The Visigoths led by King Alaric besieged Rome

“It was at length agreed that the city should give 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver… Palladius was not able to complete the whole sum … they (e.g. the Romans) not only robbed statues of their ornaments but also melted down some of them that were made of gold and silver. Source: Tertillian.org. Zosimus, New History. 5^th book. Green and Chaplin (1814)