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object. The man who in small or middling things spends according to
the merits of the case is not called magnificent (e.g., the man who can
say  many a gift I gave the wanderer ), but only the man who does so in
great things. For the magnificent man is liberal, but the liberal man is
not necessarily magnificent. The deficiency of this state of character is
called niggardliness, the excess vulgarity, lack of taste, and the like,
which do not go to excess in the amount spent on right objects, but by
showy expenditure in the wrong circumstances and the wrong manner;
we shall speak of these vices later.
The magnificent man is like an artist; for he can see what is fitting
and spend large sums tastefully. For, as we said at the begining, a state
of character is determined by its activities and by its objects. Now the
expenses of the magnificent man are large and fitting. Such, therefore,
are also his results; for thus there will be a great expenditure and one
that is fitting to its result. Therefore the result should be worthy of the
expense, and the expense should be worthy of the result, or should even
exceed it. And the magnificent man will spend such sums for honour s
sake; for this is common to the virtues. And further he will do so gladly
and lavishly; for nice calculation is a niggardly thing. And he will con-
sider how the result can be made most beautiful and most becoming
rather than for how much it can be produced and how it can be produced
most cheaply. It is necessary, then, that the magnificent man be also
liberal. For the liberal man also will spend what he ought and as he
ought; and it is in these matters that the greatness implied in the name of
the magnificent man-his bigness, as it were-is manifested, since liberal-
ity is concerned with these matters; and at an equal expense he will
produce a more magnificent work of art. For a possession and a work of
art have not the same excellence. The most valuable possession is that
which is worth most, e.g., gold, but the most valuable work of art is that
which is great and beautiful (for the contemplation of such a work in-
Nicomachean Ethics/59
spires admiration, and so does magnificence); and a work has an excel-
lence-viz. magnificence-which involves magnitude. Magnificence is an
attribute of expenditures of the kind which we call honourable, e.g.,
those connected with the gods votive offerings, buildings, and sacri-
fices and similarly with any form of religious worship, and all those
that are proper objects of public-spirited ambition, as when people think
they ought to equip a chorus or a trireme, or entertain the city, in a
brilliant way. But in all cases, as has been said, we have regard to the
agent as well and ask who he is and what means he has; for the expen-
diture should be worthy of his means, and suit not only the result but
also the producer. Hence a poor man cannot be magnificent, since he
has not the means with which to spend large sums fittingly; and he who
tries is a fool, since he spends beyond what can be expected of him and
what is proper, but it is right expenditure that is virtuous. But great
expenditure is becoming to those who have suitable means to start with,
acquired by their own efforts or from ancestors or connexions, and to
people of high birth or reputation, and so on; for all these things bring
with them greatness and prestige. Primarily, then, the magnificent man
is of this sort, and magnificence is shown in expenditures of this sort, as
has been said; for these are the greatest and most honourable. Of private
occasions of expenditure the most suitable are those that take place
once for all, e.g., a wedding or anything of the kind, or anything that
interests the whole city or the people of position in it, and also the re-
ceiving of foreign guests and the sending of them on their way, and gifts
and counter-gifts; for the magnificent man spends not on himself but on
public objects, and gifts bear some resemblance to votive offerings. A
magnificent man will also furnish his house suitably to his wealth (for
even a house is a sort of public ornament), and will spend by preference
on those works that are lasting (for these are the most beautiful), and on
every class of things he will spend what is becoming; for the same things
are not suitable for gods and for men, nor in a temple and in a tomb.
And since each expenditure may be great of its kind, and what is most
magnificent absolutely is great expenditure on a great object, but what
is magnificent here is what is great in these circumstances, and great-
ness in the work differs from greatness in the expense (for the most
beautiful ball or bottle is magnificent as a gift to a child, but the price of
it is small and mean), therefore it is characteristic of the magnificent
man, whatever kind of result he is producing, to produce it magnifi-
cently (for such a result is not easily surpassed) and to make it worthy
60/Aristotle
of the expenditure.
Such, then, is the magnificent man; the man who goes to excess and
is vulgar exceeds, as has been said, by spending beyond what is right.
For on small objects of expenditure he spends much and displays a
tasteless showiness; e.g., he gives a club dinner on the scale of a wed-
ding banquet, and when he provides the chorus for a comedy he brings
them on to the stage in purple, as they do at Megara. And all such things
he will do not for honour s sake but to show off his wealth, and because
he thinks he is admired for these things, and where he ought to spend
much he spends little and where little, much. The niggardly man on the
other hand will fall short in everything, and after spending the greatest
sums will spoil the beauty of the result for a trifle, and whatever he is
doing he will hesitate and consider how he may spend least, and lament
even that, and think he is doing everything on a bigger scale than he
ought.
These states of character, then, are vices; yet they do not bring dis-
grace because they are neither harmful to one s neighbour nor very un-
seemly.
3
Pride seems even from its name to be concerned with great things; what
sort of great things, is the first question we must try to answer. It makes
no difference whether we consider the state of character or the man
characterized by it. Now the man is thought to be proud who thinks
himself worthy of great things, being worthy of them; for he who does
so beyond his deserts is a fool, but no virtuous man is foolish or silly.
The proud man, then, is the man we have described. For he who is
worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate, but not
proud; for pride implies greatness, as beauty implies a goodsized body,
and little people may be neat and well-proportioned but cannot be beau- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]