Preamble to Diocletian’s ‘Edict on Maximum Prices’ (AE 1890, 66)

Typology: Imperial edict

Original Location: Plataeae, Achaia, Greece

Current Location: National Museum Athens, inventory number unknown

Date: 20 Nov 301 CE to 10 Dec 301 CE

Centuries: 4th CE

Material: Marble

Measurements: Width:  83.5 cm Height: 135 cm Depth:  18 cm

Languages: Latin

Category: Roman

Publications: AE 1890, 66; EDH: HD042458

Description: Fragment of a marble stele with a copy of the preamble to Diocletian’s ‘Edict of Maximum Prices’. The text must have continued on another stele. Broken in two parts; two smaller fragments with the letters of lines 33-36 (centre) and lines 49-52 (beginning) were lost during transport to the museum.

Diplomatic:
[ ]  MVS GRATVLARI LICET TRANQVILL ORBIS STATV [ ]OCA[ ]  PTER QVAM SVDORE LARGO LABORATVM EST [ ]TE[ ]  ET ROMANA DIGNITAS MAIESTASQVE DE[ ]DERAT VT NVS [ ]  PRAETE[ ] RAPINAS GENTRVM BARBA[ ]V[ ]AD[ ]  SVNDATA[ ]IETEM DIBITVM IVSTICIAE MVNIME[ ]  BI FINAE PR[ ]SITO ARDET A AVARITIA DESAEVIENS QVI SINE [ ]ECT[ ] GEN[ ]  VEL MENSIBVS AVT DIEBVS SED PAEN HORIS IPSISQVE MOM[ ] A[ ]  TINAT ALIQVA EONTINENTIAE RATIO FRENARET VEL SI FORTVN[ ]  BACCANIDI LIGENTIAM QVA PESSIME IN DIES EIVSMODI SORTAE LAC[ ]  DE RELICTVS LOCVS VIDERETVR CVM DETESTANIAM [ ]  MVNIS ANIMORVM PATIENTIA TEMPERARET SED QVI[ ]  NECESSITVDINIS AHBERE DILECTVM ET GLICENTIS ABARI[ ]  RELIGIC APVD INPROBVS ET INMODESTVS EXISTIMATVR [ ]  AM VOLVNTATE DESTITVI ADQVAE VLTRA QVONIVERE NO[ ]  EXTRAEMA TRAXERVNT CVNBENIT PROSPICIENTIBVS N[ ]  TERVENIRE IVSTITIAM VT QVOD SPERATVM DIV HVM[ ]  PERAMENTVM REMEDIIS PROMISIONIS NVSTRAE T CVNT[ ]  VMNIVM CONSCIENTIAM RECOGNOSCIT ET IPSARVM R[ ]  C EPE CONSILIA MOLIMVR AVT REMEDIA INVENTA COHIB[ ]  ISSIMIS DEPRAEHENSA DILICTIS IPSA SE EMENDARE[ ]  ARE DIREPTIONIS NOTAS A CVMMVNIBVS IVDICIIS [ ]  E IN PEIORA PRAECIPITES ET IN PVALICVM NEFAS QVA[ ]  GVLES ET HVNIVERSIS REOS ATROCISSIMAE INHVMANI[ ]  AM DIO RERVM NECESSITATE DESIDERATA PRORVMPI[ ]  BO AVT SVPERILLOV MEDILLAE NVSTRAE INTERVEN[ ]  TVR QVI TT ANNORVM RETICENTIAM NVSTRAM P[ ]  LVERVNT QVIS ENIM ADEO OATVMSI PECTOR[ ]  POSSIT INMO NON SENSERIT IN VENALIBVS RE[ ]  CONVERSATIONEM TRACTANTVR IN TANTVM SE [ ]  RAPIENDI NEC RERVM COPIA NEC ANNORVM VERTATIB[ ]  OFFICIA EXERCITVS HABENT DVBIVM NON SIT SE[ ]  SAS CENPESTATISQVAE CAPTARE NEQVE INIQVITATI SVA [ ]  SVPERIS INDRIBVS ARVA FELICIA VT [ ]  DANTIAM REBVS PROVENIRE ET QVIBVS SE[ ]  PVALICAE FELICITATIS FLVENTIAM STRINGERE [ ]  E INSTITVTORVM OFFICIS NONDINARI QVI SINGVLI MA[ ]  TIM EXPLERE POTVISSENT CONSENCTENTVR PECVL[ ]  RVM ADARITIAE MODVM SCATII PROBINCIALES NVSTRI [ ]  SED IAM ETIAM IPSAS CAOSAS QVARVA NECESSITAS TAMDE[ ]  CARE DEBEMVS OT QVAMBIS DIF COTO ORBAE [ ]  FACTO POTIVS PROCOELARI IVSTIOR TAMEN INTEPL[ ]  TISSIMI HOMINES MENTIORN SVARVM INDOMITAS CVPID[ ]  TVR ACNOSDEBE QVIS ERGO NESCIAT VTILITAT[ ]  EXERCITVS NOSTROS IDIRIGI COMMVNIS OMNIVM SA[ ]  MNI ITINERE ANIMO SECTIONIS OCCVRRERE PRAETIA V[ ]  TA EXTORQVERE VT NOMINA ESTIMONIS ET FACTI EX[ ]  INTERDAM DISTRACTIONE HVNIVS REI DONATIBV MILIT[ ]  TINENDOS EXERCITVS COLLATIONE DETESDANDIS [ ]  [ ]EM MILITIAE SVAE ET EMCRITVS LAVORES MILITES NOSTRI SECTORIVS OMNIV[ ]  [ ]EPRAEDATORES IPSIVS REI PVBLICAE TANTVM IN DIES RAPIANT QVANTVM HABER[ ]  [ ] OMNIBVS QVAE SVPRA CONPREHENSA SVNT IVSTI AC MERITO PERMOTI CVM IAM IPSA HV[ ]  DERETVR NON PRETIA VENALIVM RERVM NEQVE ENIM FIERI ID IVSTVM PVTATOR CVM PLV[ ]  BINCIAE FELICITATAE OPTATAE VILITATIS ET VELVT QVODAM AFLVENTIAE PRI[ ]  MODVM STATVENDVM ESSE CENSVAMVS VT CVM VIS ALIQVA CARITATIS EMERGERE[ ]
 

