190 The Imperial Government
that, but historians of the fourth centuryand after—including Eutropius,
whohadactuallyrecordedtheabandonmentofDacia—describethetreaty
bywhichJoviangaveupNisibis,Singara,andfivedistrictsacrosstheTigris
asadisgracewhichhadneveroccurredbeforeinthehistoryofRome.^139 The
pre-eminenceofeasternwarswasdeeplyrootedinGraeco-Romanculture
andwasconcretelyembodiedinthestrategicprioritieschosenbyemperors.
There,butnotelsewhere,theviewofSeptimiusSeverushadlongtriumphed
overthatofDio.
Conclusion
Thissketchofsomeissuesrelatingtothewayfrontierandforeignpolicywas
conductedbytheimperialmonarchycannotbyitsnatureevensuggestfirm
conclusions.Giventhehaphazardnatureofourliteraryevidence,arguments
fromsilencemustalwaysbefragile.Theymay,nonetheless,servethepur-
poseofpreventingtheinterpretationofarchaeologicalevidenceinthelight
ofnaiveassumptionsastoinformation,communication,andresponsibility.
Evenwherearchaeologicalevidenceofthealignmentoffrontiers,thesiting
ofcamps,orthebuildingofroadsseemsclearlytodemonstratetheopera-
tionofcoherentplansbasedongoodgeographicalknowledge,wemuststill
ask whose knowledge, and whose plans.What this chapter can do, there-
fore,istofocusattentiononsomeissuesandtoputforwardsometentative
propositionswhich,iftheyproveonfurtherexaminationtobevalid,will
havesomerelevancetohowweunderstandtheEmpireasasystem,andthe
choicesmadewithinitinrelationtootherpeoples.
1.Thesechoiceshavetobeseeninthelightoftheculture(inboththe
broad and the more specific sense) of the Graeco-Roman world, whether
thisbeintheuseofhistoricalprecedentsandmodels,inthetypesoftrain-
ingforwarfarewhichtheupperclassreceived,orincontrastingattitudesto
thenorthernbarbariansandtoParthiaorPersia.Forwhatitisworth,itmay
benotedthattheexplicitlymilitaryliteratureoftheEmpireiseithercon-
cernedtodeployprecedentsfromexistingnarrativehistories,oristactical
ratherthanstrategicincharacter,orboth.^140 Thesurvivingliteraturefrom
- Eutropius9,17,1–2;Festus,Brev.29;Ammianus25,7;Zosimus3,31–32.
- E.g.,Onasander,Strategemeta;Frontinus,Strategemata;forArrian,TechneTaktike,see
F.Kiechle,‘‘Die‘Taktik’desFlaviusArrianus,’’45. Ber. Röm-Germ. Kom. 1964(1965),87;for
Arrian,Ektaxis,seeA.B.Bosworth,‘‘ArrianandtheAlani,’’HSCPh81(1977):217,esp.232–
55,andcf.P.A.Stadter,Arrianof Nicomedia(1980),41–49;Polyaenus,Strategemata(addressed
toMarcusAureliusandVerus).Theanonymousde rebus bellicis(seethenewtextanddis-