286 DIOCLETIAN'S EDICT— PRICES THEN AND NOW 



The Emperor, having decided that the prices promulgated 

 shall be observed in " all our domain," goes on, "it is our 

 pleasure that if any shall have boldly come into conflict with 

 this formal statute, he shall put his life in peril. In the same 

 peril also shall he be placed, who, drawn by avarice in his 

 desire to buy, shall have conspired against these statutes. 

 Nor shall he be esteemed innocent of the same crime who, 

 having articles necessary for daily life and use, shall have 

 decided that they can be held back, since the punishment 

 ought to be even heavier for him who causes need, than for 

 him who violates laws." 



Second — the prices are maximum prices, not for commodities 

 only, but also for wages. 



Third — although the number of slaves owned had decreased 

 since Augustan days, the scale of wages was still distinctly 

 affected by slaves being hired out by their owners for day or 

 job work. 



Fourth — the absence of power being applied to manufacture, 

 of the assemblage of men in a common workshop, and of the 

 use of any other machines than the hand loom, or the mill for 

 grinding corn. 



Fifth — for the urban workman in the fourth century (as 

 Mr. Abbott, p. 176, demonstrates), conditions of life must have 

 been almost intolerable. It is indeed hard to understand how 

 he managed to keep body and soul together, when almost 

 all the nutritious articles of food were beyond his reach. " The 

 taste of meat, fish, butter, and eggs must have been almost 

 unknown to him, and even the coarse bread and vegetables 

 on which he lived were probably limited in amount. The 

 peasant proprietor who raised his own cattle and grain would 

 not find the burden so hard." 



Sixth — the failure within a dozen years of the Emperor's 

 bold attempt to reduce the cost of living. Lactantius,' 

 writing in 313-14, sums up the result of this interference with 

 economic check and countercheck — " for the veriest trifles 

 much blood was shed, and out of fear nothing was offered for 

 sale, and the scarcity grew much worse, until after the death 

 * Lactantius, de mortibus persecntorum, 7. 



