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“larged by fatting, is 16.
. -cultural labour is fixed at 28 dena
bak
“ ciesians indee:
‘TRUTH IS POWERFUD, .
AND/WILL PREVAIE.
VOLIN
REVIEVT or BOOXS.
An Edict of Divel lesian, Fi: izing ‘a Maximum of Prices through
out the Roman Empire, ‘A.D. 303. pp 42. _ bo ndou 1$2i
‘9. Murray.
“We do not hesitate to consider this to be the most curious is do-
cement of the kind which has been preserved to us from ancient
“4imes and Roman history. Printed uniformly by Colonel Leake
\so as to bind up with the Appendix to his valuable Tour in Asia
Minor, it is nevertheless, of extreme interest as a separate pub-
Nication. » Soon after the appearance of the work to which we
“have alluded, Mr. W. Bankes presented lithographic copies of
‘the Latin Inseription of Stratoniceia, (now Erskihissar,) and
described in its pages 229 and 239,) to the British Museum, and
she University of Cambridge; and about the same time Mr, EL.
‘escovali, of Rome, brought to England the tracing of a Latin
inscription, from a stone in the possession of a gentleman at
in Savoy, Who had been travelling in the Levant; but with-
vant t opecitying precisely where the stone was found. ‘These two
inscriptions turn out to be identical, viz. copies of an edict of
“Dioclesian, for regulating by a maximum, the prices of commo-
dities of every sort, labour, &e. &e. throughout the Roman do-
“minions, above fifteen hundred years ago., The, one. happily
enables Colenel Leake to fill up the lacune of the, other; and
“arith his usuat skill and discretion, he has, from the two toge-
aher, produced an almost perfect transcript of this singular and
extraordinary antiquity. The. Inscription of Stratoniceia is
upon the marble wall of a prostyle edifice, probably the Court
house, where the imperial decree was no doubt affixed for, tie
fe
* guidance of the people, and the rule by which disputes were to
be determined, fhongh we do not know whence the other stone
was talen, it m rly be presumed that it was set up for a si-
ajlar purpose in nthe distant and remote part of the empire where
it was discovered in our day.
may not be unacceptable to many of our readers that we
“should notice some of the items in this remarkable decree, and
che prices beyond which, even in time of the utmost scarcity,
they must not be sold,
Conditum, a wine medicated witht various ingredients, is fix-
4d at twenty-four denarii* the sectarius.
Apsmthum, wine medicated with wormwoed, a eee
generally sold in France, 20 denarii; and rosatu fusio
Of roses in wine. the same price.” Salt was also medicated with
drags like wine, Vinegar, and the best igreamen a pickle of
fish, are equally 6 denarii the sectarius; the best honey, 40, the
second best, 20, and palm honey 8. « Pork is 12 See the Ib.
(about three quarters ofa pound avoirdupois,) l beef 8, and goat’s
Sesh, or mutton 8, e rulva, or udder ow-pig, a favou-
rite, dish,t i is fixed at 24 denarii the pound; and sumen , the ud-
der ofa breeding sow, at 20, while ficalum, or hog’s liver en-
The bacon-l hams are of W estphalia,
jagne, ‘(Menacipe vel C a ie,) and the country of
the Marsi, (Marsice). | A fatted cock-) pheasant is no less than
(250 denarii, and a wild one, eb i the hens, severally, 209 and
“100, A fat goose, also 260, and a goose not fatted, 100; chick-
ens, 60, partridge 30, turtle-dove 165 thrushes, wood-pigeous,
grouse (Attagen), duck, hare, rabbit, quails, starlings, are also
uoted—a hare being 150 denarii, and a duck or rabbit, Nie. We
“have next, wild boar's flesh, stag, buck, doe,: sucking
hd. In fish, the deep water is rated much Nigher then therest,
¢ than river fish." Oysters are 100 denarii the hundred, and
seneurching 50; latter were eat in a variety of ways. Dr,
cose is Wentioned, and among the, vegetables are, artichokes, | ©
endives, malows, lettuce, cavliflower, cabbage-spronts, onions,
“Jceks, beet-root, raddishes, turnips, water-cresses, garlick, ca-
pers, g gourds, cucumbers, melons, kidney-heans, asparagus, pars-
cuips, sprouts of bulcher’s broom, shoots of the palin or date-tree,
and bulbs of Africa," supposed to be a species of the squill,—
Snails are 4 denarii for twenty of the first quality; second-rate,
same cost for forty Among the feuits we observe hard grape:
(bumastec) dried plums from Damascus, and Mattian§ ‘apples.
