The Ancients had a different idea of economics than we do: it was part of philosophy, particularly ethics. It was the art of the "good use of wealth": "good", because economics, as the administration of household goods, in both their human and material dimensions, had a precise objective, the good life in the moral sense.
The means of acquiring wealth - trade, exchanges, contracts - also had to be "beautiful and just". This is why Roman law, which laid down the rules for this field, can be read as a technique for acquiring and managing wealth that is both good and fair.
The relationship between law and economics is thus reversed. Today, the tendency is often to analyze law through the lens of economics, to put it at the service of the latter, for the sake of efficiency. In a world such as that of the Roman Empire, where there was no economic science in the contemporary sense, it was the law that provided the criteria for action and choice; what justice, as a moral and social value, was aiming for, took the place today of profit maximization.
Through a history of ancient mentalities, institutions and ways of life, the lectures will analyze Roman society, using the knowledge it developed in order to think for itself.
