By the late 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire was a shadow of its former self. Beleaguered by mass migration and invasions across its frontiers, vast resources had been poured into fighting off the invaders, while at the same time, endless civil wars had created an ongoing crisis of leadership. Rampant inflation had destroyed the currency. The solution came in the form of a vastly more complex state under the emperor Diocletian (AD 284–305). A ballooning bureaucracy presided over a welter of new laws that, among others, tried to fix prices, lock workers into their occupations and prevent movement, while levying crippling taxes.
