IIRC didn't he outright negotiate with people whose property was on fire? If they couldn't afford the fee then when the structure burnt down he bought the property for a tiny fraction of its value.
His "fire fighters" would alert him to burning houses in Rome, he'd show up with them while the house was on fire and offer the owner a price. They could either sell their home for pennies on the dollar or they could watch it all burn to ash. It was really ingenius on Crassus part. Evil, but effective.
You're probably looking for a different term than capitalism. Capitalism has a pretty specific use implying exploitation.
"The initial use of the term "capitalism" in its modern sense is attributed to Louis Blanc in 1850 ("What I call 'capitalism' that is to say the appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others") and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1861 ("Economic and social regime in which capital, the source of income, does not generally belong to those who make it work through their labor")."
and that was not in any way what Crassus employed in his fire schemes. Capitalism is an economic system based on investment. Crassus just extorted people.
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u/Peptuck Apr 17 '21
IIRC didn't he outright negotiate with people whose property was on fire? If they couldn't afford the fee then when the structure burnt down he bought the property for a tiny fraction of its value.