The Magistrate did what he did to satisfy his own guilt not just because he kept the girl, but because of the entire movement against a people, their culture. By returning the girl to her people, he thought he was squaring it between the empire and the barbarians in his own mind. ( However, I think the Empire were the Barbarians, and the natives waited for them)
"I want to say that nothing passed between myself and the barbarians concerning military matters. It was a private affair. I went to return the girl to her family. For no other purpose." I think the magistrate put himself on trial and the only righteous action to take was to bring the girl back. I think his age was constantly on trial, and the 'road trip' was another action to take to prove his virility (mostly to himself).
The magistrate says something very interesting at the end of chapter six "I think: 'I wanted to live outside history. I wanted to live outside the history that Empire imposes on its subjects, even its lost subjects. I never wished it for the barbarians that they should have the history of Empire laid upon them. How can I believe that that is cause for shame?'" I'm not quite sure what to make of it.
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