Inflation bedevils capitalist economies. Despite the power of Rome, the low-wage slave-economy, and a single currency (quite an achievement), the Roman World suffered from inflation. This happened most notably from the beginning of the third century after a plague. The reasons may be many & complex e.g. too many coins in circulation; debasement of the original precious-metal content when the intrinsic value of the metal became worth more than the face value; the cost of the army--soldiers expected to be (well-) paid and weak emperors "bribed" the soldiery in order to cling to increasingly insecure thrones.
How was price-wage inflation expressed by increasingly frustrated Roman emperors?