Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

286 DIOCLETIAN'S EDICT—PRICES THEN AND NOWThe Emperor, having decided that the prices promulgatedshall be observed in " all our domain," goes on, "it is ourpleasure that if any shall have boldly come into conflict withthis formal statute, he shall put his life in peril. In the sameperil also shall he be placed, who, drawn by avarice in hisdesire 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 havedecided that they can be held back, since the punishmentought to be even heavier for him who causes need, than forhim who violates laws."Second—the prices are maximum prices, not for commoditiesonly, but also for wages.Third—although the number of slaves owned had decreasedsince Augustan days, the scale of wages was still distinctlyaffected by slaves being hired out by their owners for day orjob work.Fourth—the absence of power being applied to manufacture,of the assemblage of men in a common workshop, and of theuse of any other machines than the hand loom, or the mill forgrinding corn.Fifth—for the urban workman in the fourth century (asMr. Abbott, p. 176, demonstrates), conditions of life must havebeen almost intolerable. It is indeed hard to understand howhe managed to keep body and soul together, when almostall the nutritious articles of food were beyond his reach. " Thetaste of meat, fish, butter, and eggs must have been almostunknown to him, and even the coarse bread and vegetableson which he lived were probably limited in amount. Thepeasant proprietor who raised his own cattle and grain wouldnot find the burden so hard."Sixth—the failure within a dozen years of the Emperor'sbold attempt to reduce the cost of living. Lactantius,'writing in 313-14, sums up the result of this interference witheconomic check and countercheck — " for the veriest triflesmuch blood was shed, and out of fear nothing was offered forsale,and the scarcity grew much worse, until after the death* Lactantius, de mortibus persecntorum, 7.