. As the Battle of the Frigidus, which terminated this campaign, was fought at the passes of the Julian Alps, Alaric probably learned the weakness of Italy's natural defences on its northeastern frontier at the head of the Adriatic.

Theodosius died in 395, leaving the empire to be divided between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius, the former taking the eastern and the latter, the western portion of the empire. Arcadius showed little interest in ruling, leaving most of the actual power to his Praetorian Prefect Rufinus. Honorius was still a minor; as his guardian, Theodosius had appointed the magister militum Stilicho. Stilicho also claimed to be the guardian of Arcadius, causing much rivalry between the western and eastern courts.

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