(i) Magnificence: Like painters bring brush to canvas and sculptors set chisel against marble, so do those magnificent know to use their wealth to bring about greatness and beauty and inspire wonder in their people’s eyes. It is for this reason that Aristotle says that those disposed to magnificence are like artists.

To be magnificent we have to be attuned to the constantly changing challenges and needs that our community faces and know what actionable steps to take to meet such challenges and needs. We have to be able to distinguish new and emerging trends and ideas in people’s minds and be capable of encouraging and establishing trends towards good destinations, starving out all the trends which lead to no good in the process.

Magnificent humans are not mere wealthy persons, they are celebrated personalities. Children look up to them. They get to speak for their entire community. They are not merely generous, they are like a river to their people.

(ii) Gaudiness: Like the magnificent, those we describe as gaudy have no problem with putting their wealth to use. Unlike the magnificent, however, the gaudy are completely out of touch with their community. They rather use luxuriousness as a tool to reinforce the distance in status between them and everyone else. They want to make sure that everyone knows that they stand above everyone else and in this way weaponise their wealth to antagonise everyone. A good example would be the anecdote of that man who launched himself in space while his slaves were not even allowed proper bathroom breaks.

(iii) Niggardliness: We deal here with the miser written large. Even as they possess overwhelming amounts of wealth, they are still stuck compulsively collecting money. To the needs and challenges of their community, they react with their doctrine of “money for money’s sake” and “money above all”, i.e. with a theology of money. We deal here with petty crooks devoid of self-respect. Wherever they can, they go around causing difficulties and complications to avoid giving their fair share. They have no qualms about raising a great fuss to save a few cents. Whatever trifle they did give, they will keep reminding everyone about it and make it appear as though they parted with a great fortune. Such is the disposition of the niggardly person