Alaric’s Demands: Noricae and Grain
In 409, Alaric asked the Western court for the two Norican provinces and regular grain, a settlement calibrated to Rome’s fears and needs. Zosimus preserves the tone: bread and borders, not purple or office. Behind the moderation lay steel—camps outside Rome and the sound of negotiations held under duress.
What Happened
After years of marching between Illyricum and Italy, Alaric knew what Rome could afford and what it could not ignore. He wanted legitimacy and provisioning more than titles. Zosimus records a specific offer: grant the two Noricae and provide annual corn, and the Goths would keep peace with the empire [3]. It was a demand crafted as policy rather than plunder, but it was backed by an army at Rome’s gates.
The places mattered. Noricum Mediterraneum and Noricum Ripense bordered the upper Danube and the Alps, a buffer between Italy and the Danubian world. Granting them would give the Goths land that could sustain them without exposing the Italian core. Grain—measured in thousands of modii from Ravenna’s and Rome’s storehouses—would bind the arrangement with predictable logistics. It was a federate logic refined from the 382 settlement [1][3].
In Ravenna, ministers listened under the shadow of the palatine walls and the marsh’s green hush. They could hear, across messengers’ reports, the creak of siege engines being readied near the Porta Salaria and the murmur of senators in the Forum of Trajan. A settlement could save Rome; it could also ratify a precedent: that federate leaders could name provinces like menu items if they marched boldly enough [2][3][15].
Zosimus’ account includes another needle: in the same breath that he lists Alaric’s demands, he notes the court’s recourse to Hunnic horse. The juxtaposition is the point. Rome answered a federate bargaining chip with a mercenary counter. Neither answer restored Roman control of the terms [3][15].
Alaric did not ask for office, and that was itself a statement. He wanted autonomy and supplies, not to be folded into a hierarchy he did not trust. His Goths wore cloaks stained with travel and shields painted in deep red; their campfires ringed the city that had never fallen to a foreign army in eight centuries. The message was quiet but unmistakable: we can serve, we will be fed, we will not be absorbed.
Negotiations seesawed. Some at court urged compliance; others counseled delay and hoped the Huns’ arrival would stiffen spines. Delay won. So did Alaric.
Why This Matters
Alaric’s calibrated demands revealed how federate leverage operated: request limited territory and predictable grain rather than imperial office, and present the request with an army poised to take more. The court’s hesitation and reliance on hired Huns confirmed to Alaric that Rome no longer dictated but bargained [2][3][15].
The episode embodies the theme of federate militarization inside the empire. The state had embedded Gothic arms in 382; by 409 a Gothic king used that embedded position to shape imperial policy. Rome could either fund Goths as federates or face them as besiegers. Both choices implied autonomy for non‑Roman leaders inside the Roman world [1][3].
This bargaining prefigured the sack of 410. When payments lagged and promises evaporated, Alaric escalated. The two Noricae—names on a map—transformed into a demonstration in Rome’s streets of whose demands mattered. The sack would be a punctuation mark, not a change in grammar.
For historians, Zosimus’ preserved dialogue is invaluable: it turns abstract “barbarian pressure” into a list of items—provinces, corn, auxiliaries—that shows how the late empire converted sovereignty into logistics under duress [2][3][15].
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