Edition :

[Imp(erator)   Caesar   C(aius)   Aurel(ius)   Val(erius)   Diocletian]us   P(ius) F(elix) Inv(ictus) Aug(ustus) p[o]nt(ifex) max(imus) Germ(anicus) max(imus) VI Sarm(aticus) max(imus) IIII Persic(us) max(imus) II Britt(annicus)     max(imus)     Carpic(us)     max(imus)     Armen(icus)   max(imus)   Medic(us)   max(imus) Adiabenic(us) max(imus) trib(unicia) p(otestate) XVIII co(n)ss(ul) VII imp(erator) XVIII p(ater) p(atriae) proco(n)ss(ul)
et   Imp(erator)   Caesa[r]   M(arcus)   Aurel(ius)   Val(erius) Maximianus P(ius) F(elix) Inv(ictus)   Aug(ustus)   pont(ifex)   max(imus)   Germ(anicus)   max(imus)   V Sarm(aticus) [max(imus) IIII Persic(us) max(imus) II Brit(annicus) max(imus) Carpic(us) max(imus) Armen(icus) max(imus) Medic(us) max(imus)   Adiabenic(us) max(imus) tri]b(unicia) p(otestate) XVII co(n)ss(ul) VI imp(erator) XVII p(ater) p(atriae)   proco(n)ss(ul)
et   Fla(vius)   Val(erius) Constantius Germ(anicus) max(imus) II Sarm(aticus) max(imus)   II   Persic(us)   max(imus)   II   Britt(annicus)   max(imus) (Carpic(us)) max(imus) Armenic(us) max(imus)   Medic(us)   max(imus)   Adiaben(icus)   max(imus) trib(unicia) p(otestate) VIIII co(n)ss(ul) III nobil(issimus) Caes(ar)
et G(alerius) Val(erius) Maximianus Germ(anicus) max(imus) II Sarm(aticus) [max(imus)   II   Persic(us)   max(imus)   II   Britt(annicus)   max(imus)   Carpic(us) max(imus) Armenic(us) max(imus) Medic(us) max(imus) Adia]b(enicus) max(imus) trib(unicia) p(otestate) VIIII co(n)ss(ul) III nobil(issimus) Caes(ar) dicunt
 
