ABSTRACT
In the later Kinship phase the Clan disintegrated; in the later Family phase the institution which sponsored it crumbled. Capitalist organization among ancient people first appeared on the shores and in the neighbourhood of that Mediterranean Sea which is rather a pathway of nations than a sundering gulf. Accordingly the citizens turned their efforts into these profitable channels: “peaceful” and lawful acquisition, foreign commerce and usury. A passion for profit and speculation is characteristic of the late Roman Republic and Empire. War became a less conspicuous occupation and preoccupation. In the Warrior State, war and plunder, conquest and forcible subjugation of the conquered were the most honoured avocations of the free man. This form of activity intensified his natural bent towards prompt violence and callousness to his fellow-mortals’ suffering. The stronger and more fortunate the external position of the State, the wider became its activities at home.
