24 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(procurator) C. Iulius Alpinus Classicianus is a rarity in the Julio-Claudian
period. The judgment that ‘down to AD 69 the admission of Gallic gentry to
the Roman administrative class was proceeding normally’ is unjustifi ed.^10
No breakthrough was made by Gaul or the northern provinces as a whole
in the hundred years that followed.^11 A mere handful of senators and
equestrian military men are known (and the latter did not pursue full careers
in the imperial service) to be set alongside an ever- increasing list of provincial
senators, offi cials with responsibilities for fi nance, and army offi cers from
the Mediterranean provinces.
It is diffi cult to fi t into this pattern the career of one Marcus Valerius
Maximianus from Ptuj in Yugoslavia, the Trajanic colony of Poetovio in the
province of Upper Pannonia.^12 We know nothing of his education, but can
assume that it played little part in his rapid promotion to equestrian and
then senatorial rank, by special appointment of the emperor Marcus
Aurelius. What infl uenced Marcus in his favour was his distinction as a
soldier and leader of men, shown in a succession of special military missions.
In the reign of Marcus ( AD 161–80) the Roman world was given a preview
of what the tribes across the northern frontier could do if they got together.
A coalition of German tribes poured across the Rhine and penetrated as far
as north Italy. The fl imsiness of the defence line, and no doubt the weakness
of the high command, were exposed. Maximianus (a Danubian, not a Gaul
or Briton) may have been a rare bird; there are few known parallels.^13 We
are not justifi ed in inferring that it was part of Marcus’ regular strategy to
promote to senatorial rank fi rst- rate military men from frontier provinces,
so that he could award them army commands without breaking the
convention that such commands were for senators.
Septimius Severus is commonly credited with the more radical step of
appointing equestrian prefects to the command of his newly created legions,
thus beginning a trend that culminated in the virtual exclusion of senators
from army commands by the end of the third century. He is also thought to
have changed the pattern of promotion, in that he made it easier for the
ordinary soldier to rise through the ranks and hold a commission. As in the
case of Marcus, so with Septimius Severus: one must be careful not to
exaggerate the scale of his innovations or even their innovatory character.^14
Decisive change did not precede the collapse of the Severan dynasty in 235.
In the century that followed, the direction of the Roman empire was placed
fi rmly in the hands of military men from the Balkan provinces. In our period,
however, the domination of the Mediterranean governing class was
undisturbed.
The causes are multiple, and sometimes intangible. Local loyalties were a
salient factor. They operated within the Mediterranean sphere as well. It
would be absurd to dub as failures the numerous local politicians who did
not engage in public careers outside their cities and provinces – including
men as distinguished as Dio of Prusa in Asia Minor, Plutarch of Chaeronea
in Greece, and Apuleius from Madauros in Africa.^15 That would be to