Fortunam rei publicae nostrae cui iuxta inmortales deo(s) bellorum memoria quae feliciter gessimus gratulari licet tranquillo orbis statu et in gremio altissima[e]
quietis locato etiam pacis bonis p[r]opter quam sudore largo laboratum est disponi fideliter adque ornari decenter honestum publicum et Romana dignitas
maiestasque desiderant ut nos qui benigno favore numinum aestuantes de praeterito rapinas gentium barbararum ipsarum nationum clade conpres-
simus in aeternum fundatam quietem [deb]itis iustitiae munimen[ti]s saepiamus etenim si ea quibus nullo sibi fine proposito ardet avaritia desaeviens quae sine res-
pectu generis humani non annis modo vel mensibus aut diebus sed paene horis ipsisque momentis ad incrementa sui et augmenta festinat aliqua continentiae
ratio frenaret vel si fortunae commun(e)s aequ[o] animo perpeti possent hanc debachandi licentiam qua pessime in dies eiusmodi sorte lacerantur dissimulandi
forsitam adque reticendi relictus locus videretur cum detestandam inmanitatem condicionemque miserandam communis animorum patientia temperaret
sed quia una est cupido furoris indomiti nullum communis necessitudinis habere dilectum et gliscentis avaritiae ac rapidis aestuantis ardoribus
velut quaedam religio apud inprob(o)s et inmodest(o)s existimatur in lacerandis fortunis omnium necessitate potius quam voluntate destitui adque ultra
conivere non possunt quos ad sensum miserrimae condicionis egestatis extrema traxerunt convenit prospicientibus nobis qui parentes sumus
generis humani arbitram rebus intervenire iustitiam ut quod speratum diu humanitas ipsa praestare non potuit ad commune omnium temperamen-
tum remediis provisionis nostrae comferatur et huius quidem causae quantum communis omnium conscientia recognoscit et ipsarum
rerum fides clamat paene sera prospectio est dum hac spe consilia molimur aut remedia inventa cohibemus ut quod expectandum fuit per iura naturae
in gravissimis deprehensa delictis ipsa se emendaret humanitas longe melius existimantes non ferendae direptionis notas a communibus iudiciis
ipsorum sensu adque arbitrio submoveri quos cottidie in peiora praecipites et in publicum nefas quadam animorum caecitate vergentes inimicos singulis
et universis reos atrocissimae inhumanitatis gravis noxa dediderat ad remedia igitur iam diu rerum necessitate desiderata prorumpimus et securi quidem querellarum
ne ut intempestivo aut superfluo medellae nostrae interventus vel apud inprobos levior aut vilior aestimaretur qui tot annorum reticentiam nostrum
praeceptricem modestiae sentientes sequi tamen noluerunt quis enim adeo obtumsi pectoris et a sensu humanitatis extorris est qui ignorare possit
immo non senserit in venalibus rebus quae vel in mercimoniis aguntur vel diurna urbium conversatione tractantur in tantum se licentiam difusisse
pretiorum ut effrenata livido rapiendi nec rerum copia nec annorum ubertatibus mitigaretur ut plane eiusmodi homines quos haec officia exercitos habent
dubium non sit senper(!) pendere animi[s] etiam   de siderum motibus auras ipsas tempestatesque captare neque iniquitate sua perpeti posse ad spem
frugum futurarum inundari superis imbribus arva felicia ut qui detrimentum sui existiment caeli ipsius temperamentis abundan-
tiam rebus provenire et quibus semper studium est in quaestum trahere etiam beneficia divina ac publicae felicitatis afluentiam
stringere rursusque anni sterili[tate de messi]s iactibus adque institorum officiis nundinari qui singuli maximis divitiis
diffluentes quae etiam populos adfatim explere potuissent consectentur peculia et laceratrices centesimas persequan-
tur eorum avaritiae modum statui provinciales nostri communis humanitatis ratio persuadet sed iam etiam ipsas cau-
