To see Colchis in its present situation, which is no more than a vast forest, where the people are every day diminishing, and only defend their liberty to sell themselves by piecemeal to the Turks and Persians, one could never imagine that this country had ever, in the time of the Romans, been full of cities where commerce convened all the nations of the world.
Gaur egun Kolkidari begiratuta (ez da baso zabal bat baino, non herriak, egunetik egunera urrituz doalarik, ez baitu defendatzen bere libertatea turkiarrei eta pertsiarrei bere burua txikizka saltzeko baizik), inork ez luke esango bazter hori, erromatarren garaian, hiriz beteta zegoenik, eta merkataritzak bertara deitzen zituenik munduko nazio guztiak.