- Jasonik -

A video companion to the post An Open Letter to Congress.

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St. Petersburg College - Western Civilization I
Lesson 13: The Decline of Rome - 27 min


St. Petersburg College - Western Civilization I
Lesson 14: The Fall of Rome - 28 min

Paying for the army and the imperial bureaucracy necessitated increasing government revenues. Diocletian saw to it that existing taxes were collected as efficiently as possible, but that alone was not enough. In 294 he tried to reform the currency, but these measures failed. He tried to fix both wages and prices, but these measures also failed. He made tax collection regular where it had previously been exceptional, levied whenever there was a need. He tried to fix certain professions in their families, requiring sons to follow the profession of their fathers. He was not very successful in his attempts, for the finances of the Empire were in a shambles and would take time to recover. But the tactics he tried would be repeated by later emperors, with greater success.

History of Western Civilization
E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

In the above excerpt, note the political language, and duly note the ends for which these "tactics" were employed; retention of imperial military and administrative power.