The sequel was easy to foresee. Orders were
soon issued for the departure of the court to Rome, and the task of
managing the barbarians of Dacia, was delegated to lieutenants. The system
upon which these officers executed their commission was a mixed one of
terror and persuasion. Some they defeated in battle; and these were the
majority; for Herodian says, _pleizous ton barbaron haplois echeirosanto_:
Others they bribed into peace by large sums of money. And no doubt this
last article in the policy of Commodus was that which led Gibbon to assign
to this reign the first rudiments of the Roman declension. But it should
be remembered, that, virtually, this policy was but the further
prosecution of that which had already been adopted by Marcus Aurelius.
Concessions and temperaments of any sort or degree showed that the
Pannonian frontier was in too formidable a condition to be treated with
uncompromising rigor. To _hamerimnon onoumenos_, purchasing an immunity
from all further anxiety, Commodus (as the historian expresses it) _panta
edidou ta aitoumena_--conceded all demands whatever. His journey to Rome
was one continued festival: and the whole population of Rome turned out to
welcome him.
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