Spenser, in The Faerie Queene, had each knight allegorically represent a virtue; Prince Arthur represented "magnificence", which is generally taken to mean Aristotelian magnificence. The uncompleted work does not include Prince Arthur's book, and the significance is not clear. Democritus states that "magnanimity consists in enduring tactlessness with mildness". Thomas Hobbes defines magnanimity as "contempt of little helps and hindrances" to one's ends. To Hobbes, contempt stands for an immobility of the heart, which is moved by other things and desires instead. As an adjective, the concept is expressed as "magnanimous", e.g. "He is a magnanimous man." An example of referring to one as magnanimous can be seen in Hrólfs saga kraka where King Hrólfr Kraki changes the name of a court servant from Hott to Hjalti for his new-found strength and courage, after which Hjalti refuses to taunt or kill those who previously mocked him. Because of his noble actions, the king then bestows the title Magnanimous upon Hjalti. One form of magnanimity is the generosity of the victor to the defeated. For example, magnanimity has been codified between societies by the Geneva Conventions. Magnanimous relief efforts can serve to offset the collateral damage of war. C. S. Lewis, in his book The Abolition of Man, refers to the chest of man as the seat of magnanimity, or sentiment, with this magnanimity working as the liaison between visceral and cerebral man. Lewis asserts that, in his time, the denial of the emotions that are found in the eternal and sublime—that which is humbling as an objective reality—had led to "men without chests". References External links Philosophy of Aristotle Rhetoric Virtue