[728] London, 1912. Note, however, that Hultsch in Pauly-Winowa, _Real Enc._ (Stuttgart, 1903), V. 211, says: ‘Damit war aus dem Silber-D., der noch unter Severus einen Metallwert von etwa 30 Pfennig gehabt hatte ... eine kleine Scheidemünze zum Curswerte von 1, 8 Pfennig oder Weniger geworden.’ On this showing the denarius had sunk to 1⅘ pfennigs in 301 A.D. [729] Fragments of the Edict in Latin and in Greek have been coming to light for the last two centuries from Egypt, Greece and Asia Minor—not the least important being found by W. M. Leake; see his _Edict of Diocletian_, 1826. See also Mommsen’s _Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. III. pp. 1926-1953, the text of which was published by H. Blümner with a commentary in 1893 in his _Der Maximaltarif des Diocletian_. A convenient account of this famous Edict, together with a full bibliography, is given by H. Blümner in Pauly-Winowa, _Real. Enc._ (Stuttgart), V. pp. 1948-1957. [730] Lactantius, _de mortibus persecutorum_, 7. [731] See p. 337, _postea_. [732] The lower price of river as compared with sea fish seems additional evidence that the preference for the latter, well attested in the earlier days of Athens and of Rome, still continued. [733] From p. 174 ff. of Abbott, who gives the prices in _cents_. CHAPTER XXI DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMAN AND MODERN PISCICULTURE With the opinion held by some, that the method of breeding fish employed by the Romans was practically the same as that of the modern Pisciculturists, Badham[734] seems to agree, when he remarks: “The plan of stocking rivers with fish _ab ovo_ has been, after the lapse of many centuries, revived by two Vosges fishermen, Gehin and Rémy,” and “they have thus re-established a very ancient practice, and succeeded in stocking the streams of France.” But this is a total misconception. It can only have arisen from ignorance either of what is found in Latin writers, such as Columella, or of what is the nature of the method used by Rémy and, with great improvements, by present Pisciculturists. Shortly, the Roman method collected from the bottom of a river or a marsh eggs, already fertilised in the natural manner by fish, and removed them to other lakes or _vivaria_. Rémy and his successors catch and strip the females of their eggs, which are pressed out into a pan. They then extrude the milt of the male on to the eggs, in a proportion, differing according to what fish are being spawned, of one male to one or more female. They next place the eggs on perforated wire or other trays fixed in long boxes, over and under which water of a regulated temperature passes.[735]