of the Romans in the Fourth Century. 269 



of objects j^w^ci from half the maximum, and reduced into 

 French measures. 



He has been led to adopt half of the mawimum for the 

 mea7i price, by the consideration that it has always been agreed 

 upon that a state of scarcity begins when the price of provi- 

 sions rises to double the value which they bear in ordinary 

 times. 



In our own times, for example, foreign corn is allowed to 

 be imported by the corn laws of France and England, whilst 

 in the former of these countries, the hectolitre of corn is worth 

 twenty-six francs, instead of twelve or thirteen, and whilst in 

 the British islands the quarter of corn rises to eighty shillings, 

 instead of forty or fifty. 



In 1793, on account of the price of provisions being already 

 double, the convention chose, like Diocletian, to fix their va- 

 lue at this limit, and to hinder it from going beyond it. 



If, in spite of these analogies, it should be thought proper 

 to establish another ratio between the maxima and the ordi- 

 nary price of labour and of provisions, this table will never- 

 theless be a faithful expression of the price of articles of that 

 period ; for as the imperial edict settled not only the prices of 

 eatables, but also of labour, their reciprocal relation will al- 

 ways be the same, whether they raise or lower their nominal 

 value, and the intrinsic value of commodities will be known 

 by comparison with the value of labour, which is the most ex- 

 act, and the most cc rtain expression of it. 



The following is the table drawn up by M. Moreau de 

 Jonnes. The slightest inspection of it will enable us to appre- 

 ciate the importance of this archaeological discovery, for no 

 monument of antiquity has furnished so long a series of nu- 

 merical terms, of statistical data, and positive testimony of 

 the civil life and domestic economy of the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans. 



h 



