Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

chapternine

Emperors, Frontiers, and

Foreign Relations, 31b.c.toa.d. 378

*

Introduction

‘‘Severu s...wasinthehabitofsayingthathehadgainedalargeadditional
territoryandmadeitabulwarkforSyria.Butthefactsthemselvesshowthat
itisasourceofcontinualwarsforus,andofgreatexpenses.Foritprovides
verylittlerevenueandinvolvesverygreatexpenditure;andhavingextended
ourfrontierstotheneighboursoftheMedesandParthians,weareconstantly
so to speak at war in their defence.’’ So writes Cassius Dio about the ex-
tensionoftheeasternfrontierinthe190sandthecreationoftheprovinces
of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene.^1 The significance of the passage however,
extendsbeyondthequestionoftheeasternfrontieritselfatthatmoment.
Writtenbyanex-consul,andformeradviserofSeverus,itrevealstwotypes
ofjustificationforconquestutteredbytheEmperorhimself—onestraight-
forwardlyimperialistic,theotherstrategic;andacritiqueofthisfromtwo
pointsofview,thebalanceofincomeandexpenditure,andthewiderstrate-
giccommitmentsincurred.WhetherDiohadformulatedsuchviewsalready
inSeverus’reignwecannotknow;thissectionofhisHistorywillhavebeen
writtenattheearliesttowards220,andprobablylater.^2 If hehad,wehave
noreasontothinkthatheexpressedthemtoSeverus.Ifhedid,itcanonly
havebeenaftertheevent,forhisownnarrativeatthispointmakesclearthat

*FirstpublishedinBritannia13(1982):1–23.Earlierversionsofthischapterweregivenat
theuniversitiesof Berlin,Bielefeld,Bochum,andCologneinJuly1979andatMissJ.M.
Reynolds’sandMr.M.H.Crawford’sseminarinCambridgeinOctober1979.Iamgrateful
forcommentsandsuggestionstoSirRonaldSyme,ProfessorA.L.F.Rivet,andProfessor
J.J.Wilkes.

1. Dio75,3,2–3(BoissevainIII,340).


2. Foranearlychronology—probablytooearly—ofthecompositionoftheRoman His-
   tory,seeF.Millar,A Study of Cassius Dio(1964),chap.2andpp.193–94.

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