But once inside Roman borders, they were grossly abused: they were, for example, given land they couldn’t farm, their women were frequently raped, and they were also often forced to sell their children into slavery in return for food. Sooner rather than later they were bound to strike back! In other instances, Goths and Visigoths in Rome were provoked into acts of hostility by Roman officials who abrogated agreements and broke promises. “sacking” of Rome of 410, when Visigoths under King Alaric marched into the great city and allegedly “ sacked and plundered” it In 410 C.E., the Visigoths, led by Alaric, breached the walls of Rome and sacked the capital of the Roman Empire. , who for the most part followed the lead of the famous Church father Augustine of Hippo who around 420 wrote The City of God, one long lamentation about this “sacking’ in which he simultaneously condemns the pagan “barbarian hordes” who perpetrated the attack and pronounce divine judgment on the city’s professing Christians for their lapses. The Visigoths looted, burned, and pillaged their way through the city, leaving a wake of destruction wherever they went. The plundering CONTINUED for three days. For the first time in nearly a millennium, the city of Rome was in the hands of someone other than the Romans. This was the first