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PDFV.—FISH.
Maximum
Mean Price of
of each
each in English
in Roman
Money.
Money.
L.
s. d.
Sea fish, first quality 24
Den. 0 4 6
Do. second quality 16
0 3 0
River fish, first quality 12
0 2 3
Do. second quality 8
0 1 6
Salt fish 6
0 1 1-1/2
Oysters, per hundred 100
0 18 8
VI.—CULINARY VEGETABLES.
Lettuces, the best, five together 4 0 0 9 Do. second quality, ten together 4 0 0 9 Common cabbages, the best, single 4 0 0 9 Cauliflower, the best, five together 4 0 0 9 Do. second quality, ten together 4 0 0 9 Beet root, the best, five together 4 0 0 9 Do. second quality, ten together 4 0 0 9 Radishes, the largest 4 0 0 9
VII.—OTHER PROVISIONS.
Maximum Mean Price of of the each in English Sextarius in Money. Roman Money.
L.
s. d.
Honey, the best 40
Den. 0 15 0
Do. second quality 20
0 7 6
Oil, the best quality 40
0 15 0
Do. the second quality 24
0 9 1
Vinegar 6
0 3 3
A stimulant to excite the appetite, made
of the essence of fish 6
0 2 3
Dried cheese, the Roman pound 12
0 3 4 Fr. lb.
We are much surprised at the very high prices in this table. Labour and provisions cost ten and twenty times as much as with us. But when we come to compare the price of provisions with the price of labour the dearness of all the necessaries of life appears still more excessive. M. Moreau de Jonnes makes this comparison. He brings together from the edicts of Diocletian a great many facts given by historians, and he shows, that, if the abundance of the precious metals has any influence on raising the prices, the want of labour, industry, and of produce, must cause it also.
These considerations point out in the strongest manner the poverty of this royal people, of whom two-thirds, if not three-fourths, were reduced to live on fish and cheese, and drink piquette, when the expense of the table of Vitellius amounted, in a single year, to 175 millions of Francs.—Brewster’s Journal of Science.
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THE GATHERER.
