The Nicomachean Ethics — trans. F. H. Peters (1881)

8 Fiu^her, he will spend gladly and lavishly ; for a

9 minute calculation of cost is mean. He will inquire how the work can be made most beautiful and most elegant, rather than what its cost will be, and how it can be done most cheaply.

10 So the magnificent man must be liberal also ; for the liberal man, too, will spend the right amount in the right manner ; only, both the amount and the manner being right, magnificence is distinguished from liberality (which has the same sphere of action) by greatness — I mean by actual magnitude of amount spent : and secondly, where .the amount spent is the

110 NICOMACHEAN ETHICS OF AKISTOTLE. [Bk. IV.

same, the result of the magnificent man's expenditure will be more magnificent.*

For the excellence of a possession is not the same as the excellence of a product or work of art : as a possession, that is most precious or estimable which is worth most, e.g. gold ; as a work of art, that is most estimable which is great and beautiful : for the sight of such a work excites admiration, and a magnificent thing is always admirable ; indeed, excellence of work on a great scale is magnificence.

Now, there is a kind of expenditure which is called in a special sense estimable or honourable, such as expenditure on the worship of the gods {e.g. offerings, temples, and sacrifices), and likewise all expenditure on the worship of heroes, and again all public service which is prompted by a noble ambition ; e.g. a man may think proper to furnish a chorus or a war-ship, or to give a public feast, in a handsome style.

But in all cases, as we have said, we must have regard to the person who spends, and ask who he is, and what his means are; for expenditure should be proportionate to means, and be suitable not only to the result but to the persons who spend.

And so a poor man cannot be magnidcent: he has not the means to spend large sums suitably : if he tries, he is a fool ; for he spends disproportionately and in a wrong way; but an act must be done in the

* A worthy expenditure of £100,000 would be magnificent from its mere amount ; but even £100 may be spent in a magnificent manner (by a man who can afford it), e.g. in buying a rare engraving for a public collection : c/. § 18.

2, 11-17.] MAGXIFICENXE. Ill

I right vray to be virtuous. But magnificence is becoming in those who have got the requisite means, either by their own efforts or through their ancestors or their connections, and who have birth and reputation, etc. ; for all these things give a man a certain greatness and importance. .5 The magnificent man, then, is properly a man of this sort, and magnificence exhibits itself most properly in expenditure of this kind, as we have lid; for this is the greatest and most honourable Kind of expenditure : but it may also be displayed on private occasions, when they are such as occur but once in a man's life, e.g. a wedding or anything of that kind; or when they are of special interest to the state or the governing classes, e.g. receiving strangers and sending them on their way, or making presents to them and returning their presents ; for the magnificent man does not lavish money on himself, but on public objects ; and gifts to strangers bear some resemblance to offerings to the gods.

16 Again, a magnificent man will build his house in a style suitable to his wealth ; for even a fine house is a kind of public ornament. And he will spend money more readily on things that last ; for these are the noblest.