Pleasure and splendour

Meaning

Worldly pleasure, splendour and temporal honour are criticized as wrong purposes for seeking the art. The same paragraph, however, praises the philosophers’ pleasure and joy in seeing God’s wonders. The opposition is therefore between different objects and uses of delight, not a simple prohibition of happiness. Quiet livelihood and assistance to needy neighbours are allowed ends of the gift. The English distinguishes “worldly or temporal pleasure and splendour” from “pleasure and joy” in recognition, preserving this ethical redirection. Pracht here is external magnificence sought for self-display; it is not the same as the divine glory revealed in created things.