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Message:: [QUOTE="kevin McGonigal, post: 8211857, member: 72790"]What has surprised me is the lack of literary sources complaining about inflation in antiquity. For us it is a major topic of discussion but for them it seems  that other  topics were of more concern to them. Martial (circa100 AD) complains of poorly constructed housing and getting one's heels trampled on in crowds. Tacitus ( also circa 100 AD) bemoans a plethora of virtue among German barbarians and a dearth  of the same among the Roman people. Neither seem concerned that their denarii have 15% less silver in them than when they were born. During the Fourth Century, presumably a time of rampant inflation, the burning interest  issues seem to more theological than financial (except for paying taxes which seems common to all times and places). Whether the Holy Spirit proceeds  from  the Father and the Son or only from the  Father seems to occupy more time and interest  than how much silver was in those folles in the market place. My reading of original sources makes me wonder if much of the population understood what was going on or was as much concerned about something that simply was not as bad as we imagine it was, or perhaps that whatever the coinage was, what it weighed or looked like, did not much matter as long as it passed current for bread at the bakery shop. Our major worries may not have been theirs.[/QUOTE]