So the Magnificent man must be also a liberal man, because the liberal
man will also spend what he ought, and in right manner: but it is the
Great, that is to say tke large scale, which is distinctive of the
Magnificent man, the object-matter of liberality being the same, and
without spending more money than another man he will make the work more
magnificent. I mean, the excellence of a possession and of a work is
not the same: as a piece of property that thing is most valuable which
is worth most, gold for instance; but as a work that which is great and
beautiful, because the contemplation of such an object is admirable,
and so is that which is Magnificent. So the excellence of a work is
Magnificence on a large scale. There are cases of expenditure which we
call honourable, such as are dedicatory offerings to the gods, and the
furnishing their temples, and sacrifices, and in like manner everything
that has reference to the Deity, and all such public matters as are
objects of honourable ambition, as when men think in any case that it
is their duty to furnish a chorus for the stage splendidly, or fit out
and maintain a trireme, or give a general public feast.
Now in all these, as has been already stated, respect is had also to
the rank and the means of the man who is doing them: because they
should be proportionate to these, and befit not the work only but also
the doer of the work. For this reason a poor man cannot be a
Magnificent man, since he has not means wherewith to spend largely and
yet becomingly; and if he attempts it he is a fool, inasmuch as it is
out of proportion and contrary to propriety, whereas to be in
accordance with virtue a thing must be done rightly.
Such expenditure is fitting moreover for those to whom such things
previously belong, either through themselves or through their ancestors
or people with whom they are connected, and to the high-born or people
of high repute, and so on: because all these things imply greatness and
reputation.
So then the Magnificent man is pretty much as I have described him, and
Magnificence consists in such expenditures: because they are the
greatest and most honourable: and of private ones such as come but once
for all, marriage to wit, and things of that kind; and any occasion
which engages the interest of the community in general, or of those who
are in power; and what concerns receiving and despatching strangers;
and gifts, and repaying gifts: because the Magnificent man is not apt
to spend upon himself but on the public good, and gifts are pretty much
in the same case as dedicatory offerings.