sas quarum necessitas tandem providere diu prolatam patientiam conpulit explicare debemus ut quamvis difficile sit toto orbe
avaritiam saevientem speciali argumento vel facto potius revelari iustior tamen intellegatur remedii constitutio cum intemperatis-
simi homines mentium suarum indomitas cupid[ines desig]natione quadam et notis cogentur agnoscere quis ergo nesciat utilita-
tibus publicis insidiatricem audaciam quacumque exercitus nostros dirigi communis omnium salus postulat non per vicos modo
aut per   oppida   se(d)   (i)n   omni   itinere animo sectionis occurrere pretia venalium rerum non quadruplo aut oct[uplo sed i]ta extorquere ut
nomina (a)estim(ati)onis et facti explicare humanae linguae ratio non possit denique interdum distractione unius rei donativo militem
stipendioque privari et omnem totius orbis ad sustinendos exercitus collationem detestandis quaestibus diripientium cedere
ut manu propria spem militiae suae et emeritos labores milites nostri sectoribus omnium comferre videantur quo depraedato-
res ipsius rei publicae tantum in dies rapiant quantum habere nesciant his omnibus quae supra conprehensa sunt iuste ac merito
permoti cum iam ipsa humanitas deprecari videretur non pretia venalium rerum neque enim fieri id iustum putatur cum
plurimae interdum provinciae felicitate optatae vilitatis et velut quodam afluentae privilegio glorientur sed modum statue-
dum esse censuimus ut cum vis aliqua caritatis emergeret quod dii omen averterint avaritia quae velut campis quadam immensitate dif-
fusis teneri non poter(at) statuti nostri finibus vel moderaturae legis terminis stringeretur placet igitur ea pretia quae
subditi brevis scriptura designat ita totius orbis nostri observantia contineri ut omnes intellegant egre-
diendi eadem licentiam sibi esse praecisam non inpedita utique in his locis ubi copia rerum perspicietur afluere
vilitatis beatitudine cui maxime providetur cum praefinita avaritia compescetur inter venditores autem
emptoresque quibus consuetudo est adire portus et peregrinas obire provincias haec communis actus debebit esse
moderatio ut cum et ipsi sciant in caritatis necessitate statuta rebus pretia non posse transcendi distractionis
tempore ea locorum adque discursuum totiusque negotii ratio subputetur qua iuste placuisse perspicitur nusquam
carius vendituros esse qui transferunt quia igitur et apud maiores nostros hanc ferendarum legum constat fuisse
rationem ut praescripto metu compesceretur audacia quod rarum admodum est humanam condicionem sponte beneficam
deprehendi et semper praeceptor metus iustissimus officiorum invenitur esse moderator placet ut si quis contra formam
statuti huius conixus fuerit audentia capitali periculo subiugetur nec quisquam duritiam statuti putet cum in promptu ad-
sit perfugium declinandi periculi modestiae observantia eidem autem periculo etiam ille subdetur qui conparandi cupiditate avaritia
distrahentis contra statuta consenserit ab eiusmodi quoque noxa immunis nec ille praestavitur qui habens species victui adque usui neces-
sarias post hoc s(i)vi temperamentum exist(u)maverit subtrahendas cum poena vel gravior es(s)e debeat inferentis paenuriam quam contra statu-
ta quatientis cohortamur ergo omnium devotionem ut res constituta ex commodo publico benignis obsequi(i)s et debita religione teneatur m[a]-
[x]ime cum e(iu)smodi statuto non civitatibus singulis ac populis adque provinciis sed universo orbi provisum esse videatur in cuius pe[rnici]-
em pauci atmodum desaebisse noscantur quorum avaritiam nec prol(i)xitas temporum nec divitiae quibus studuisse cernuntur m[iti]-
gare aut satiare potuerunt

