Alaric's Last Card

Alaric crossed the Alps in 401 to try his luck at extracting concessions from Milan. It was a risky bet because by crossing the Alps, Alaric was breaking his contract with Constantinople so this was an all or nothing sort of play. He wanted to spook the young emperor Honorius into authorizing subsidies to the Goths that would make up for the subsidies he had given up by Crossing the Alps. The Gothic king initially got bogged down besieging the key fortress city of Aqualae and decided to turn his attention to lower hanging fruit. For the rest of the winter, the Goths ran amok throughout northern Italy, while the Roman authorities could only look on helplessly.