ach. One thousand and seventy were
destroyed with fire and sword in the last assault; and if seven hundred
and thirty were made prisoners, only eighteen among them were found
without the marks of honorable wounds. The remaining five hundred
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 obedience to the commands of
their prince; and such examples of loyalty and valor might excite their
countrymen to deeds of equal despair and more prosperous event. The
instant demolition of the works of Petra confessed the astonishment and
apprehension of the conqueror. A Spartan would have praised and pitied
the virtue of these heroic slaves; but the tedious warfare and alternate
success of 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, disputed with each other the
preeminence 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 valor 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 litter in the front of battle, he
inspired terror to the enemy, and a just confidence to the troops, who,
under his banners, were always successful. After his death, the command
devolved to Nacoragan, a proud satrap, who, i