English translation:

1. The Emperor Caesar Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian, dutiful, blessed, unconquered Augustus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, conqueror of the Germans six times, conqueror of the Sarmatians four times, conqueror of the Persians two times, conqueror of the Britons, conqueror of the Carpi, conqueror of the Armenians, conqueror of the Medes, conqueror of the Adiabeni, holding tribunician power for the eighteenth year, seven times consul, eighteen times acclaimed emperor, Father of our Country, proconsul, 2. and
the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximinian, dutiful, blessed, unconquered Augustus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, conqueror of the Germans five times, conqueror of the Sarmatians four times, conqueror of the Persians two times, conqueror of the Britons, conqueror of the Carpi, conqueror of the Armenians, conqueror of the Medes, conqueror of the Adiabeni, holding tribunician power for the seventeenth year, six times consul, seventeen times acclaimed emperor, Father of our Country, proconsul, 3. and
Flavius Valerius Constantius, conqueror of the Germans two times, conqueror of the Sarmatians two times, conqueror of the Persians two times, conqueror of the Britons, conqueror of the Carpi, conqueror of the Armenians, conqueror of the Medes, conqueror of the Adiabeni, holding tribunician power for the ninth year, three times consul, most noble Caesar, 4. and Gaius Valerius Maximinian [II; a.k.a. Galerius], conqueror of the Germans two times, conqueror of the Sarmatians two times, conqueror of the Persians two times, conqueror of the Britons, conqueror of the Carpi, conqueror of the Armenians, conqueror of the Medes, conqueror of the Adiabeni, holding tribunician power for the ninth year, three times consul, most noble Caesar – they declare:
5. We may thank the good fortune of our state, as well as the immortal gods, on remembering the wars we have waged successfully. The condition of the world has been placed, tranquil, in the lap of the deepest quiet and peace towards good men. For this reason we have labored and spent our effort lavishly. Now both Roman dignity and majesty desire that the public honor be arranged faithfully and fittingly adorned. We, who by supernatural forces' benevolent support have suppressed the raging depredations of the past by slaughtering the very peoples of the barbarian tribes, will secure the quiet we have established with the reinforcements Justice deserves.
6. Greed raves and burns and sets no limit on itself. Without regard for the human race, it rushes to increase and augment itself not by years or months or else days, but almost by hours and very moments. If some thought of restraint were curbing its means - or if our shared fortunes could calmly endure this free rein for going wild (it rips them apart, day after day in the worst way with conditions as they are), perhaps a place for pretending it all away and keeping quiet would still seem to remain, since a shared endurance of our spirits would be moderating the detestable enormity and the pitiable state of affairs.
7. But unmastered insanity has one desire: to have no soft spot for a necessity all share. Unprincipled and licentious persons think greed has a certain sort of obligation (greed that swells and roils with rapid fires), in ripping up the fortunes of all, to lose the need rather than the will to continue. They whom the extremes of poverty have forced to perceive their most miserable condition cannot strive farther. It is appropriate to the forethought of us who are the parents of the human race, that justice intervene in matters as a judge. We purpose that what humanity long hoped for but could not furnish itself may be conferred to the shared good balance of all by the remedies of our foresight. And provision for this particular situation, indeed, as much as everyone’s shared consciousness recognizes and the proof of things themselves cries out, is almost late. 8. We have been devising counsels with this hope or else holding back the remedies we found, so that - as by the laws of nature had to be expected - humanity itself, having been caught in the most serious crimes, might remove its own fault. We thought it far better that the blots of an unendurable plundering be removed from shared judgments by perception and decision of the very people whom the grave injury of blackest inhumanity had handed over as defendants, those enemies of one and all, when they were daily going headlong into worse and by some blindness of their spirits edging towards abomination against the populace.
9. Toward remedies, therefore, that have long been desired by the necessity of things, we spring into action. We care not for complaints. Unprincipled people perceived our so many years’ silence was giving a lesson in restraint but nevertheless refused to comply - not even among them may the intervention of our cure be thought too trivial or too cheap on the grounds it was untimely or superfluous.
10. Who has so insensible a heart or has removed himself so far from human feeling that he can fail to know - that he has not in fact felt in commercial affairs, whether done in trade or dealt with in the cities’ daily exchange - to what an extent shameless pricing has spread? Neither abundance of goods nor the bounty of good years tempers this unrestrained lust for stealing! 11. As a result, there is no doubt this sort of men who have experience in these jobs plainly always hang in suspense even concerning the motions of the stars, they try to catch the very breezes and storms, and by their own iniquity they cannot endure that prosperous farmland should be drenched by rains from above, to the hope of future fruits - since they think it their own loss if material plenty is produced by the moderating influences of the very sky.
