At any rate, the design was not executed, nor even attempted; and the peace was thus not broken on his part.
It was reserved for Rome in the fourth year of the truce (A.D.

549) expressly, to break its provisions by accepting the Lazi into alliance and sending them a body of eight thousand men to help them against the Persians.
Very soon after their submission to Persia the Lazi had repented of their rash and hasty action.

They found that they had gained nothing, while in some respects they had lost, by their change of masters.
The general system of the Persian administration was as arbitrary and oppressive as the Roman.

If the commercial monopoly, whereof they so bitterly complained, had been swept away, commerce itself had gone with it, and they could neither find a market for their own products, nor obtain the commodities which they required.

The Persian manners and customs introduced into their country, if not imposed upon themselves, were detestable to the Lazi, who were zealous and devout Christians, and possessed by the spirit of intolerance.