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“Excessive consumption was not seen as a desirable sign of membership of an elite, but as a warning: it was wealth for the benefit not of the city but of the individual, and it threatened to impoverish him too. Even more dangerously, if wealthy individuals clubbed together, who knew what damage they could inflict?...Wealth could too easily pervert one's judgement.” — Peter Jones
Excessive consumption was not seen as a desirable sign of membership of an elite, but as a warning: it was wealth for the benefit not of the city but of the individual, and it threatened to impoverish him too. Even more dangerously, if wealthy individuals clubbed together, who knew what damage they could inflict?...Wealth could too easily pervert one's judgement.