I. Above Free Labor

Purpose – This paper exposes the nature, pattern and mechanism of Roman private enterprise as the rudimentary form of capitalistic business. In the first part, the unique, legally elaborated and deeply rooted in economic life, institutional status of slaves in Roman society and their particular role in the social division of labor as the necessary prerequisites of private enterprise are scrutinized.

Design/methodology/approach – On analyzing systematically the riddle of “unnaturally” dear slaves in Ancient Rome (as compared with free labor, and slaves in other countries) and its prevalent explanations, the author provides his own solution to it and shows in relief the institutional worth of slavery, which enabled close and trusted business interactions between masters and slaves running their affairs.

Findings – The “excessively” high demand for slaves in Roman society was largely determined by their institutional status which allowed owners (1) to secure the stability and manageability of labor; (2) to entrust workers with tasks implying not only skill and diligence but also devotion; and (3) to protect business from the ambitions of those involved in it. The slaves of an owner held in their hands the key positions in his business, since few could enjoy the owner’s confidence in the affairs on which his wealth heavily depended to a greater extent than them. Due to the institute of Roman “big family” (dominica potestas), slave appeared as an immediate continuation and physical extension of his masters’ personality and, thereby, the key organizational resource for expanding private business. Where permanent, steady, 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.

Research limitations/implications – The paper enables a fundamentally new view of the place and meaning of slavery in Roman society and, particularly, its role in business management and clears the way to revising the notions of the nature and making of capitalism.

Practical implications –The interests of stable and manageable business have urged Roman owners to adjust to it the existing social relations, radically transforming their substance, with almost no change in the form. In the issue, slave labor that was initially nothing more than a mere supplement to available work, embraced soon so many qualified and profitable jobs that quite a few free people sold themselves into slavery to obtain positions inaccessible to free citizens. This evidences that the fabric of social relations is quite elastic and a form tolerates very sizeable alterations in contents, without any rupture. The materials may be used when planning and implementing reforms in the sphere of social and industrial relations.

Social implications – The results obtained demonstrate to what extent relative a social classification and formal statuses may be. Far from coinciding with real positions in society, they sometimes distort its picture beyond recognition. The institutional worth of Roman slaves had brought to their supremacy over free workforce in industry and the actual enslavement of the free labor in agriculture. Nevertheless, even the slaves with the highest statuses in economy still were regarded as being inferior to free citizens.

Originality/value – It is demonstrated for the first time that he institute dominica potestas turning slave into a physical extension of his master’s will in the surrounding world, and an animate tool through which master could undertake actions where he did not get round to became an absolutely indispensable prerequisite of business through slave and, thereby, the foundation of private enterprise.

Keywords: slave labor, free workers, Roman economy, private business, institute dominica potestas.

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