The wages of labour are nominally extremely high. The agri-
arii Per diem stoneiason,
-coachmake er, ironsmith, &c, 50; the worker in mosaic,
and shipwright in sea-vessels, 60; the wall-painter, 70; figure-
painter, 150; the ,oor bric: makers have only 2, and suinetimes
to provide their owo wine! The driver ofa “camel, ass, or mule
-ef burthen, and a shepherd, are at 20, with their ‘foot. A ve-
nis at G, for cutting the hair and hoofs of an ani-
combing and cleansing the head, 20; while a bar-
‘ber has but 2 for trimming a man, The maker of plastic ima-
ges, with food, is 20 per diem; and other labourers, in other
olastic works in gypsuin, 50. AV water-bearer, Working all day
with (ood, 25; anda scavenger the same, An armourer has23
sil
or the Cerd
terinary surgeo!
inal, and for
"he denarius arems to have been sadly depreciated in the age of Dio-
Times, as to rende
Augustus, nearly equivalent to a
. sextant iniuha merdtire, Was about 14 “olpint Englie sh
ot uch. Colonel Pare teecnot, that we obserte, notice the
nee,
+ Xolva ai nein ampla, says the Post.—Ed.
f vl hus Germany, Spain, and Italy. furnished the Tuxurious Romans
a liv tiom of equal valve Sausages olseveral hinds are alse specified.
3 Gusry, the present ‘Hesse 2
NEW=ZORE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1826,
for restoring the edge of a sword, or polishing a helmet; 6 for
repairing an axe, 8 for a double-headed hatchet, and 200 for
the sheath of a sword.» Writers of manuscripts are rated too,
but the rates are unfortunately wanting, : Tailors and sadlers
are also enumerated. and their works priced. A pedagogue is
allowed. 50 denarii per month for each boy, the arithmetician
(calculator) 75, the notary, 75, the librarian, or antiquary, 50,
the teacher in architecture 100, the Greek or Latin gramma-
rian, the geometrician, and the orator or sophist, 200." The
advocate or lawy er for an application to the court, in postula-
tione, is 25) at the hearing of the cause, in cognitione,
1000, Sodas in baths have 2 Y denarii for each bather,
Babylonian skin of the first quality is 500, a Tralliaa skin 200,
and a Phanician 100; a beaver’s skin 100, ‘a sea calf’s 250, or
made up, 1500; “aleopard's ditto 1000 and 1250; a lion’s made
=
3
009.
The rates of wheat and rye a are unluckily lost; braised wit
let, fine spelt,’ bruised beans, lentils, bruised peas, chiches,
ine “Chervara,) fenugreek, and dried kidney beans, are 1
denarii for one modius.4)
Oats and hay-seed only 30, crnde lupins 60, panick 50, whole
millet 50, whole beans or peas 60, linseed 150, sesamum 200,
poppy seed; cole seed, or musiard seed 150; cammin seed,
1150. - Last of ail we have the wines nol |
iburtine; Snbine,. Ammineap, Serine, Su-
rentine; Falernian, and a sweet inspissated wine o ot }
xeonum, 30 denarii the sextarius; o/d w of |
quality, and barley wine of Attica. 247 old wine of |
secondary quality, and decoctum (a decoction of the anust of | j
rapes), 16; rustic wine S; beer, called camus, 4; and zythas,
or Egyptian b
‘These particulars appear to us to have a gool deal of curio-
sity attached to them, and if we aliow our imagination to work
upon them, we may fancy, when we please, a Roman entertain-
ments, with its dishes and drinks some of the former certain
ly not likely to be much relished by the present generation; and \
few, ifany of the latter, such tipple as he would condescent to}
patronise.
