188 The Imperial Government
ParthianEmpirewasabouttocollapseandthatanewPersiandynastywould
arisewhich would fundamentallyalter the level of conflict on the eastern
frontier.Similarly,Julianbrushedasidethesuggestionmadein362byhisad-
visers,thatheshouldattacktheGoths,sayingthathesought‘‘betterenemies’’
(thePersians).Itwasperhapsatthesamemomentthathecontemptuously
toldanembassyofGothstolooktoarmsiftheywishedtoaltertheterms
oftheirtreaty.^124 Ifheinfactanticipatedaseriousmovementontheirpart,
asEunapiusalleges,^125 hedidnotactonit,preferringthesupposedgreater
gloryofaPersianwar.Therewasnomechanismforsecuringadvancewarn-
ingofthemovementsoftheHunsinthefollowingyearsoroftheirimpact
ontheGoths,untilthelatterandotherpeopleslivingnorthoftheDanube
sent embassies in the mid-370s asking to be allowed to cross the riverand
settleinRomanterritory.^126 ThevividexcursusontheHunswithwhichAm-
mianusintroducesthismajoreventisthefirstsignificantaccountofthemin
Graeco-Romanliterature^127 andwasofcoursewrittenatleastadecadeafter
thedisasterofHadrianople.
Thus what A. Alföldi once called ‘‘the moral barrier on Rhine and
Danube’’^128 seems to have been an information barrier also. But it was so
partly because of one element in the conceptual framework within which
theeducatedinhabitantsoftheEmpiresawtheirworld.Thereisampleevi-
dencetosuggestthatafterthegreatexpansionoftheAugustanperiodpeople
regardedtheEmpireasacoherentgeographicalandstrategicentitybounded
bythethreegreatrivers:Rhine,Danube,andEuphrates.^129 Aconflictthus
arosebetweenthatconceptionandthelongtraditionandideologyofcon-
tinuing conquest.^130 When in Fronto’s words ‘‘theimperiumof the Roman
People was extended by the emperor Trajan beyond the hostile rivers,’’^131
FloruscouldrejoicethattheEmpirehadfounditsyouthagain,andTacitus
- Ammianus22,7,8;Libanius,Or.12,78.
- Eunapius,Fr.22.1(FHGIV,p.23).
- Ammianus31,1–4;Eunapius,Fr.42(FHGIV,pp.31–33).
- 31,2:cf.Eunapius,Fr.45(FHGIV,p.30);Zosimus4,20.
128.The Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, 1949,ed.E.Birley(1952),1. - See,e.g.,Josephus,BJ2,16,4(363;377);Statius,Silv.5,1,89–90;Tacitus,Ann.1,
9,4,5.ForthefunctionoftheEuphratesasasymbolicfrontier,see,e.g.,Strabo16,1,28
(748);Velleius2,101;Suetonius,Cal.14;Josephus,BJ7,5,2(105);Ant.18,4,5,(101–2);Dio
59,27,3.FortheDanube,seetexttonn.52–55above. - Foragoodcollectionoftheevidence,seeP.A.Brunt,‘‘LausImperii,’’inP.D.A.
GarnseyandC.R.Whittaker,eds.,Imperialism in the Ancient World(1978),159,reprintedin
Roman Imperial Themes(1990),288. - Fronto,Princ. Hist.4.