If these modest terms should be rejected, Alaric showed a disposition to relinquish his pecuniary demands, and even to content himself with the possession of Noricum; an exhausted and impoverished country, perpetually exposed to the inroads of the Barbarians of Germany."
Amazingly, the chief minister of Honorius, Olympius, rejected the treaty and its alternatives. He ordered 6,000 troops to march from Ravenna to Rome to reinforce the city. This entire army was destroyed before it reached its destination.