Editing Alaric I (section)

=== First invasion of Italy ({{circa}} 401–403) ===
{{Main|Gothic War (401-403)}}
According to historian [[Michael Kulikowski]], sometime in the spring of 402 Alaric decided to invade Italy, but no sources from antiquity indicate to what purpose.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2019|p=122}}{{efn|Some lines from the Roman poet [[Claudian]] inform us that he heard a voice proceeding from a [[sacred grove]], "Away with delay, Alaric; boldly cross the Italian Alps this year and thou shalt reach the city."{{sfn|Claudian|1922|p=165 [XXVI.545]}}}} Burns suggests that Alaric was probably desperate for provisions.{{sfn|Burns|1994|p=190}} Using Claudian as his source, historian [[Guy Halsall]] reports that Alaric's attack actually began in late 401, but since Stilicho was in ''Raetia'' "dealing with frontier issues" the two did not first confront one another in Italy until 402.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=201}} Alaric's entry into Italy followed the route identified in the poetry of Claudian, as he crossed the peninsula's Alpine frontier near the city of [[Aquileia]].{{sfn|Boin|2020|p=139}} For a period of six to nine months, there were reports of Gothic attacks along the northern Italian roads, where Alaric was spotted by Roman townspeople.{{sfn|Boin|2020|p=140}} Along the route on ''[[Via Postumia]]'', Alaric first encountered Stilicho.{{sfn|Boin|2020|pp=140–141}}

Two battles were fought. The first was at [[Battle of Pollentia|Pollentia]] on Easter Sunday, where Stilicho (according to Claudian) achieved an impressive victory, taking Alaric's wife and children prisoner, and more significantly, seizing much of the treasure that Alaric had amassed over the previous five years' worth of plundering.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2019|p=135}}{{efn|Stilicho's enemies later reproached him for not having finished off the enemy by slaying them in their entirety.{{sfn|Bunson|1995|p=12}}}} Pursuing the retreating forces of Alaric, Stilicho offered to return the prisoners but was refused. The second battle was at [[Battle of Verona (402)|Verona]],{{sfn|Kulikowski|2019|p=135}} where Alaric was defeated for a second time. Stilicho once again offered Alaric a truce and allowed him to withdraw from Italy. Kulikowski explains this confusing, if not outright conciliatory behavior by stating, "given Stilicho's cold war with Constantinople, it would have been foolish to destroy as biddable and violent a potential weapon as Alaric might well prove to be".{{sfn|Kulikowski|2019|p=135}} Halsall's observations are similar, as he contends that the Roman general's "decision to permit Alaric's withdrawal into ''Pannonia'' makes sense if we see Alaric's force entering Stilicho's service, and Stilicho's victory being less total than Claudian would have us believe".{{sfn|Halsall|2007|pp=201–202}} Perhaps more revealing is a report from the Greek historian [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]]—writing a half a century later—that indicates an agreement was concluded between Stilicho and Alaric in 405, which suggests Alaric being in "western service at that point", likely stemming from arrangements made back in 402.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=202}}{{efn|While Alaric had not penetrated into the city, his invasion of Italy still produced important results. It caused the imperial residence to be transferred from [[Milan]] to [[Ravenna]], and necessitated the withdrawal of [[Legio XX Valeria Victrix|Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'']] from Britain.{{sfn|Hodgkin|1911|p=471}}}} Between 404 and 405, Alaric remained in one of the four ''Pannonian'' provinces, from where he could "play East off against West while potentially threatening both".{{sfn|Kulikowski|2019|p=135}}

Historian A.D. Lee observes, "Alaric's return to the north-west Balkans brought only temporary respite to Italy, for in 405 another substantial body of Goths and other barbarians, this time from outside the empire, crossed the middle Danube and advanced into northern Italy, where they plundered the countryside and besieged cities and towns" under their leader [[Radagaisus]].{{sfn|Lee|2013|p=112}} Although the imperial government was struggling to muster enough troops to contain these barbarian invasions, Stilicho managed to stifle the threat posed by the tribes under Radagaisus, when the latter split his forces into three separate groups. Stilicho cornered Radagaisus near Florence and starved the invaders into submission.{{sfn|Lee|2013|p=112}}{{efn|Historian [[Walter Goffart]] points out that while many sources identify Radagaisus as an Ostrogoth, he and his forces were likely composed of "odds and ends of peoples who crossed into the empire" and that their documented numbers have been inflated.{{sfn|Goffart|2006|p=78}}}} Meanwhile, Alaric—bestowed with codicils of ''magister militum'' by Stilicho and now supplied by the West—awaited for one side or the other to incite him to action as Stilicho faced further difficulties from more barbarians.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2006|pp=170–171}}