The Goths evacuated Rome on the sixth day. Weighted down by spoils, they proceeded south through Campania destroying everything in their path. Then, when Alaric reached Rhegium, he decided to cross to Sicily and see what he could find of value there. A crossing was arranged but a storm blew up during the passage that sank many ships. The plan was permanently abandoned when Alaric died unexpectedly.
The sack of Rome is a story of the pride of ages and its refusal to see reason. Oddly, it was the barbarian, Alaric, who was reasonable instead of the Romans. All he wanted for himself, and his people, was land within the empire that would protect them from the Huns. They respected what the Romans had accomplished and sought friendship and affiliation, but the Romans lacked the ability to see the world in its new form.