tower, to the crows and vultures of the air. [85]
Conscious of the increasing hatred, which retarded the execution of
his great designs, the just Nashirvan had secretly given orders to
assassinate the king of the Lazi, to transplant the people into some
distant land, and to fix a faithful and warlike colony on the banks of
the Phasis. The watchful jealousy of the Colchians foresaw and averted
the approaching ruin. Their repentance was accepted at Constantinople
by the prudence, rather than clemency, of Justinian; and he commanded
Dagisteus, with seven thousand Romans, and one thousand of the Zani,
[8511] to expel the Persians from the coast of the Euxine.

[Footnote 83: The sole vestige of Petra subsists in the writings of
Procopius and Agathias. Most of the towns and castles of Lazica may be
found by comparing their names and position with the map of Mingrelia,
in Lamberti.]

[Footnote 84: See the amusing letters of Pietro della Valle, the Roman
traveler, (Viaggi, tom. ii. 207, 209, 213, 215, 266, 286, 300, tom. iii.
p. 54, 127.) In the years 1618, 1619, and 1620, he conversed with Shah
Abbas, and strongly encouraged a design which might have united Persia
and Europe against their common enemy the Turk.]

[Footnote 85: See Herodotus, (l. i. c. 140, p. 69,) who speaks with
diffidence, Larcher, (tom. i. p. 399--401, Notes sur Herodote,)
Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 11,) and Agathias, (l. ii. p. 61, 62.) This
practice, agreeable to the Zendavesta, (Hyde, de Relig. Pers. c. 34, p.
414--421,) demonstrates that the burial of the Persian kings, (Xenophon,
Cyropaed. l. viii. p. 658,) is a Greek fiction, and that their tombs
could be no more than cenotaphs.]

[Footnote 8511: These seem the same people called Suanians, p. 328.--M.]

The siege of Petra, which the Roman general, with the aid of the Lazi,
immediately undertook, is one of the most remarkable actions of the
age. The city was seated on a craggy rock, which hung over the sea,
and communicated by a steep and narrow path with the land. Since the
approach was difficult, the attack might be deemed impossible: the
Persian conqueror had strengthened the fortifications of Justinian; and
the places least inaccessible were covered by additional bulwarks.
In this important fortress, the vigilance of Chosroes had deposited a
magazine of offensive and defensive arms, sufficient for five times the
number, not only of the garrison, but of the besiegers themselves. The
stock of