Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon |
It is said that every virtue carried to extremes becomes a
vice, which is probably true. Every good thing indulged in to excess does much the
same.
The previous few verses of Ecclesiastes 10 contrast a
kingdom run by self-indulgent drunks and gluttons with a kingdom administered
by wise, self-controlled princes and officials who know the proper place for leisure
and pleasure in their own lives. Obviously the citizens of the second kingdom
will have a better time of it than those of the first. The Preacher then
comments that attending to only your own desires rather than the objective
needs around you will end in disaster.