Life may have improved compared to the tail end of the empire, when economic problems (and misguided attempts to fix them) and raiding barbarians made life difficult. An exodus from the cities was happening, inflation was out of control, and rigid rules attempting to reverse the economic changes failed horribly (but hey, macroeconomics is hard, and wasn't really figured out until the 20th century).
But what about compared to Rome and the empire in its heyday? What about before empire compared to during empire?
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Life may have improved compared to the tail end of the empire, when economic problems (and misguided attempts to fix them) and raiding barbarians made life difficult. An exodus from the cities was happening, inflation was out of control, and rigid rules attempting to reverse the economic changes failed horribly (but hey, macroeconomics is hard, and wasn't really figured out until the 20th century).
But what about compared to Rome and the empire in its heyday? What about before empire compared to during empire?