&
3B
g
2
eer, 2.
T A Jittle more than our peck,
.
THE MYSTERIOUS GUESTS.
1
|
|
: From the Stanley Tales. |
About sixty years ago, two Englishmen one day artived at |
Calais in the Dover packet, They did not take up theie quar-
ters at the hotel of Mons. Dessein, on whoin the author of the
Sentimental Journey bestowed such celebrity, but went to an
obscure inn, kept by a man of the name of Du Long. They
desited to have his best apartments,’ spent a great deal of mo-
ney, relished the produce of his wretched kitchen, and thought
his adulterated wine perfectly genuine. From day’ today Du
Long supposed they would contisiue their journey, ‘and proceed |
tothe capital; for that they had come merely to see Calais was
an idea too absurd to enter any body’s head. But so far from
continuing their journey, and proceeding to the ezpital) they
did not inspect what was worth seeing at Calais; for, except
going out now and then to shoot snipes, they kept close at home,
eating, drinking, and doing’ nothing, y may be spies,’
thought the host, ‘or runaways, or fools, No matter: what is
that to me? ‘hey pay honestly’. When be was sitting in an
vening over a pint with his neighbour andrelation, the grocer,
they used t6 rack their braius about the mysterious guest,
may squint, without being a sp:
joined thehost: ‘I should take them for runaw: py m Sor they read
all my newspapers, probably - for the sake of advertisements.’
His kinsman then assured him that all Englishmen spend at
least a twelfth part of their lives in reading newspapers. The
conclusion to which they generally came was, tl thet as the said
foreigners were apparently neither spies nor runaways, the:
could not possibly be any thing else than fools. Here the mat-
ter rested. .In this opinion u Long was still more confirmed
when, atthe end of a few weeks, one of his guests, an elderly
man, thus addressed him:—*‘ Landlord,’ said he, ¢ we like your
house; andif you will acquiesce in a certain whim, it is proba-
ble that we might continue for a long time | ne spend our money
with you,’ . ¢ Your honours have onty to give’ peur commands;
an innkeeper is by profession, the slave of all the whims tha He
throng to him from all the fonr quarters of the Globe. ‘You
have to be sure,’ continued the i inglishman,* hada prodigious
ly large beast painted on your sign; but y house is only aj
tly rpong inns § 4 scarcely contains three tolerabte rooms, und
all look into the street.’ We are fund of |
rest ; we want ts sleep. Your watchman has a very loud voice, |
and the coaches roll the whole night. along the street, so as to
make all the windows rattle. . We awake every quarter of an
hour to curse them, and fall asleep again to Le waked in ano- |
ther quarter of an hour...You must adivit, my dear fellow,
that u iis is enough to ‘destroy our health and exhaust our pati-
ence.’ The host shragged his shoulders.—* How cau it be
heiped?’ Very easily,’ replied the stranger, ¢ Cif you are not
afraid of a little expense, in Which we wil go halves, without
requiring at pur departure the smallest 1 eeasation! Du’
s
NO. 48.
Long, whose harren field had, since the arrival of the English-
men, heen da fertilized with a shower of guineas, promised
to do alt that tay i in his power to satisfy his worthy guests; but
he could not help the rattling of the coaches. and bellowing of
the watchman, ‘ Noithe: necessary,’ answered the stran-
ger. ‘ Behind your house you have a little garden, though you
are no lover of gardening j for, except a little parsley for your
soups, Lobserve nothing in it but nettles. The old garden walt,
100, in spite of its thickness, is just ready to tumble, Suppost
you were to make use of this space'to rua up a little building,
asort of Pleasure: house, even if it were to contain no more than
& couple of roo might be supported by the old wail, by
which means a consi der art of the expense might be spar-
ed, and the wall itself propped up... As [just now mentioned.