12. Some people always are eager to turn a profit even on blessings from the gods: they seize the abundance of general prosperity and strangle it. Or again they make much of a year’s bad harvest and traffic by the operations of hucksters. Although they each wallow in the greatest riches, with which nations could have been satisfied, they chase after personal allowances and hunt down their chiseling percentages. On their greed, provincial citizens, the logic of our shared humanity urges us to set a limit.
13. But now we ought to explain also the causes themselves whose necessity finally has forced our long-displayed endurance to take steps. Although it is difficult to unmask the greed raging in the whole world, by special reasoning or rather act, nevertheless our establishment of remedy may be thought more just, since by some description and marks very immoderate men will be forced to recognize the ungoverned desires of their own minds. 14.  
Therefore, who would not know that effrontery hijacks the public interest? Whatever way everyone’s shared security demands our armies be directed, through villages or towns and on every route, effrontery goes to meet them with a spirit of thievery. It ratchets up the prices of things for sale, not fourfold or eightfold but so much that the human tongue’s reckoning cannot untangle what to call the accounting and the deed! In sum, meanwhile, by the purchase of one thing a soldier is deprived of his bonus and his salary: he yields to the detestable profits of robbers all the tax the whole world pays to support the armies. By their own hand our soldiers seem to give up the expectation of their own service and the labors they have completed to those who steal from everyone. In this way, day after day, the plunderers of the state itself carry off so much they don’t know they have it!
We have been moved by all these things that have been included above, rightly, as we should. 15. Since human feeling itself seems to beg for relief, we have taken the position, not that we must set prices of goods and services for sale - nor indeed would it be thought right, since meanwhile very many provinces rejoice in the blessing of desired low prices as if by some special condition of abundance - but that we must set a limit. When some expensiveness should arise (the gods forbid it!) the greed that could not be restrained, as if it ranged in fields spread over some limitless expanse, will be choked off by the limits of our statute and the boundaries of a moderating law.
16. Therefore we decree that these prices, which the written text of the subjoined abstract indicates, be kept by the observance of our whole realm: let all understand that license to exceed the same limits has been cut off in advance. As a result, in those places where a profusion of goods should noticeably abound, the benefit of low prices, which is very much the object of our care and foresight, is not hindered while greed, checked in advance, is restrained.
17. Moreover, this restraint of their shared activity will be obligatory among sellers and buyers whose habit is to go to ports and visit foreign provinces. Since even they themselves know that the statutory prices for goods and services cannot be overstepped in the straits of expensiveness, at the time of sale those places and the journey and the account of the whole transaction will be calculated. In this way the justice of our decree will be conspicuous, that they who do the transporting will not sell more dearly anywhere.
18. Since, therefore, it is agreed that our ancestors too passed legislation for this reason, that effrontery should be repressed by the dread prescribed - because human nature left to its own will turns out altruistic only in absolutely exceptional instances, and dread, as a preceptor, proves to regulate duties most justly - we decree that if anyone should, in his boldness, strive against the form of this statute, he shall undergo a capital penalty. And let not anyone suppose that a hardship is being enacted, since the observance of restraint is present and available as a safe haven for avoiding the penalty.
19. To the same penalty also will be subject that person who from his eagerness to buy colludes with the greed of the seller contrary to the statute. Nor will he be, exceptionally, exempt from injury of this sort who supposes that he ought to hold back necessary kinds of food or service when he has them after the regulation of this statute, since the punishment ought to be even more serious for someone who initiates a scarcity than for someone who brandishes it contrary to the statute.
20. Therefore we encourage the commitment of all people: let the thing that has been established in law for the public good be maintained with well-intentioned compliance and the obligation that is owed, especially since with a statute of this kind it is seen to have been provided not for individual communities and populations and provinces but for the entire world. The people who have senselessly pursued its destruction, it is known, are very few: their greed cannot be softened or sated by an excess either of time or of the wealth they are found to have been so eager to get.

