Quite the reverse — the Roman economy boomed because the Romans figured out that currency is a gov’t defined medium of exchange. Had they not discovered this, the Roman Empire would have vanished during the political chaos of the 3rd century. From the standpoint of having a pile of gold, the Roman Empire peaked under Trajan, but economically it thrived when the tax-crazy central authority was pretty much off everyone’s backs and local or provincial authority was busy fighting the neighbors.
True enough but bronze tender was the paper money of the time. It took ages to convince the civilized world that a promise of value equaled actual value.
The barbarian mercenaries the latter day Romans came to depend on for their national security demanded gold or plunder and they cared not where it came from.
Bronze does not bend easily when bitten and the savages would not be cheated.
However the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire hung on till 1453 and their gold Bezant was coin of the realm, of the world, for a very very long time
On the sublet of devaluation, I think of the process as being taught as Devaluation101 when studying to be king. The fact it has happened so many times in so many places leads me to conclude that the tried and true process for remedying the pains of too much borrowing or corruption is presently under way again.
As a current indicator, a measure of the inflation of prices, my yesterday’s haircut cost 17% more than the last one.