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Government and Diplomacy 227

abundance of either food or men. At any rate they sent only two of

theirchief men and two others of inferior rank as envoys to sue for

peace.And,althoughCommodusmighteasilyhavedestroyedthem,

yethemadetermswiththem;forhehatedallexertionandwaseager

forthecomfortsofthecity.Inadditiontotheconditionsthathisfather

hadimposeduponthem,healsodemandedthattheyrestoretohimthe

desertersandthecaptivesthattheyhadtakeninthemeantime,andthat

they furnish annuallya stipulated amount of grain—a demand from

which he subsequently released them. Moreover, he obtained some

armsfromthemandsoldiersaswell,thirteenthousandfromtheQuadi

andasmallernumberfromtheMarcomani;andinreturnforthesehe

relievedthemoftherequirementofanannuallevy.

CommodusgrantedpeacetotheBuriwhentheysentenvoys.Pre-

viouslyhehaddeclinedtodoso,inspiteoftheirfrequentrequests,be-

causetheywerestrong,andbecauseitwasnotpeacethattheywanted,

butthesecuringofarespitetoenablethemtomakefurtherprepara-

tions; but now that they were exhausted he made peacewith them,

receivinghostagesandgettingbackmanycaptivesfromtheBurithem-

selvesaswellasfifteenthousandfromtheothers.

Perhapsequallysignificant,theimageoftheemperorreceivingthesubmis-
sion of conquered barbarians has an established place in the repertoire of
Romannarrativeart,asrepresentedaboveallontheColumnofTrajanand
theColumnofMarcusAurelius.^41
Comparablescenesillustratingthepersonalroleoftheemperorsinnego-
tiating with barbarians or receiving their submission appear repeatedly in
our narrative sources, right up to the moment in 375 when Valentinian,
spendingthewinteratBrigetioinPannonia,diedofapoplexyonreceiving
aninsolentanswerfromanembassyfromtheQuadi(AmmianusMarcelli-
nus 30, 6). So faras the major issues at least were concerned, the conduct
of diplomacy, at all times embedded within the successive political struc-
turesoftheRomanstate,hadlongsincebeenabsorbedbytheemperorsin
person,whothemselveshadcometofunctionmoreandmoreascommand-
ersinthefield.Thisapparentdistortionofthenatureofgovernmentseems
whollyirrational,givenwhatweshouldsupposetohavebeentheneedsofa
civilianpopulationofsome50millionpeople.YetimmediatelyafterHono-

41. Forthispoint,seeJ.F.MatthewsinReallexikonfürAntikeundChristentumX(Stuttgart,
    1978),col.660,art.‘‘Gesandtschaft.’’SeealsoN.Hannestadt,RomanArtandImperialPolicy
    (Aarhus,1986),160–61,231.