Commentary:

Between 20th November and 10th December 310 CE, the emperor Diocletian and the tetrarchs instituted the Edictum De Pretiis Rerum Venalium, or the “Edict of Maximal Prices”; more than forty fragments of inscriptions recording this edict have been identified, making it the best surviving epigraphic text from antiquity (for detailed discussion and maps of the other fragments, see Giacchero, Edictum Diocleti II, tables 1 and 2, to which fragments recently discovered in Odessos, Corinth and Crete should also be added). Although much of the scholarship has focussed on the economic implications of the prices for goods listed in the edict, or the extent to which the edict was universally applied across the empire, as well as the reasons for its failure just a few years later, this commentary is concerned with the rhetoric of the preamble of the text (for discussion of the prices listed in the edict, see the points raised by Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 225-229 and suggested bibliography); it reminds its audience of the turbulent years of barbarian invasions that the empire has suffered in recent years, and the peace that has been achieved as a result of Rome’s powerful efforts to resist them. The main purpose of the preamble is to identify the current immoral, ‘greedy’ state of the Roman economy – which had seen coinage seriously debased and rising prices across the empire – and to denounce such greed for holding back Rome’s continued progress.

 

The preamble of the edict begins with the full imperial titles of all four tetrarchs, Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius and Constantius I; although this section is missing from the copy of the edict whose text is given here, it did survive on a copy from Egypt, which has been used to securely date the edict, based on the statement of Diocletian’s tribunician power (Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 206, n. 3). Dicunt – “they say” – is the traditional edictal opening formula, but what follows after is anything but traditional; as Simon Corcoran has noted, the preamble is “a long and complex piece of writing” which seeks the approval of the reader through “constant repetition, reduplication and strong emotive language” (Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 207). This is evident from the first sentence of the preamble (chapter 5), which presents the Roman world as being in a state of peace: “The condition of the world has been placed, tranquil, in the lap of the deepest quiet and peace towards good men” (tranquillo orbis statu et in gremio altissimae / quietis locato); the “raging depredations of the past” have been suppressed through Rome’s defeat of the barbarians (aestuantes…rapinas gentium barbararum ipsarum nationum clade conpressimus), which was achieved through the support of the gods (benigno favore numinum), and now “Roman dignity and majesty” (Romana dignitas / maiestasque) desire that peace be founded for eternity (in aeternum fundatam quietem). In spite of the great effort that Rome – and the gods – have gone to win peace across the empire, there is still the threat of eternal discord, however; the edict proclaims that the empire is suffering from a great greed (represented by growing inflation), which threatens to grow “without respect for humankind” (sine respectu generis humani…festinat); the language used to describe this terrifying spectre is, as Simon Corcoran has rightly pointed out, “precisely that appropriate for a raging barbarian enemy”, characterising it as wild, frenzied, inhuman and with a “perverted religion”  (see chapters 6 and 7 in particular; Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 208). The opening statement of the edict is characterised then by a tone of moralising rhetoric, that advertised the efforts that the tetrarchs – with the support of the gods – had gone to in order to win such peace, justifying their power by highlighting the moral threat that continued to pervade the human race.

Gonzalo Bravo Castañeda organised the preamble of Diocletian’s edict into three sections, recognising this first one as a general statement of affairs (Coyuntura sociopolítica y estructura social de la producción en la época de Diocleciano, p. 243-247). This first section lasts until chapter 8, when the imperial motives for reform are offered. Here Diocletian claims that he fears that they have waited too long to try and resolve the situation, out of hope that humanity would recognise its fault in this respect and be motivated to change its own ways (paene sera prospectio est dum hac spe consilia molimur aut remedia inventa cohibemus ut quod expectandum fuit per iura naturae / in gravissimis deprehensa delictis ipsa se emendaret humanitas). The emphasis here, particularly in chapters 5-6, is to recall the emperors’ deeds and to again highlight the efforts to which they have gone to restore peace, and the foundations of iustitita, justice, upon which this new peace was determined (Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 295).

There follows, in chapters 10-14, a discussion of how inflation has grown out of control, and in particular the greed of individuals who have prioritised profit over human sympathy. Chapter 15-end provide the Tetrarchs’ solution to the problem; rather than fixing prices absolutely, they have decided to fix a ‘ceiling’ (modum statuendum) for the price of all goods, meaning that prices can be lowered in times of prosperity when cheaper prices will benefit the market:

We have taken the position, not that we must set prices of goods and services for sale - nor indeed would it be thought right, since meanwhile very many provinces rejoice in the blessing of desired low prices as if by some special condition of abundance - but that we must set a limit. When some expensiveness should arise (the gods forbid it!) the greed that could not be restrained, as if it ranged in fields spread over some limitless expanse, will be choked off by the limits of our statute and the boundaries of a moderating law.

