[90] The present-day prices which are given in the third column of these two tables are taken from Bulletin No. 77 of the Bureau of Labor, and from the majority and minority reports of the Select Committee of the U.S.  Senate on “Wages and Prices of Commodities” (Report, No. 912, Documents, Nos. 421 and 477).  In setting down a number to represent the current price of an article naturally a rough average had to be struck of the rates charged in different parts of the country.  Bulletin No. 77, for instance, gives the retail price charged for butter at 226 places in 68 different cities, situated in 39 different States.  At one point in Illinois the price quoted in 1906 was 22 cents, while at a point in Pennsylvania 36 cents was reported, but the prevailing price throughout the country ranged from 26 to 32, so that these figures were set down in the table.  A similar method has been adopted for the other items.  A special difficulty arises in the case of beef, where the price varies according to the cut.  The price of wheat is not given in the extant fragment of the edict, but has been calculated by Bluemner from statements in ancient writers.  So far as the wages of the ancient and modern workman are concerned we must remember that the Roman laborer in many cases received “keep” from his employer.  Probably from one-third to three-sevenths should be added to his daily wage to cover this item.  Statistics published by the Department of Agriculture show that the average wage of American farm laborers per month during 1910 was $27.50 without board and $19.21 with board.  The item of board, therefore, is three-sevenths of the money paid to the laborer when he keeps himself.  One other point of difference between ancient and modern working conditions must be borne in mind in attempting a comparison.  We have no means of knowing the length of the Roman working day.  However, it was probably much longer than our modern working day, which, for convenience’ sake, is estimated at eight hours.

[91] Wholesale price in 1909.

[92] Receives “keep” also.

[93] Eight-hour day assumed.

[94] Cf. Report of the Commissioner of Labor, pp. 622-625.  In England between one-third and one-fourth; cf. Bulletin, No. 77, p. 345.

[95] Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, II, 5489.

[96] Wilmanns, Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum, 1772.

[97] Ibid., 2037.

[98] Ibid., 1859.

[99] Ibid., 2054.

[100] Ibid., 2099.

[101] 23:48_f._

[102] Cic., ad Att., 5.21. 10-13; 6.1. 5-7; 6.2.7; 6.3.5.

[103] 6.17.

[104] Captivi, 489 ff.

[105] Livy, 38. 35.

[106] Plautus, Pseudolus, 189.

[107] Some of the most important discussions of workmen’s guilds among the Romans are to be found in Waltzing’s Etude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romains, 3 vols., Louvain, 1895-9; Liebenam’s Zur Geschichte und Organisation des roemischen Vereinswesen, Leipzig, 1890; Ziebarth’s Das Griechische Vereinswesen, Leipzig, 1896, pp. 96-110; Kornemann’s article, “Collegium,” in the Pauly-Wissowa Real Encyclopadie.  Other literature is cited by Waltzing, I, pp. 17-30, and by Kornemann, IV, columns 479-480.