“When I emphasized how desperately the Huns needed
trade with Rome — to get iron weapons, real shields
instead of bone, real bits and stirrups instead of wood —
Rome the rooster suddenly reared up, opened its golden
beak, and crowed loud enough to shake the rafters.
The signal horns joined in with a blast. Tubae signiferæ uno
impetu concrepuerunt.
And Honorius... burst into gleeful, childlike laughter.
"My golden-throated Rome crows at the start of the third
hour every day — just as it does at the third hour of night.
My Rome, Roma gallus cordis mei, crows twice, three times
a day! And my Rome... is a prophet. A divine seer!”