Also forbidden is the movement of goods for sale elsewhere, using the cost of transport as a reason for raised prices, for buyers and sellers to collude together, or for any individual to withhold goods from sale at all (chapter 17), thereby avoiding any possible loopholes that might have been identified (Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 213). In the final section, from chapter 18-20, the emperors encourage their subjects to respect the edict as a body of law, due to it having been established “for the public good”, emphasising the “universal” nature of is provision (cum eiusmodi statuto non civitatibus singulis ac populis adque provinciis sed universo orbi provisum esse videatur). There then follows a meticulously ordered list (not provided in this commentary) of the individual maximum prices of all goods.

Pat Southern has noted that there is an “exasperated” tone to the synopsis presented in the preamble, particularly with respect to the greed it is claimed that individual producers of goods have shown (Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, p. 161). It is of course possible that the avarice identified by Diocletian here has been exaggerated – Simon Corcoran has suggested so even to the level of caricature – but it is clear that the greed and impropriety of communities around the empire are designed here to serve as the perfect counterpoint to the qualities of the emperors, who are determined to restore justice. The crime of avaritia (“greed”) is mentioned eight times in the preamble, which should be contrasted with the ratio (“reason”), humanitas (“humanity”) and general generosity of the imperial representatives (Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 209). They are described in the text as the “parents” of the human race (parentes generis humani), who have been burdened with the task of restoring moral order to their “children”, the subjects of Rome; they are urged to come together in the interests of common humanity (noster communis humanitas) and in order to prevent future incursions of morality and temperate behaviour. Both these concepts, of the parental aspect of the emperors, and of a “common humanity” are striking examples of the ideological basis of the Price Edict.

The arguments for why Diocletian laid out such an edict are many and varied, with some suggesting that it was in response not to an empire-wide problem, but to a situation close to the imperial court at Antioch, where Diocletian was then based, which had possibly arisen between the soldiers stationed there and the local merchants. The problems faced by Rome in paying the military are well documented, with many soldiers being forced to accept deferred pay or being forced to requisition food and clothing from provincial subjects when necessary (Southern, Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, p. 159). If this had been the case in the east, it is possible that the traders of Antioch had responded by increasing their prices in order to punish the soldiers and their fixed rate of pay, to which the edict may then have been a response (Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 211; see p. 215-219 for detailed analysis of the origin of the edict. Also Giacchero, Edictum Diocletiani). If the edict was a response to a more localised situation, it would explain why the forty fragments of inscriptions currently identified have been located for the most part in just four provinces of the empire, all of which are in the east; although the edict ends with the instruction that its implementation is to be “for the whole world” (universo orbi provisum esse videatur), it is striking that the inscriptions have been excavated from Egypt (moved to Aix-en-Provence in the late 1800s), Phrygia-Caria, Crete-Cyrene and Achaea; there is no record yet of the text in Syria, where it originated, but three further fragments are known from Samos, Odessos and Pettorano in Italy (Crawford and Reynolds, “The Publication of the Prices Edict,” p. 160-163). The fragment known from Italy has generated the most debate, as the only evidence for the edict in the Latin West. However, with the exception of the fragment from Achaea, all the others are in Latin, and this one in Italy is in Greek, suggesting that it too had been transported from Greece at a later date (Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, p. 230). It may be that the edict was conceived of and written as a “universal” law, but was only actually promulgated and enacted in the eastern provinces, where its immediate need was more pressing. All of this is presented within the ideological framework of memoria, or the memory of Rome’s greatness and success; gathering the themes of peace, justice, humanitas and the notion of Roman maiestas, the preamble of Diocletian’s Price Edict claims that the reforms are made for the very sake of this memoria, returning heavenly justice to the Roman world.

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Caroline Barron
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Preamble to Diocletian’s ‘Edict on Maximum Prices’ (AE 1890, 66)

Author(s) of this publication: Caroline Barron

Publication date: 2024-12-24 11:38:38

URL: https://heurist.huma-num.fr/heurist/judaism_and_rome/web/7/193

Judaism and Rome
Re-thinking Judaism's Encounter with the Roman Empire