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.” 
Siath—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 
1 Lactantius, de mortibus persecutorum, 7. 
