Dacia Malvenis was possibly assigned to its "procurator", Macrinius Avitus, who defeated the Langobardi and Obii. The future emperor Pertinax was also a "procurator" in Dacia during this time, although his exact role is not known. Very unpopular in Dacia, Pertinax was eventually dismissed. By 170, Marcus Aurelius appointed Marcus Claudius Fronto as the governor of the entire Dacian province. Later that year, Fronto's command was extended to include the governorship of Moesia Superior once again. He did not keep it for long; by the end of 170, Fronto was defeated and killed in battle against the Iazyges. His replacement as governor of Dacia was Sextus Cornelius Clemens. That same year (170) the Costoboci (whose lands were to the north or northeast of Dacia) swept through Dacia on their way south. The now weakened empire could not prevent the movement of tribespeople into an exposed Dacia during 171, and Marcus Aurelius was forced to enter into diplomatic negotiations in an attempt to break up some of the barbarian alliances. In 171, the Astingi invaded Dacia; after initially defeating the Costoboci, they continued their attacks on the province. The Romans negotiated a settlement with the Astingi, whereby they agreed to leave Dacia and settle in the lands of the Costoboci. In the meantime, plots of land were distributed to some 12,000 dispossessed and wandering tribespeople, in an attempt to prevent them from becoming a threat to the province if they continued to roam at the edges of Dacia. Throughout this period, the tribes bordering Dacia to the east, such as the Roxolani, did not participate in the mass invasions of the empire. Traditionally seen as a vindication of Trajan's decision to create the province of Dacia as a wedge between the western and eastern Danubian tribes, Dacia's exposed position meant that the Romans had a greater reliance on the use of "client-states" to ensure its protection from invasion. While this worked in the case of the Roxolani, the use of the Roman-client relationships that allowed the Romans to pit one supported tribe against another facilitated the conditions that created the larger tribal federations that emerged with the Quadi and the Marcomanni. By 173 AD, the Marcomanni had been defeated; however, the war with the Iazyges and Quadi continued, as Roman strongholds along the Tisza and Danube rivers were attacked by the Iazyges, followed by a battle in Pannonia in which the Iazyges were defeated.