ate zone. Sixty thousand blacks are annually
embarked from the coast of Guinea, never to return to their native
country; but they are embarked in chains; and this constant emigration,
which, in the space of two centuries, might have furnished armies to
overrun the globe, accuses the guilt of Europe, and the weakness of
Africa.

Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.--Part VI.

IV. The ignominious treaty, which saved the army of Jovian, had been
faithfully executed on the side of the Romans; and as they had solemnly
renounced the sovereignty and alliance of Armenia and Iberia, those
tributary kingdoms were exposed, without protection, to the arms of the
Persian monarch. Sapor entered the Armenian territories at the head of
a formidable host of cuirassiers, of archers, and of mercenary foot; but
it was the invariable practice of Sapor to mix war and negotiation, and
to consider falsehood and perjury as the most powerful instruments of
regal policy. He affected to praise the prudent and moderate conduct of
the king of Armenia; and the unsuspicious Tiranus was persuaded, by the
repeated assurances of insidious friendship, to deliver his person into
the hands of a faithless and cruel enemy. In the midst of a splendid
entertainment, he was bound in chains of silver, as an honor due to the
blood of the Arsacides; and, after a short confinement in the Tower of
Oblivion at Ecbatana, he was released from the miseries of life, either
by his own dagger, or by that of an assassin. * The kingdom of Armenia
was reduced to the state of a Persian province; the administration was
shared between a distinguished satrap and a favorite eunuch; and Sapor
marched, without delay, to subdue the martial spirit of the Iberians.
Sauromaces, who reigned in that country by the permission of the
emperors, was expelled by a superior force; and, as an insult on the
majesty of Rome, the king of kings placed a diadem on the head of his
abject vassal Aspacuras. The city of Artogerassa was the only place of
Armenia which presumed to resist the efforts of his arms. The treasure
deposited in that strong fortress tempted the avarice of Sapor; but the
danger of Olympias, the wife or widow of the Armenian king, excited the
public compassion, and animated the desperate valor of her subjects and
soldiers. Sec. The Persians were surprised and repulsed under the walls of
Artogerassa, by a bold and well-concerted sally of the besi