The Greek philosopher Plato stated that all merchants, by their nature, were driven by greed and proposed the creation of an institution that could regulate the price of grain and all other goods. The Romans, ever wary of the greed of their merchants, fixed grain prices during shortages and even passed pricing edicts that looked to dictate a fixed value for all goods across the Empire. Emperor Diocletian’s price edit of AD301 laid out a huge list of set prices which, if broken, were punishable by execution for the merchant and the buyer.
