178 The Imperial Government
appointthekings,notrequiringthemfortheEmpire.Onsomeofthe
provincestheyspendmorethantheyreceive,thinkingitshamefulto
give them up even though theyare loss-making.They surround the
empirewithacircleofgreatcampsandguardsogreatanareaofland
andsealikeanestate.ItwasofAntoninusPiusalsothatFronto,inthecourseofaspeechofcon-
gratulationonthecompletionofawarinBritain‘‘declaredthatalthoughhe
hadcommittedtheconductofthecampaigntoothers,whilesittingathome
himself inthePalaceinRome,yetlikethehelmsmanatthetillerofaship
ofwar,thegloryofthewholenavigationandvoyagebelongedtohim.’’^83
AlthoughthethemeofPius’controlbycorrespondencefromthecentrere-
appearsbothinAristides’Roman Oration(31–33)andintheHistoria Augusta,^84
theelementofspecialpleadingonFronto’spartisevident.Eveninthefirst
centuryithadbeenonlythoseemperors,suchasTiberiusorVespasian,who
enjoyedanalreadyestablishedmilitaryreputation,whocouldaffordtolead
nowarofconquest.ItdoesnotneeddemonstrationthatClaudius’invasion
ofBritain,lavishlycelebratedinRomeandthroughouttheEmpire,aroseat
leastinpartfromtheoppositecase;andthefactthatPlinyinhisPanegyric
canrefertonosignificantmilitaryachievementsofTrajanbeforehisacces-
sionsurelyhassomerelevancetotheDacianandParthianwarswhichheled.
Then,afterthelullof Hadrian’sandAntoninusPius’reigns,wefindthatit
isassumedthatallmajorwars,whetherdefensiveoroffensive,areimplicitly
held to require the presence of the—oran—emperor.Though the gradu-
allygrowingpredominanceofdefensivewarfareisundeniable,theidealof
conquest was not wholly abandoned.We need not disbelieve theHistoria
Augusta’sclaimthatMarcuseventuallyintendedtocreatetwonewprovinces,
Marcomannia and Sarmatia, beyond the Danube;^85 according to Herodian
SeverusspontaneouslychosetoundertaketheBritishexpeditionof208–11,
as a training for Caracalla and Geta;^86 and above all the extension of pro-
vincial territory to theTigris, and at times beyond, meant—as Dio saw—
a wholly new strategic commitment whose consequences for the Empire
were incalculable.Whether or not the overthrow of the Parthian Empire
83.Pan. Lat.VIII(GalletierIV),14,2,Loebtrans.fromCorrespondence of M. Cornelius
FrontoII,251(seeC.E.V.NixonandB.S.Rogers,In Praise of Later Roman Emperors[1994]:
132–33).
84.HA,v. Ant. Pii7,11–12.
85.HA,v. M. Ant.24,5;cf.27,10.SeeA.Birley,MarcusAurelius(1966),205–6,andBirley
(n.12),20–21;cf.A.Mócsy,Pannonia and Upper Moesia(1974),183–86,193.
- Herodian3,14,1–2.