mission of the Isaurians, [119] remained
without enemies and without fortifications. Those bold savages, who had
disdained to be the subjects of Gallienus, persisted two hundred and
thirty years in a life of independence and rapine. The most successful
princes respected the strength of the mountains and the despair of
the natives; their fierce spirit was sometimes soothed with gifts,
and sometimes restrained by terror; and a military count, with three
legions, fixed his permanent and ignominious station in the heart of the
Roman provinces. [120] But no sooner was the vigilance of power relaxed
or diverted, than the light-armed squadrons descended from the hills,
and invaded the peaceful plenty of Asia. Although the Isaurians were
not remarkable for stature or bravery, want rendered them bold, and
experience made them skilful in the exercise of predatory war.
They advanced with secrecy and speed to the attack of villages and
defenceless towns; their flying parties have sometimes touched the
Hellespont, the Euxine, and the gates of Tarsus, Antioch, or Damascus;
[121] and the spoil was lodged in their inaccessible mountains, before
the Roman troops had received their orders, or the distant province had
computed its loss. The guilt of rebellion and robbery excluded them from
the rights of national enemies; and the magistrates were instructed,
by an edict, that the trial or punishment of an Isaurian, even on the
festival of Easter, was a meritorious act of justice and piety. [122] If
the captives were condemned to domestic slavery, they maintained, with
their sword or dagger, the private quarrel of their masters; and it was
found expedient for the public tranquillity to prohibit the service of
such dangerous retainers. When their countryman Tarcalissaeus or Zeno
ascended the throne, he invited a faithful and formidable band of
Isaurians, who insulted the court and city, and were rewarded by an
annual tribute of five thousand pounds of gold. But the hopes of fortune
depopulated the mountains, luxury enervated the hardiness of their minds
and bodies, and in proportion as they mixed with mankind, they became
less qualified for the enjoyment of poor and solitary freedom. After
the death of Zeno, his successor Anastasius suppressed their pensions,
exposed their persons to the revenge of the people, banished them from
Constantinople, and prepared to sustain a war, which left only the
alternative of victory or servitude. A brother of