Note 522 — BOOK XII[500]
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
Galla Placidia (circa 388-450 or 451), daughter of Theodosius the Great, sister of Honorius and mother of Valentinian III. Her adventures indeed form the strangest of romances. Born at Constantinople, she was taken prisoner at the siege of Rome by Alaric and carried off in captivity. Atawulf, Alaric's brother-in-law, became smitten with her and married her. After his death, she married Constantius, one of Honorius' generals, who soon assumed the title of Constantius III. After being first the slave and then the Queen of the Visigoths, she governed the Western Empire in the name of her infant son. Her tomb is at Ravenna.—B.