pedition of Xerxes against Greece.]

[Footnote 77: Xenophon, who had encountered the Colchians in his
retreat, (Anabasis, l. iv. p. 320, 343, 348, edit. Hutchinson; and
Foster's Dissertation, p. liii.--lviii., in Spelman's English version,
vol. ii.,) styled them. Before the conquest of Mithridates, they are
named by Appian, (de Bell. Mithridatico, c. 15, tom. i. p. 661, of the
last and best edition, by John Schweighaeuser. Lipsae, 1785 8 vols.
largo octavo.)]

[Footnote 78: The conquest of Colchos by Mithridates and Pompey is
marked by Appian (de Bell. Mithridat.) and Plutarch, (in Vit. Pomp.)]

[Footnote 79: We may trace the rise and fall of the family of Polemo, in
Strabo, (l. xi. p. 755, l. xii. p. 867,) Dion Cassius, or Xiphilin, (p.
588, 593, 601, 719, 754, 915, 946, edit. Reimar,) Suetonius, (in Neron.
c. 18, in Vespasian, c. 8,) Eutropius, (vii. 14,) Josephus, (Antiq.
Judaic. l. xx. c. 7, p. 970, edit. Havercamp,) and Eusebius, (Chron.
with Scaliger, Animadvers. p. 196.)]

[Footnote 80: In the time of Procopius, there were no Roman forts on
the Phasis. Pityus and Sebastopolis were evacuated on the rumor of the
Persians, (Goth. l. iv. c. 4;) but the latter was afterwards restored by
Justinian, (de Edif. l. iv. c. 7.)]

[Footnote 81: In the time of Pliny, Arrian, and Ptolemy, the Lazi were
a particular tribe on the northern skirts of Colchos, (Cellarius,
Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 222.) In the age of Justinian, they spread,
or at least reigned, over the whole country. At present, they have
migrated along the coast towards Trebizond, and compose a rude
sea-faring people, with a peculiar language, (Chardin, p. 149. Peyssonel
p. 64.)]

[Footnote 82: John Malala, Chron. tom. ii. p. 134--137 Theophanes, p.
144. Hist. Miscell. l. xv. p. 103. The fact is authentic, but the
date seems too recent. In speaking of their Persian alliance, the Lazi
contemporaries of Justinian employ the most obsolete words, &c. Could
they belong to a connection which had not been dissolved above twenty
years?]

But this honorable connection was soon corrupted by the avarice and
ambition of the Romans. Degraded from the rank of allies, the Lazi were
incessantly reminded, by words and actions, of their dependent state.
At the distance of a day's journey beyond the Apsarus, they beheld the
rising fortress of Petra, [83] which commanded the maritime country
to the south of the Phasis. Instead of being protected by the valor,
Colchos was