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Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers
How to Make Money: An Ancient Guide to Wealth Management
An enriching collection of classical writings about how ancient Romans made―and thought about―money
Ancient Romans liked money. Buy how did they make a living and sometimes even become rich? The Roman economy was dominated by agriculture, but it was surprisingly modern in many the Romans had companies with CEOs, shareholders, and detailed contracts regulated by meticulous laws; systems of banking and taxation; and a wide range of occupations, from merchant and doctor to architect and teacher. The Romans also enjoyed a relatively open society, where some could start from the bottom, work, invest, and grow rich. How to Make Money gathers a wide variety of ancient writings that show how Romans thought about, made, invested, spent, lost, and gave away money.
The Roman elite idealized farming and service to the state but treated many other occupations with suspicion or contempt, from money lending to wage labor. But whatever their attitudes, pecunia made the Roman world go round. In the Satyricon , Trimalchio brags about his wealth. Seneca accumulated a fortune―but taught that money can’t buy happiness. Eumachia inherited a brick factory from her father, married well, and turned to philanthropy after she was widowed. How to Make Money also takes up some of the most troubling aspects of the Roman economy, slavery and prostitution, which the elite deemed unrespectable but often profited from.
Featuring lively new translations, an illuminating introduction, and the original Latin and Greek texts on facing pages, How to Make Money offers a revealing look at the Roman worlds of work and money.
Ancient Romans liked money. Buy how did they make a living and sometimes even become rich? The Roman economy was dominated by agriculture, but it was surprisingly modern in many the Romans had companies with CEOs, shareholders, and detailed contracts regulated by meticulous laws; systems of banking and taxation; and a wide range of occupations, from merchant and doctor to architect and teacher. The Romans also enjoyed a relatively open society, where some could start from the bottom, work, invest, and grow rich. How to Make Money gathers a wide variety of ancient writings that show how Romans thought about, made, invested, spent, lost, and gave away money.
The Roman elite idealized farming and service to the state but treated many other occupations with suspicion or contempt, from money lending to wage labor. But whatever their attitudes, pecunia made the Roman world go round. In the Satyricon , Trimalchio brags about his wealth. Seneca accumulated a fortune―but taught that money can’t buy happiness. Eumachia inherited a brick factory from her father, married well, and turned to philanthropy after she was widowed. How to Make Money also takes up some of the most troubling aspects of the Roman economy, slavery and prostitution, which the elite deemed unrespectable but often profited from.
Featuring lively new translations, an illuminating introduction, and the original Latin and Greek texts on facing pages, How to Make Money offers a revealing look at the Roman worlds of work and money.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published June 4, 2024
8 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Pliny the Elder
1,157 books115 followersGaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus:
"For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions."
Pliny the Younger is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.
"For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions."
Pliny the Younger is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 9, 2024
How to Make Money is part of the delightful ongoing series put out by Princeton Press, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers. While most books in the series focus on single authors, this one is a sampler from a variety of sources, several of which will be unfamiliar to the general reader (which doesn’t make them less interesting, on the contrary). The selections chosen by translator / editor Luca Grillo really give a fresh and comprehensive look at different aspects of ancient Roman economy, for good and for ill. We learn about farming, commerce, banking, taxation, public contracts, sponsoring games, and—unfortunately—human trafficking in the forms of gladiators, prostitutes, and slaves. We are told about Roman morals as well as their hypocrisy, and we discover once again why the classics are so relevant today: these people were just like us, and we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying them. There is much to appreciate and much to despise about Greco-Roman civilization, just as there is about our own. They were as greedy and as generous as we are, and it serves us well to hold them as a mirror to our own souls.
October 19, 2024
Very misleading title.
The book talks little to nothing about the accumulation of wealth. It’s rather a scattered compilation of ancient laws, the morals of tax collectors, how far apart one should plant vines, and gladiator games.
The book talks little to nothing about the accumulation of wealth. It’s rather a scattered compilation of ancient laws, the morals of tax collectors, how far apart one should plant vines, and gladiator games.
June 30, 2024
A cool window into the ancient Roman economy
November 18, 2025
Chiếc sách với quá ít bài học có thể áp dụng vào thực tế hiện tại.
Với mình không có highlight nào xuyên suốt tác phẩm.
Giá tiền cao nhất trong bộ 5 cuốn và không khuyến khích mua em này :(
Với mình không có highlight nào xuyên suốt tác phẩm.
Giá tiền cao nhất trong bộ 5 cuốn và không khuyến khích mua em này :(
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews