Affluent citizens holding public positions were expected to use their own money for a wide range of activities that were deemed important by their communities.
[5] In keeping with the phenomenon of evergetism (as outlined by Paul Veyne), affluent citizens are called upon[clarification needed] to offer many costly sacrifices such as building all sorts of public works (such as fortifications, war boats, temples, or amphitheaters); supplying an army with all the equipment and provisions it needed; offering entertainment and shows; and hosting prominent foreign guests and regaling them with lavish hospitality.
[6] For example, Mania, the widow of Zenis, the governor of Aeolis, not only convinced the Persian satrap Pharnabazus to appoint her as the new governess, but excelled in her military, political, and economic duties, never lacking in magnificence whenever it was required.
In his youthful work on rhetoric, De inventione, he wrote that magnificence is "the consideration and management of important and sublime matters with a certain wide seeing and splendid determination of mind".
[12] When Cicero claims that "the Roman people loathe private luxury (luxuriam) but they love public magnificence (magnificentiam)",[13] he is making an explicit reference to a political system that was being undermined by a new generation of politicians.
Whereas luxury represented the use of wealth to serve personal satisfaction, magnificence rested on traditional republican values based on respect for an appropriate relationship between private and public life.
The most important work on magnificence in the classical world is On Style (Perì hermēnēías) written by Demetrius of Phalerum probably in the first century BCE.
Whereas the sublime inspires awe, veneration, loss of rationality, ecstasy, and pathos, the magnificent aims to impress without causing fear or indignation.
In his monumental De architectura, Vitruvius analyzed both the artistic-aesthetic and the philosophical-ethical aspects of magnificence and enshrined the concept in classical architecture.
[19] Pliny the Elder provides a moving description of the engineering skills used to rebuild Rome's great sewage system, the Cloaca Maxima, which is still in use today.
[20] Thomas Aquinas left one of the most significant medieval interpretations of the concept of magnificence, drawing on the Graeco-Roman tradition and blending it with Christian precepts.
Magnificence belongs to the virtue of fortitude, or courage, because it regards the undertaking of great things and actions, and persevering even when circumstances can make their realization arduous.
Then, following the traditions of Aristotle and Aquinas, Dante classifies magnificence as the fourth virtue "which regulates great expenditures, in administering them and setting limits to their size".
This mirrors the transformation of traditional political structures and the rise of a novel civic culture rooted in virtues that differed from earlier feudal norms.
Marsilio Ficino in his work De virtutibus morabilus (1457) asserted that magnificence is the supreme virtue because it expresses God's greatness.
This evolving perspective on nobility highlights the actions and achievements of people whose conduct centers on nurturing such virtues, rather than relying solely on noble lineage and aristocratic ideals.
Wealthy citizens adopted the custom of spending large sums of money on building projects and on patronage of architecture and the arts.
[25] Lorenzo de’ Medici gained the title “magnificent” due to his support to humanist scholars and artists, establishing one of the most sophisticated courts in Italy.
The rediscovery of ancient rhetoric and the pre-eminence given to Vitruvius throughout the Renaissance influenced not only patrons’ tastes but also those of the architects and artists who were commissioned to create magnificent masterpieces that would give fame both to themselves and to the entire town.
By the 18th century, Italy had become one of the main destinations of the Grand Tour visitors, who came from Northern Europe to study and admire Italian art and architecture and to absorb classical culture.
[21]: 30–45 Universally known as the etcher of the Prisons and the Views of Roman monuments, Piranesi was an eclectic personality, who pursued a wide range of interests; he had a prominent role within the Graeco-Roman debate.