of revenge. But the authority and eloquence of the wiser few obtained
a salutary pause: the victory of the Phasis restored the terror of the
Roman arms, and the emperor was solicitous to absolve his own name
from the imputation of so foul a murder. A judge of senatorial rank was
commissioned to inquire into the conduct and death of the king of the
Lazi. He ascended a stately tribunal, encompassed by the ministers
of justice and punishment: in the presence of both nations, this
extraordinary cause was pleaded, according to the forms of civil
jurisprudence, and some satisfaction was granted to an injured people,
by the sentence and execution of the meaner criminals. [88]

[Footnote 86: The punishment of flaying alive could not be introduced
into Persia by Sapor, (Brisson, de Regn. Pers. l. ii. p. 578,) nor could
it be copied from the foolish tale of Marsyas, the Phrygian piper, most
foolishly quoted as a precedent by Agathias, (l. iv. p. 132, 133.)]

[Footnote 8611: According to Agathias, the death of Gubazos preceded the
defeat of Nacoragan. The trial took place after the battle.--M.]

[Footnote 87: In the palace of Constantinople there were thirty
silentiaries, who were styled hastati, ante fores cubiculi, an honorable
title which conferred the rank, without imposing the duties, of a
senator, (Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. 23. Gothofred. Comment. tom. ii. p.
129.)]

[Footnote 88: On these judicial orations, Agathias (l. iii. p. 81-89, l.
iv. p. 108--119) lavishes eighteen or twenty pages of false and florid
rhetoric. His ignorance or carelessness overlooks the strongest argument
against the king of Lazica--his former revolt. * Note: The Orations in
the third book of Agathias are not judicial, nor delivered before the
Roman tribunal: it is a deliberative debate among the Colchians on
the expediency of adhering to the Roman, or embracing the Persian
alliance.--M.]

In peace, the king of Persia continually sought the pretences of a
rupture: but no sooner had he taken up arms, than he expressed his
desire of a safe and honorable treaty. During the fiercest hostilities,
the two monarchs entertained a deceitful negotiation; and such was the
superiority of Chosroes, that whilst he treated the Roman ministers with
insolence and contempt, he obtained the most unprecedented honors
for his own ambassadors at the Imperial court. The successor of Cyrus
assumed the majesty of the Eastern sun, and graciously permitted his
younger bro