for the sake of a quiet lodging, we would willingly defray half
the costs, and when we are rgouethe building will be y' Ours 5 VOU
will then have an additional couple of convenient Feoms ti o let.
if, on the other hand, you object to our proposal, we must leave
you.’ The host, however, had ‘not the least objection, though
ee thought within himsel(—' My, kinsman and | were right
enough in concluding that these people were fools.’ [He im-
mediately sent fora bricklayer: the place was examined, . and <
\ the Englishmeb described what tbey should like to, have done,
Joists and bricks were quickly brought ; three light walls
were runup, the old: garden wail formed the fourth, from
which sloped a half roo, that the whole looked more likea
wood-house than a habitation ; but the strangers were satisfied,
and Dulong laughed in his sleeve. | Two months. thus passed
in mutual content: the golden spring flowed abundantly,
though the wine grew worse and worse every day.,
Englishmen very seldom quitted their lodging, where they ‘ate,
drank, and read the newspapers. The only thing which surpris-
ed the landlord of the Gokten Elephant was, that for the sake
of nocturnal repose they had built a house for themselves, and
that now he very often perceived a light the whole night
through in their apartinents.’ He once conjectured ¢ they might
be coiners; but as all the money ‘they ‘spent: passed through
his hands, and their suiinens, after a most careful er aaitation,
were always found tobe good, his kinsman and he had
other alternative than tovet them down for fools, One fine day
in autumn he saw them go out with their guns slung over their
shoulders. They told him they were going to take the diversion
of snipe shoo T
on the sixth his kinsman shook his also; on the seventh
this suspicions circumatance was communicated te the police ;
and ou theeighth the deserted habitation was broken open with,
all the formalities of law. On the table was found a billet, {the
contents of which were as follows :—
“ Dear landlord—If you have any acquaintance with history.
you must know that the Euglish were once, during a period of
two hundred and ten years, in possession of Calais; that. they
were at length diiven: out-of it by the Duke of Guise, who
treated them in the same manner as our Edward HL, did the
French; that is, drove them out of the town, and seized all
their effects. » Not long since, we were so fortunate as to disco- —
ver, in acchest of old parchinents, deeds that proved that one of
our ancestors formerly possessed at Calais a large house, on the
site of which three houses stand at present; yours is one of the
three. When our ancestor wns ‘obliged to: fle ec, he baried his
gold and silver at the foot of a thick wall, which is ‘still in ex: ”
Among his papers we found one which afforded satis-
n “factory information respecting the situation of the building. —
We immediately repaired to Calais, and luckily found a public
gings in it,
house on the spot so interesting to us; we took lod,
examined every thin: concerted ‘m
sion of our lawful inheritance withou| in;
manner we removed all obstacles is well known to
grent hole, and the empty iron chest, which you will ‘Bnd under
wall in our chamber, are proofs that we have been success-
fal. ne make you a present of the chest, and advise you to fill
upt e hole, and to give yourself no further concern about us ; 3
in, as the names we went by were only
The landlord of the golden elephant stood stock still, and
with open mouth.’ His kinsman came.; both looked at the hole.
and then at the empty chest, and then at one another, and
then agreed that the strangers were not such fools as they had
taken them for," . . .
CS
LITERATURE. cot
The Cravd Maid of Venice, and other Poeins.
of “Guiseppino.” 8vo. pp. 12
& Co, :
Ty the author
oudon 1825; Lovgman
Concluded from our last.
The “Song of Waterloo” is descriptive, and boasts of several
powerful passages} but for the sake of variety, we shail conclude
with a different specimen of the author’s style in
“A Goodlic Bullade of Sir Adomar, and of his faire ladye, witli
lhe grearg love they bate che unta other, and how teat hee
Me
>
oes
Pees
& é
aot
x
nea,