XLII.

L

CHA P. but the common people are in a state of servitude

to their lords ; the exercise of fraud or rapine is unpunished in a lawless community; and the market is continually replenished by the abuse of civil and paternal authority. Such a trade *, which reduces the human species to the level of cattle, may tend to encourage marriage and population ; since the multitude of children enriches their sordid and inhuman parent. But this source of impure wealth must inevitably poison the national man. nery, obliterate the sense of honour and virtue, and almost extinguish the instincts of nature : the Christians of Georgia and Mingrelia are the most dissolute of mankind; and their children, who, in a tender age, are sold into foreign slavery, have already learnt to imitate the rapine of the father and the prostitution of the mother. Yet amidst the rudest ignorance, the untaught natives discover a singular dexterity both of mind and hand; and although the want of union and discipline exposes them to their more powerful neighbours, a bold and intrepid spirit has animated the Colchians of cvery age. In the host of Xerxes, they served on foot; and their arms were, a dagger or a javelin, a wooden casque, and a buckler of raw hides. But in their own country the use of cavalry has more generally prevailed : the meanest of the peasants disdain to walk ; the martial nobles are possessed,

perhaps, of two hundred horses; and above five CHA P.. thousand are numbered in the train of the prince XLII. of Mingrelia. The Colchian government has been always a pure and hereditary kingdom; and the authority of the sovereign is only restrained by the turbulence of his subjects. Whenever they were obedient, he could lead a numerous army into the field; but some faith is requisite to believe, that the single tribe of the Suanians was composed of two hundred thousand soldiers, or that the population of Mingrelia now amounts to four millions of inhabitants *.

tious of

It was the boast of the Colchians, that their an- Revolu cestors had checked the victories of Sesostris; and Colchos; the defeat of the Egyptian is less incredible than his successful progress as far as the foot of mount Caucasus. They sunk, without any memorable effort, under the arms of Cyrus;, followed in distant wars the standard of the great king, and presented him every fifth year with one hundred boys and as under the many virgins, the fairest produce of the land t. Persia Yet he accepted this gift like the gold and ebony Christ goo; of India, the frankincense of the Arabs, or the negroes and ivory of Ethiopia: the Colchians were not subject to the dominion of a satrap, and they continued to enjoy the name as well as substance. Y 3

of

XII

CHA P. of national independence *. After the fall of the Persian empire, Mithridates, king of Pontus, added Colchos to the wide circle of his dominions on the Euxine; and when the natives presumed to request that his son might reign over them, he bound the ambitious youth in chains of gold, and delegated a Under the servant in his place. In the pursuit of Mithri dates, the Romans advanced to the banks of the Christ 60. Phasis, and their gallies ascended the river till

Phasis, of Dioscurias or Sebastopolis, and of Pityus, C HA F. were guarded by sufficient detachments of horse and XLII. foot; and six princes of Colchos received their diadems from the lieutenants of Cæsar. One of Visit of Arrian, these lieutenants, the eloquent and philosophic ArA. D. 130. rian, surveyed, and has described, the Euxine coast, under the reign of Hadrian. The garrison which he reviewed at the mouth of the Phasis, consisted of four hundred chosen legionaries; the brick walls and towers, the double ditch, and the military engines on the rampart, rendered this place inaccessible to the Barbarians; but the new suburbs, which had been built by the merchants and veterans, required, in the opinion of Arrian, some external defence*. As the strength of the empire was gradually impaired, the Romans stationed on the Phasis were either withdrawn or expelled; and the tribe of the Lazit, whose posterity speak a foreign dialect, and inhabit the sea-coast of Trebizond, imposed their name and dominion on the ancient kingdom of Colchos, Their independence was soon invaded by a formidable neighbour, who had acquired, by arms and treaties, the sovereignty of Iberia. The dependent king of Lazica received

In the time of Procopius, there were no Roman forts on the Phasis. Pityus and Sebastopolis were evacuated on the rumour of the Persian (Goth. 1 iv. c. 4.); but the latter was afterwards restored by Justinian (de Edif. 1. iv. c. 7.).

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.

CHAP. his sceptre at the hands of the Persian monarch, XLII. and the successors of Constantine acquiesced in this

injurious claim, which was proudly urged as a right Conversion of immemorial prescription. In the beginning of

, A. D. $22. the sixth century, their influence was restored by

the introduction of Christianity, which the Mingrelians still profess with becoming zeal, without understanding the doctrines, or observing the precepts, of their religion. After the decease of his father, Zathus was exalted to the regal dignity by the fa-vour of the great king : but the pious youth aba horred the ceremonies of the Magi, and sought, in the palace of Constantinople, an orthodox baptism, a noble wife, and the alliance of the emperor Justin. The king of Lazica was solemnly invested with the diadem, and his cloak and tunic of white silk, with a gold border, displayed, in rich embroidery, the figure of his new patron; who soothed the jealousy of the Persian court, and excused the revolt of Colchos, by the venerable names of hos. pitality and religion. The common interest of both empires imposed on the Colchians the duty of guarding the passes of mount Caucasus, where & wall of sixty miles is now defended by the monthly service of the musqueteers of Mingrelia

But this honourable connection was soon corRevolt and repentance rupted by the avarice and ambition of the Romans.

Degraded

of the Col. chians,

John Malala, Chron. tom. i. 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 εν γραμμασι μνημειας, προγονοι, &c. Could they belong to a connection which had not been dissolved above trventy years