1921 AND HIS SUCCESSORS 15 money is, of course, misleading, unless one can determine the purchasing power of the money at any given period. It is tempt- ing, in this connexion, to apply the information as to prices given us in the famous edict of Diocletian, 1 published in a.d. 301. But so great had been the alteration in the value of money during the intervening years, and so difficult is it to determine the relation between maximum and average prices, that such a use of the edict must reluctantly be abandoned. Mommsen 2 has calculated that in the later days of the republic the average price of corn in Rome was four sesterces a modium. Mommsen's figure has been accepted by Marquardt and Hirschfeld and by Beloch. There is no evidence that the price of corn altered to any considerable extent between the end of the republic and the time of Trajan ; and, failing such evidence, it is probably not too bold to treat Mommsen's figure as applicable to the later period. Turning to the Tabula Veleias, we find that the monthly allowance of sixteen se'sterces would enable each boy to purchase in Rome four modii of corn. The monthly allowance to adults was usually five modii, but Friedlander, 3 following Marquardt, has pointed out that this amount was intended to be more than sufficient for one man. He calculates that a man's average monthly consumption was probably less than four modii. So, if the inhabitants of Veleia could buy their corn at the price at which it was offered in Rome, the allowance of sixteen sesterces a month would purchase considerably more than was necessary to feed a boy for that period ; a small sum would remain for vegetables and other kinds of food. Certainly the cost of living would vary in different parts of Italy ; but we may conjecture that the officials who drew up the scheme of allowances bore in mind the price of corn in Rome, and fixed the allowance of money at a sum which would be sufficient to provide the entire mainten- ance of a child. This conclusion is supported by the use of the words ' alimenta ' and ' alere ', which suggest more than a small contribution to the family income. Whatever the original object of the institution, it is certain that the grants made in money would not long maintain their initial value. This leads us to a consideration of the reasons why the institution so quickly disappeared. For though the existence of alimentary officials may be traced to the reign of Gordian, and probably as late as Diocletian, after that time no indication of the institution survives. 4 Modern historians have written very 1 Corpus Inscript. Latin, iii. 1926. The edict is described, and in part translated, in Abbott, The Common People of Ancient Borne, cap. 5. 2 Mommsen, History of Borne, i. 851 a ; Marquardt, Staatsverwaltung, ii. 108, n. 3 ; Hirschfeld, Die Gemeindeverwaltung, p. 68 ; Beloch, Bevolkerung, p. 397. 3 Boman Life and Manners, appendices, p. 23. 4 The Codex of Theodosius, xi. 27, contains a law of Constantine, dating from
