Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
February,  1920.) 
Fixation  of  Prices. 
129 
The  D10C1.KTIAN  Edicts. 
"I  have  just  been  reading  a  most  interesting  book,  entitled  'The 
Common  People  of  iVncient  Rome,'  by  Frank  Frost  Abbott,  Ken- 
nedy, Professor  of  I^atin  Language  and  Literature  in  Princeton 
University. 
"As  long  as  the  common  people  of  Rome  were  in  the  ascendant, 
Rome  ruled  the  world.  When  they  became  pauperized  through 
paternalism,  weakness,  degeneration,  disease  and  dissolution  were 
at  the  door. 
"I  recommend  very  few  books — beside  my  own — but  this  book 
by  Professor  Abbot  on  the  common  people  of  Rome  should  be  read 
by  all  of  the  common  people  of  America. 
"There  is  one  chapter  especially  that  is  worth  the  price  of  ad- 
mission, and  that  is  the  chapter  on  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  who 
lived  in  the  fourth  century  after  Christ.  This  man  had  a  deal  to 
do  with  ushering  in  the  dark  ages.  His  intent  and  desires  were 
right,  but  he  had  a  wonderful  itch  for  butting  in  and  taking  charge 
of  everything.  The  people  were  not  allowed  either  to  choose  their 
own  religion  or  to  do  business  in  their  own  way.  Diocletian  knew 
nothing  about  natural  law;  that  is,  spiritual  law. 
"High  prices  then  prevailed.  Diocletian  devised  a  scheme 
for  keeping  them  down — this,  in  the  interests  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, for  politicians,  propagandists,  reformers,  rulers,  who  live  off 
the  common  people,  have  ever  been  anxious  to  show  the  common 
people  what  to  do.  So  comes  Diocletian,  solicitous  on  account  of 
high  prices.  He  sends  his  secretaries  through  the  market  places, 
makes  a  list  of  seven  hundred  commodities,  and  the  secretaries 
fix  maximum  prices  at  which  things  should  be  sold.  The  penalty 
for  charging  more  than  the  established  price  was  death. 
"In  order  that  there  could  be  no  misunderstanding,  Diocletian 
had  the  names  of  the  articles  and  the  prices  above  which  they  should 
not  be  sold  cut  in  stone  and  placed  on  the  walls  all  around  the  mar- 
kets. 
"What  was  the  result?  Simply  this,  that  the  common  people 
who  had  been  busy  producing  all  of  the  commodities  that  minis- 
tered to  human  life  became  panic-stricken.  Animation  flagged. 
Inspiration  died.  Laughter  ceased.  No  such  thing  as  joyous 
labor  longer  existed. 
