s, were
guarded by sufficient detachments of horse and foot; and six princes of
Colchos received their diadems from the lieutenants of Caesar. One of
these lieutenants, the eloquent and philosophic Arrian, surveyed,
and has described, the Euxine coast, under the reign of Hadrian. The
garrison which he reviewed at the mouth of the Phasis consisted of
four hundred chosen legionaries; the brick walls and towers, the double
ditch, and the military engines on the rampart, rendered this place
inaccessible to the Barbarians: but the new suburbs which had been built
by the merchants and veterans, required, in the opinion of Arrian,
some external defence. [80] As the strength of the empire was gradually
impaired, the Romans stationed on the Phasis were neither withdrawn
nor expelled; and the tribe of the Lazi, [81] whose posterity speak a
foreign dialect, and inhabit the sea coast of Trebizond, imposed their
name and dominion on the ancient kingdom of Colchos. Their independence
was soon invaded by a formidable neighbor, who had acquired, by arms
and treaties, the sovereignty of Iberia. The dependent king of Lazica
received his sceptre at the hands of the Persian monarch, and the
successors of Constantine acquiesced in this injurious claim, which was
proudly urged as a right of immemorial prescription. In the beginning of
the sixth century, their influence was restored by the introduction of
Christianity, which the Mingrelians still profess with becoming zeal,
without understanding the doctrines, or observing the precepts, of their
religion. After the decease of his father, Zathus was exalted to the
regal dignity by the favor of the great king; but the pious youth
abhorred the ceremonies of the Magi, and sought, in the palace of
Constantinople, an orthodox baptism, a noble wife, and the alliance of
the emperor Justin. The king of Lazica was solemnly invested with the
diadem, and his cloak and tunic of white silk, with a gold border,
displayed, in rich embroidery, the figure of his new patron; who soothed
the jealousy of the Persian court, and excused the revolt of Colchos, by
the venerable names of hospitality and religion. The common interest of
both empires imposed on the Colchians the duty of guarding the passes
of Mount Caucasus, where a wall of sixty miles is now defended by the
monthly service of the musketeers of Mingrelia. [82]

[Footnote 76: Herodot. l. iii. c. 97. See, in l. vii. c. 79, their arms
and service in the ex