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

Emperors, Frontiers, and Foreign Relations 181

creasinglyadvertise the responsibilityof emperors for the construction of
defensive works along or near the frontiers: ‘‘[F]ollowing the subjugation
andcontroloftheFranksthroughtheexcellenceofConstantine,thecastrum
(fort)oftheDivitenseswasconstructedintheirterritoryinthepresenceof
theEmperorhimself.’’^96
Directtacticalcommandnecessarilybroughtwithitthedirectmanage-
ment of diplomatic contacts, which would otherwise have been handled,
at least in the first instance, by provincial governors,or laterduces,comites,
ormagistri.ContactswiththeParthianand,later,Persiankingswerealways
conducted byemissaries,whowould speak before the emperoror king in
person;Augustus’grandsonGaiusmightmeetthekingoftheParthianson
theEuphrates,^97 buttheonlyoccasiononwhichemperorandkingcameface
tofacewasthecaptureof Valerian.Withlesserpeoplestheemperormight
actually confront their kings in person, asTrajan did with a succession of
kingsanddynastsonhisParthiancampaigns.^98 SotooAmmianusoffersare-
markabledescriptionof ValentiniannegotiatingfromaboatontheRhine
withMacrianus,thekingoftheAlamanni,whowasstandingonthebank.^99
ThuswhenCommodusrejectedtheadviceofhiscomitestocontinuethe
Marcomannicwarin180themechanismofdecisionwasthathereceivedan
embassy from the Marcomanni and Quadi and made peacewith them on
thefollowingterms:thereturnofprisonersanddeserters;theprovisionof
afixedquantityofcorneachyear;thesupplyingofweaponsandof13,000
soldiers from the Quadi and less from the Marcomanni; the restriction of
theirassembliestoonceamonth,inthepresenceofaRomancenturion;and
noattacksontheIazyges,Buri,orVandals.Inreturnhewithdrewtheforts
placedintheirterritory.Comparabletermsweregrantedtoanembassyfrom
the Buri on the borders of Dacia,with the additional provision that they
shouldleaveanuninhabitedzonefortystadeswidealongthefrontier.^100
Theclosecombinationofmilitaryanddiplomaticfunctions,andtheper-
sonal management of both by the emperor, appear even more clearly in
Dexippus’notabledescriptionofAurelian’snegotiationswiththeJuthungi
inPannoniain270or271.Hehaddefeatedthemanddriventhembackto
theDanubeandnowproposedtoreceiveanembassy.Toinstiltheduemea-
sureoffear(whichseemedtobelacking),hereceivedthemdressedinhis

96.CILXIII,8502ILS8937;seeJ.J.Wilkes,‘‘BritishAnonymityintheRomanEm-
pire,’’inD.E.Johnston,ed.,The Saxon Shore(1977),76.

97. Velleius2,101.


98. Dio68,18–19;21(AbgarofOsrhoene,cf.Arrian,Parth.,fr.46*).


99. 30,3,4–5.


100. Dio72,1–3(282–84).