On December 31, 406, the Rhine frontier was breached by tribes seeking to escape starvation during a harsh winter. In 407, Toulouse was besieged by the Vandals. Under its bishop, Saint Exuperius, the city resisted; the Vandals lifted the siege, moving into Spain and settling in North Africa. "The provinces of Aquitaine and of the Novempopulana (Gascony), of Lyon and of Narbonne are, with the exception of a few cities, one universal scene of desolation. And those which the sword spares without, famine ravages within. I cannot speak without tears of Toulouse which has been kept from failing hitherto by the merits of its reverend bishop Exuperius", wrote Jerome to a Roman widow in 409 ("Letters" cxxiii.16). In 413 (three years after they sacked Rome), the Visigoths under King Ataulf captured Toulouse; under pressure from Roman forces, they soon withdrew south of the Pyrenees. After the murder of Ataulf, his successor Wallia resolved to make peace with Rome. In exchange for peace, in 418 Emperor Honorius gave the Visigoths Aquitania and Toulouse (in Gallia Narbonensis, at the border of Aquitania). The Visigoths chose Palladia Tolosa as their capital, ending Roman rule of the city.