Dukes and cardinals , oligarchs and financiers , fixers and traders become very wealthy not by virtue of their talents but as a result of the position they occupy .
Chief executives now behave like dukes , extractingfrom their financial estates sums out of all proportion to the work they do orthe value they generate , sums that sometimes exhaust the businesses theyparasitise .
But his finest work is drawn from life , and designed to satisfy the vanity and lust of magnificent dukes , corrupt popes and powerful emperors . It sharpens the senses and gives pleasure .
The pope was stripped of most of his dominions , the bourbon dynasty was exiled from naples , the dukes of central italy lost their thrones , and the kings of piedmont became monarchs of italy .
In young 's fable , the academically talented working class happily join the elite . But the less talented resent them even more than they did the old dukes and duchesses .