98. Adest Alaricus, trepidam Romam obsidet, turbat,
irrumpit. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 39, p. 573. He despatches this
great event in seven words; but he employs whole pages in
celebrating the devotion of the Goths. I have extracted from
an improbable story of Procopius the circumstances which had
an air of probability. Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 2
[tom. i. p. 315, ed. Bonn]. He supposes that the city was
surprised while the senators slept in the afternoon; but
Jerom, with more authority and more reason, affirms that it
was in the night, nocte Moab capta est; nocte cecidit murus
ejus, tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam [Epist. cxxvii. c. 12,
tom. i. p. 953, ed. Vallars ]