Thucydides unknowingly described capitalism from a conflict between Athens and Melos around 400 BC

δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν

or as Richard Crawley translated it, “The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”