Whether Meanness Is a Vice?
Objection 1: It seems that meanness is not a vice. For just as vice
moderates great things, so does it moderate little things: wherefore
both the liberal and the magnificent do little things. But
magnificence is a virtue. Therefore likewise meanness is a virtue
rather than a vice.
Obj. 2: Further, the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 2) that "careful
reckoning is mean." But careful reckoning is apparently praiseworthy,
since man's good is to be in accordance with reason, as Dionysius
states (Div. Nom. iv, 4). Therefore meanness is not a vice.
Obj. 3: Further, the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 2) that "a mean man
is loth to spend money." But this belongs to covetousness or
illiberality. Therefore meanness is not a distinct vice from the
others.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher (Ethic. ii) accounts meanness a
special vice opposed to magnificence.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 1, A. 3; Q. 18, A. 6),
moral acts take their species from their end, wherefore in many cases
they are denominated from that end. Accordingly a man is said to be
mean (_parvificus_) because he intends to do something little
(_parvum_). Now according to the Philosopher (De Praedic. Cap. Ad
aliquid.) great and little are relative terms: and when we say that a
mean man intends to do something little, this must be understood in
relation to the kind of work he does. This may be little or great in
two ways: in one way as regards the work itself to be done, in
another as regards the expense. Accordingly the magnificent man
intends principally the greatness of his work, and secondarily he
intends the greatness of the expense, which he does not shirk, so
that he may produce a great work. Wherefore the Philosopher says
(Ethic. iv, 4) that "the magnificent man with equal expenditure will
produce a more magnificent result." On the other hand, the mean man
intends principally to spend little, wherefore the Philosopher says
(Ethic. iv, 2) that "he seeks how he may spend least." As a result of
this he intends to produce a little work, that is, he does not shrink
from producing a little work, so long as he spends little. Wherefore
the Philosopher says that "the mean man after going to great expense
forfeits the good" of the magnificent work, "for the trifle" that he
is unwilling to spend. Therefore it is evident that the mean man
fails to observe the proportion that reason demands between
expenditure and work. Now the essence of vice is that it consists in
failing to do what is in accordance with reason. Hence it is manifest
that meanness is a vice.
Reply Obj. 1: Virtue moderates little things, according to the rule
of reason: from which rule the mean man declines, as stated in the
Article. For he is called mean, not for moderating little things, but
for declining from the rule of reason in moderating great or little
things: hence meanness is a vice.
Reply Obj. 2: As the Philosopher says (Rhet. ii, 5), "fear makes us
take counsel": wherefore a mean man is careful in his reckonings,
because he has an inordinate fear of spending his goods, even in
things of the least account. Hence this is not praiseworthy, but
sinful and reprehensible, because then a man does not regulate his
affections according to reason, but, on the contrary, makes use of
his reason in pursuance of his inordinate affections.
Reply Obj. 3: Just as the magnificent man has this in common with the
liberal man, that he spends his money readily and with pleasure, so
too the mean man in common with the illiberal or covetous man is loth
and slow to spend. Yet they differ in this, that illiberality regards
ordinary expenditure, while meanness regards great expenditure, which
is a more difficult accomplishment: wherefore meanness is less sinful
than illiberality. Hence the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 2) that
"although meanness and its contrary vice are sinful, they do not
bring shame on a man, since neither do they harm one's neighbor, nor
are they very disgraceful."
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