inish the
terror of the Gothic name. As long as Successianus, an officer of
superior rank and merit, defended that frontier, all their efforts
were ineffectual; but as soon as he was removed by Valerian to a more
honorable but less important station, they resumed the attack of Pityus;
and by the destruction of that city, obliterated the memory of their
former disgrace. [106]

[Footnote 105: Arrian places the frontier garrison at Dioscurias, or
Sebastopolis, forty-four miles to the east of Pityus. The garrison of
Phasis consisted in his time of only four hundred foot. See the Periplus
of the Euxine. * Note: Pityus is Pitchinda, according to D'Anville, ii.
115.--G. Rather Boukoun.--M. Dioscurias is Iskuriah.--G.]

[Footnote 106: Zosimus, l. i. p. 30.]

Circling round the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea, the navigation
from Pityus to Trebizond is about three hundred miles. [107] The course
of the Goths carried them in sight of the country of Colchis, so famous
by the expedition of the Argonauts; and they even attempted, though
without success, to pillage a rich temple at the mouth of the River
Phasis. Trebizond, celebrated in the retreat of the ten thousand as an
ancient colony of Greeks, [108] derived its wealth and splendor from the
magnificence of the emperor Hadrian, who had constructed an artificial
port on a coast left destitute by nature of secure harbors. [109] The
city was large and populous; a double enclosure of walls seemed to defy
the fury of the Goths, and the usual garrison had been strengthened by
a reenforcement of ten thousand men. But there are not any advantages
capable of supplying the absence of discipline and vigilance. The
numerous garrison of Trebizond, dissolved in riot and luxury, disdained
to guard their impregnable fortifications. The Goths soon discovered
the supine negligence of the besieged, erected a lofty pile of fascines,
ascended the walls in the silence of the night, and entered the
defenceless city sword in hand. A general massacre of the people ensued,
whilst the affrighted soldiers escaped through the opposite gates of
the town. The most holy temples, and the most splendid edifices, were
involved in a common destruction. The booty that fell into the hands
of the Goths was immense: the wealth of the adjacent countries had been
deposited in Trebizond, as in a secure place of refuge. The number of
captives was incredible, as the victorious barbarians ranged without
opposition thr