Chap, xlii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 407 escaped into the citadel, which they maintained without any hopes of relief, rejecting the fairest terms of capitulation and service, till they were lost in the flames. They died in obedi- ence to the commands of their prince ; and such examples of loyalty and valour might excite their countrymen to deeds of equal despair and more prosperous event. The instant demoli- tion of the works of Petra confessed the astonishment and apprehension of the conqueror. A Spartan would have praised and pitied the virtue of these The coi- heroic slaves ; but the tedious warfare and alternate success of Lazic war. the Roman and Persian arms cannot detain the attention of posterity at the foot of mount Caucasus. The advantages obtained by the troops of Justinian were more frequent and splendid ; but the forces of the great king were continually supplied, till they amounted to eight elephants and seventy thousand men, including twelve thousand Scythian allies, and above three thousand Dilemites, who descended by their free choice from the hills of Hyrcania, and were equally formidable in close or in distant combat. The siege of Archaeopolis, a name imposed or corrupted by the Greeks, was raised with some loss and precipitation ; but the Persians occupied the passes of Iberia ; Colchos was enslaved by their forts and garrisons ; they devoured the scanty sustenance of the people ; and the prince of the Lazi fled into the mountains. In the Roman camp, faith and discipline were unknown ; and the independent leaders, who were invested with equal power, dis- puted with each other the pre-eminence of vice and corruption. The Persians followed, without a murmur, the commands of a single chief, who implicitly obeyed the instructions of their supreme lord. Their general was distinguished among the heroes of the East by his wisdom in council and his valour in the field. The advanced age of Mermeroes, and the lameness of both his feet, could not diminish the activity of his mind or even of his body ; and, whilst he was carried in a Jitter in the front of battle, he inspired terror to the enemy, and a just confi- dence to the troops, who under his banners were always successful. After his death, the command devolved to Nacoragan, a proud satrap, who, in a conference with the Imperial chiefs, had pre- sumed to declare that he disposed of victory as absolutely as of the ring on his finger. Such presumption was the natural
