Common errors about Antiquity

[Sean Manning]

In any case the desire for ever-greater production is a modern mentality. In the ancient world, squeezing the last denarius from every form of investment took a back seat to things like patronage and social prestige.

I'm not sure about that. Just look at people like M. Licinius Crassus, or Cato Maior. Yes, respectable Roman senators were supposed to be above business and manufacturing, but that didn't mean they actually were, not did it affect equites and upstarts from humble families. Making money wasn't the most important thing to most people, but it was very important to many.

I agree that the idea that a society can expand production indefinitely within a finite territory is a modern one.