VIII
1a Hide, Babylonian, first quality $2.17
2 Hide, Babylonian, second quality $1.74
4 Hide, Phoenician (?) 43 cents 6a Cowhide, unworked, first quality $2.17
7 Cowhide, prepared for shoe soles $3.26
9 Hide, second quality, unworked $1.31 10 Hide, second quality, worked $2.17 11 Goatskin, large, unworked 17 cents 12 Goatskin, large, worked 22 " 13 Sheepskin, large, unworked 8.7 " 14 Sheepskin, large, worked 18 " 17 Kidskin, unworked 4.3 " 18 Kidskin, worked 7 " 27 Wolfskin, unworked 10.8 " 28 Wolfskin, worked 17.4 " 33 Bearskin, large, unworked 43 " 39 Leopardskin, unworked $4.35 41 Lionskin, worked $4.35
IX
5a Boots, first quality, for mule-drivers and peasants, per
pair, without nails 52 cents
6 Soldiers' boots, without nails 43 "
7 Patricians' shoes 65 "
8 Senatorial shoes 43 "
9 Knights' shoes 30.5 " 10 Women's boots 26 " 11 Soldiers' shoes 32.6 " 15 Cowhide shoes for women, double soles 21.7 " 16 Cowhide shoes for women, single soles 13 " 20 Men's slippers 26 " 21 Women's slippers 21.7 "
XVI
8a Sewing-needle, finest quality 1.7 cents
9 Sewing-needle, second quality .9 cent
XVII
1 Transportation, 1 person, 1 mile .9 cent
2 Rent for wagon, 1 mile 5 cents
3 Freight charges for wagon containing up to 1,200 pounds, per
mile 8.7 "
4 Freight charges for camel load of 600 pounds,
per mile 3.5 "
5 Rent for laden ass, per mile 1.8 "
7 Hay and straw, 3 pounds .9 cent
XVIII
1a Goose-quills, per pound 43.5 cents 11a Ink, per pound 5 " 12 Reed pens from Paphos (10) 1.7 " 13 Reed pens, second quality (20) 1.7 "
XIX
1 Military mantle, finest quality $17.40
2 Undergarment, fine $8.70
3 Undergarment, ordinary $5.44
5 White bed blanket, finest sort, 12 pounds weight $6.96
7 Ordinary cover, 10 pounds weight $2.18 28 Laodicean Dalmatica [i.e., a tunic with sleeves] $8.70 36 British mantle, with cowl $26.08 39 Numidian mantle, with cowl $13.04 42 African mantle, with cowl $6.52 51 Laodicean storm coat, finest quality $21.76 60 Gallic soldier's cloak $43.78 61 African soldier's cloak $2.17
XX
1a For an embroiderer, for embroidering a half-silk
undergarment, per ounce 87 cents
5 For a gold embroiderer, if he work in gold, for finest
work, per ounce $4.35
9 For a silk weaver, who works on stuff half-silk, besides
"keep," per day 11 cents
XXI
2 For working Tarentine or Laodicean or other foreign wool,
with keep, per pound 13 cents
5 A linen weaver for fine work, with keep, per day 18 "
XXII
4 Fuller's charges for a cloak or mantle, new 13 cents
6 Fuller's charges for a woman's coarse Dalmatica, new 21.7 "
9 Fuller's charges for a new half-silk undergarment 76 " 22 Fuller's charges for a new Laodicean mantle. 76 "
XXIII
1 White silk, per pound $52.22
XXIV
1 Genuine purple silk, per pound $652.20
2 Genuine purple wool, per pound $217.40
3 Genuine light purple wool, per pound $139.26
8 Nicaean scarlet wool, per pound $6.53
XXV
1 Washed Tarentine wool, per pound 76 cents
2 Washed Laodicean wool, per pound 65 "
3 Washed wool from Asturia, per pound 43.5 "
4 Washed wool, best medium quality, per pound 21.7 "
5 All other washed wools, per pound 10.8 "
XXVI
7a Coarse linen thread, first quality, per pound $3.13
8 Coarse linen thread, second quality, per pound $2.61
9 Coarse linen thread, third quality, per pound $1.96
XXX
1 Pure gold in bars or in coined pieces, per pound 50,000 denarii
3 Artificers, working in metal, per pound $21.76
4 Gold-beaters, per pound $13.06
Throughout the lists, as one may see, articles are grouped in a systematic way. First we find grain and vegetables; then wine, oil, vinegar, salt, honey, meat, fish, cheese, salads, and nuts. After these articles, in chapter VII, we pass rather unexpectedly to the wages of the field laborer, the carpenter, the painter, and of other skilled and unskilled workmen. Then follow leather, shoes, saddles, and other kinds of raw material and manufactured wares until we reach a total of more than eight hundred articles. As we have said, the classification is in the main systematic, but there are some strange deviations from a systematic arrangement. Eggs, for instance, are in table VI with salads, vegetables, and fruits. Buecher, who has discussed some phases of this price list, has acutely surmised that perhaps the tables in whole, or in part, were drawn up by the directors of imperial factories and magazines. The government levied tribute "in kind," and it must have provided depots throughout the provinces for the reception of contributions from its subjects. Consequently in making out these tables it would very likely call upon the directors of these magazines for assistance, and each of them in making his report would naturally follow to some extent the list of articles which the imperial depot controlled by him, carried in stock. At all events, we see evidence of an expert hand in the list of linens, which includes one hundred and thirty-nine articles of different qualities.
As we have noticed in the passage quoted from the introduction, it is unlawful for a person to charge more for any of his wares than the amount specified in the law. Consequently, the prices are not normal, but maximum prices. However, since the imperial lawgivers evidently believed that the necessities of life were being sold at exorbitant rates, the maximum which they fixed was very likely no greater than the prevailing market price. Here and there, as in the nineteenth chapter of the document, the text is given in tablets from two or more places. In such cases the prices are the same, so that apparently no allowance was made for the cost of carriage, although with some articles, like oysters and sea-fish, this item must have had an appreciable value, and it certainly should have been taken into account in fixing the prices of "British mantles" or "Gallic soldiers' cloaks" of chapter XIX. The quantities for which prices are given are so small-a pint of wine, a pair of fowls, twenty snails, ten apples, a bunch of asparagus-that evidently Diocletian had the "ultimate consumer" in mind, and fixed the retail price in his edict. This is fortunate for us, because it helps us to get at the cost of living in the early part of the fourth century. There is good reason for believing that the system of barter prevailed much more generally at that time than it does to-day. Probably the farmer often exchanged his grain, vegetables, and eggs for shoes and cloth, without receiving or paying out money, so that the money prices fixed for his products would not affect him in every transaction as they would affect the present-day farmer. The unit of money which is used throughout the edict is the copper denarius, and fortunately the value of a pound of fine gold is given as 50,000 denarii. This fixes the value of the denarius as .4352 cent, or approximately four-tenths of a cent. It is implied in the introduction that the purpose of the law is to protect the people, and especially the soldiers, from extortion, but possibly, as Buecher has surmised, the emperor may have wished to maintain or to raise the value of the denarius, which had been steadily declining because of the addition of alloy to the coin. If this was the emperor's object, possibly the value of the denarius is set somewhat too high, but it probably does not materially exceed its exchange value, and in any case, the relative values of articles given in the tables are not affected.