over against the boundary of Iberia.  Moreover there are two cities of the greatest importance in that region, Rhodopolis and Mocheresis.  But on the left of the river, while the country belongs to Lazica as far as one day’s journey for an unencumbered traveller, the land is without human habitation.  Adjoining this land is the home of the Romans who are called Pontic.  Now it was in the territory of Lazica, in the part which was altogether uninhabited, that the Emperor Justinian founded the city of Petra in my own time.  This was the place where John, surnamed Tzibus, established the monopoly, as I have told in the previous narrative[27], and gave cause to the Lazi to revolt.  And as one leaves the city of Petra going southward, the Roman territory commences immediately, and there are populous towns there, and one which bears the name of Rhizaeum, also Athens and certain others as far as Trapezus.  Now when the Lazi brought in Chosroes, they crossed the River Boas and came to Petra keeping the Phasis on the right, because, as they said, they would thus provide against being compelled to spend much time and trouble in ferrying the men across the River Phasis, but in reality they did not wish to display their own homes to the Persians.  And yet Lazica is everywhere difficult to traverse both to the right and to the left of the River Phasis.  For there are on both sides of the river exceedingly high and jagged mountains, and as a result the passes are narrow and very long. (The Romans call the roads through such passes “clisurae” when they put their own word into a Greek form.[28]) But since at that time Lazica happened to be unguarded, the Persians had reached Petra very easily with the Lazi who were their guides.

But on this occasion Goubazes, upon learning of the advance of the Persians, directed Dagisthaeus to send some men to guard with all their strength the pass which is below the River Phasis, and he bade him not on any account to abandon the siege until they should be able to capture Petra and the Persians in it.  He himself meanwhile with the whole Colchian army came to the frontier of Lazica, in order to devote all his strength to guarding the pass there.  Now it happened that long before he had persuaded the Alani and Sabeiri to form an alliance with him, and they had agreed for three centenaria not merely to assist the Lazi in guarding the land from plunder, but also to render Iberia so destitute of men that not even the Persians would be able to come in from there in the future.  And Goubazes had promised that the emperor would give them this money.  So he reported the agreement to the Emperor Justinian and besought him to send this money for the barbarians and afford the Lazi some consolation in their great distress.  He also stated that the treasury owed him his salary for ten years, for though he was assigned a post among the privy counsellors in the palace, he had received no payment from it since the time when Chosroes came into the land of Colchis.  And the Emperor Justinian intended to fulfil this request, but some business came up to occupy his attention and he did not send the money at the proper time.  So Goubazes was thus engaged.