Letter 11012: If the idle populations of individual cities are kept in check by fair pricing, how much more should relief be...
Cassiodorus→Rimini|c. 522 AD|Cassiodorus
imperial politicstravel mobility
From: Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To: [Public edict for the Via Flaminia region]
Date: ~533-537 AD
Context: Cassiodorus regulates prices along the Via Flaminia — the great highway from Rome to Rimini — to protect travelers and soldiers from price-gouging at roadside inns.
If the idle populations of individual cities are kept in check by fair pricing, how much more should relief be provided to those who are working — so that the welfare of travelers is not wounded by unforeseen exploitation! The reception of wayfarers ought to be a respite from their cares, not a source of detestable burden heaped on what was supposed to bring relief. Let the guest be received at fixed prices. The man invited to hospitality should not suffer greedy unfairness, for it is a shameful form of entrapment to terrify someone with outrageous prices while luring him in with a welcoming facade.
A man who sells under unjust terms is no different from a highway robber. Both clearly want to seize what belongs to others, with no regard for justice. Do you not realize how much you could gain by being reasonable? People come voluntarily to spend their money where they know they will be treated fairly. Let no one think — as is the usual delusion of those who live far from oversight — that distance provides cover, since people who have endured your prices come to us every day.
Beware the penalties of fines, you who chase after greedy profits. Anyone who presumes to sell at prices other than those determined by our agent — sent for this purpose and setting prices in consultation with local citizens and bishops — shall know that he faces a fine of six solidi and corporal punishment. Honest profits from fellow citizens ought to be enough for everyone, so that the highways do not appear to be infested with robbers rather than innkeepers.
XII.
EDICTUM PRETIORUM PER FLAMINIAM.
[1] Si otiosi populi urbium singularum sub pretiorum iustitia continentur, quanto magis debet laborantibus subveniri, ne utilitas commeantium saucietur discrimine fortuitorum! et ideo susceptio transeuntium requies debet esse curarum, ne quod ad levamen inventum esse constat, detestabile potius gravamen infligat. recipiatur hospes ad pretia definita: iniquitatem non patiatur avaram qui invitatur ad gratiam, quando turpis aucupatio est terrere enormitate pretii et susceptione blandiri. [2] Praedoni similis est, qui sub iniqua cupit voluntate distrahere: utrosque enim constat aliena velle diripere et considerationem iustitiae non habere. nescitis quanta possitis adquirere moderati? ultro ad commoda vestra veniunt, qui vos temperanter agere posse cognoscunt. nullus ergo se aestimet, quod est familiare semper absentium, longinquitatis oblivione defendi, quando ad nos cotidie veniunt qui vestra mercimonia patiuntur. [3] Cavete potius damna multarum, qui lucrorum aviditates appetitis. sex enim solidorum dispendium se noverit sustinere et laceratione corporis affligendum, si quis aliter vendendum esse crediderit, quam miles noster in rem directus pretia cum civibus atque episcopis locorum habita deliberatione censuerit. sufficere enim debent omnibus honesta lucra de civibus, ne obsessa potius itinera videantur esse latronibus.
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From:Senator [Cassiodorus], Praetorian Prefect
To:[Public edict for the Via Flaminia region]
Date:~533-537 AD
Context:Cassiodorus regulates prices along the Via Flaminia — the great highway from Rome to Rimini — to protect travelers and soldiers from price-gouging at roadside inns.
If the idle populations of individual cities are kept in check by fair pricing, how much more should relief be provided to those who are working — so that the welfare of travelers is not wounded by unforeseen exploitation! The reception of wayfarers ought to be a respite from their cares, not a source of detestable burden heaped on what was supposed to bring relief. Let the guest be received at fixed prices. The man invited to hospitality should not suffer greedy unfairness, for it is a shameful form of entrapment to terrify someone with outrageous prices while luring him in with a welcoming facade.
A man who sells under unjust terms is no different from a highway robber. Both clearly want to seize what belongs to others, with no regard for justice. Do you not realize how much you could gain by being reasonable? People come voluntarily to spend their money where they know they will be treated fairly. Let no one think — as is the usual delusion of those who live far from oversight — that distance provides cover, since people who have endured your prices come to us every day.
Beware the penalties of fines, you who chase after greedy profits. Anyone who presumes to sell at prices other than those determined by our agent — sent for this purpose and setting prices in consultation with local citizens and bishops — shall know that he faces a fine of six solidi and corporal punishment. Honest profits from fellow citizens ought to be enough for everyone, so that the highways do not appear to be infested with robbers rather than innkeepers.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.