Prithee English texts, and the difference between the two terms has been debated by scholars. Scholars such as Roger Brown and Albert Gilman have suggested that "prithee" was an ingroup indicator. Other scholars suggest that it is simply the more deferential form. The relationship between the two is complicated by the phrase "beseech you", which was used in the same time period and was clearly the form used most deferentially. Although the closest Modern English equivalent of "prithee" is "please", the two terms presume different attitudes within the addressee. While "please" accompanies a request addressing itself to the positive desire of
The Ancient Economy derives from a Greek word,οἰκονόμος, "one who manages a household". The household was the most important economic unit. Of course, they mined, taxed, and traded, but what the Ancients did not do was to combine all their commercial activities into an overarching sub-system of society, a giant marketplace where the means of production and distribution responded to market forces such as the cost of labor, supply and demand, trade routes, etc. Moreover, Finley takes the fact that the Ancient Greeks and Romans did not have a sophisticated accounting system as well as how imprecise or carefree they are about numerical