Question IV: On the vices opposed to magnificence

One vice St. Bonaventure names, locis adductis, which is called Parvificentia, inclining to defect; but the other, rising to excess, is still unnamed among the Latins, as Bl. Thomas also teaches, quaest. 135. art. 1. and 2., from Aristotle, 2. Eth. cap. 7. and lib. 4. cap. 2.

For since magnificence is concerned with great works and expenses, it ought to hold the mean, respecting the means of the spender and the dignity of the work. But if it blazes less than the dignity of the work requires, it is called Parvificentia; if, however, it exceeds, it is called Banausia, from the furnace, which consumes all, and it can be called Consumptio, as Bl. Thomas says, art. 2.

Note that the discourse here is about Magnificence as it is a virtue concerning the passions; it is not, in another and different way, also a virtue toward another, concerning actions.