ABSTRACT
From the perspective of the emperor, there were two groups within the empire who mattered above the rest and upon whose support and co-operation he depended: one was the military, both the army commanders and the rank and file; the other was the administrative élite, which certainly included senators but scarcely any longer the senate as such. Aurelian’s relationship with these two vitally important groups is characterized in the literary sources by over-zealous enforcement of discipline and excessive cruelty.
