midnight
Women and children , urged by curiosity , crouched on the thresholds of the houses . As the day advanced , even the populations of the nearest towns and villages -- principally consisting of sorrowing Goths -- streamed into the gates of the city to hear the news . The counsellors of the King , pre-eminently the pretorian prefect , Cassiodorus , who earned great praise for preserving order in those days , had foreseen this excitement , and perhaps expected something worse . At midnight all the entrances to the palace had been closed , and guarded by Goths . In the Forum Honorum , before the palace , a troop of cavalry had been placed . On the broad marble steps that led up to the grand colonnade of the principal entrance , lay , in picturesque groups , strong companies of Gothic foot-soldiers , armed with shield and spear . Only there , according to the order of Cassiodorus , could admittance be gained to the palace , and only the two leaders of the infantry -- Cyprian , the Roman , and Witichis , the Goth , were allowed to grant permission to enter .