The first of my papers on “The germ of capitalism (Roman business through slave as the primordium of private enterprise)” entitled “Above free labor” went out. It retraces the origins and prerequisites of Roman business through slave as a new mode of entrepreneurship. The riddle of “unnaturally” dear slaves in Ancient Rome (as compared with free labor, and slaves in other countries) is scrutinized. On critical examination of its prevalent explanations, the author offers his own solution which consists in that “excessively” high prices for slaves were largely determined by their institutional worth. Owing to the institute of Roman “big family” (dominica potestas), they appeared as the key organizational resource for expanding private business, primarily industrial, and making sustainable and steadily rising economic units. Where permanent, stable, and confidential relations securing the interests of the owner against the vicissitudes of life and the breach of trust were required free labor could not rival slaves.