utopia

DE OPTIMO STATV REI PVBLICAE DEQVE NOVA INSVLA VTOPIA❁

DVOBVS LIBRIS A THOMA MORO SCRIPTA

This paralell edition of Thomas More’s Utopia is specially designed for the 2012–2013 Advanced Latin class at Classical Consortium in Barrington, Illinois.

The Latin text is drawn from thelatinlibrary.com and the English text is drawn from Henry Morley’s translation with minor adjustments in spelling and punc-tuation.

Thomas Morus Petro Aegidio s. d.

¶Pudet me propemodum charissime Petre Aegidi libellum hunc, de Vtopiana republica, post annum ferme ad te mittere, quem te non dubito intra sesqui-mensem expectasse. quippe quum scires mihi demptum in hoc opere inueniendi laborem, neque de dispositione quicquam fuisse cogitandum, cui tantum erant ea recitanda, quae tecum una pariter audiui narrantem Raphaelem. quare nec erat quod in eloquendo laboraretur, quando nec illius sermo potuit exquisitus esse, quum esset primum subitarius, atque extemporalis, deinde hominis, ut scis, non perinde Latine docti quam Graece, & mea oratio quanto accederet propius ad illius neglectam simplicitatem, tanto futura sit propior ueritati, cui hac in re soli curam & debeo & habeo.

¶Fateor mi Petre, mihi adeo multum laboris hijs rebus paratis detractum, ut pene nihil fuerit relictum. alioquin huius rei uel excogitatio, uel oeconomia, po-tuisset, ab ingenio neque infimo, neque prorsus indocto postulare, tum temporis nonnihil, tum studij. quod si exigeretur, ut diserte etiam res, non tantum uere scriberetur, id uero a me praestari, nullo tempore, nullo studio potuisset.

¶Nunc uero quum ablatis curis hijs, in quibus tantum fuit sudoris exhaurien-dum, restiterit tantum hoc, uti sic simpliciter scriberentur audita, nihil erat ne-gocij. sed huic tamen tam nihilo negocij peragendo, caetera negocia mea minus fere quam nihil temporis reliquerunt. Dum causas forenseis assidue alias ago, alias audio, alias arbiter finio, alias iudex dirimo, dum hic officij causa uisitur, ille negocij, dum foris totum ferme diem alijs impartior, reliquum meis, relinquo mihi, hoc est literis, nihil.

¶Nempe reuerso domum, cum uxore fabulandum est, garriendum cum liberis, colloquendum cum ministris. quae ego omnia inter negocia numero, quando fieri necesse est (necesse est autem, nisi uelis esse domi tuae peregrinus) & danda omnino opera est, ut quos uitae tuae comites, aut natura prouidit, aut fecit ca-sus, aut ipse delegisti, hijs ut te quam iucundissimum compares, modo ut ne comitate corrumpas, aut indulgentia ex ministris dominos reddas.

¶Inter haec quae dixi elabitur dies, mensis, annus. Quando ergo scribimus? nec interim de somno quicquam sum loquutus, ut nec de cibo quidem, qui mul-tis non minus absumit temporis, quam somnus ipse, qui uitae absumit ferme dimidium. At mihi hoc solum temporis adquiro quod somno ciboque suffuror, quod quoniam parcum est, lente, quia tamen aliquid, aliquando perfeci, atque ad te mi Petre transmisi Vtopiam ut legeres, & si quid effugisset nos, uti tu admoneres.

¶Quanquam enim non hac parte penitus diffido mihi (qui utinam sic ingenio atque doctrina aliquid essem, ut memoria non usquequaque destituor) non us-queadeo tamen confido, ut credam nihil mihi potuisse excidere. Nam & Ioannes Clemens puer meus, qui adfuit ut scis una, ut quem a nullo patior sermone abesse in quo aliquid esse fructus potest, quoniam ab hac herba qua & latinis literis & Graecis coepit euirescere, egregiam aliquando frugem spero, in mag-nam me coniecit dubitationem. siquidem quum, quantum ego recordor, Hyth-lodaeus narrauerit Amauroticum illum pontem, quo fluuius Anydrus insterni-

4 Utopia

tur, quingentos habere passus in longum, Ioannes meus ait detrahendos esse ducentos, latitudinem fluminis haud supra trecentos ibi continere. Ego te rogo rem ut reuoces in memoriam. Nam si tu cum illo sentis, ego quoque adsentiar & me lapsum credam, sin ipse non recolis, scribam ut feci quod ipse recordari uideor mihi, nam ut maxime curabo, ne quid sit in libro falsi, ita si quid sit in ambiguo, potius mendacium dicam, quam mentiar, quod malim bonus esse quam prudens.

¶Quanquam facile fuerit huic mederi morbo, si ex Raphaele ipso, aut praesens scisciteris, aut per literas, quod necesse est facias, uel ob alium scrupulum, qui nobis incidit nescio mea ne culpa magis, an tua, an Raphaelis ipsius. Nam neque nobis in mentem uenit quaerere, neque illi dicere, qua in parte noui illius orbis Vtopia sita sit. Quod non fuisse praetermissum sic, uellem profecto mediocri pecunia mea redemptum, uel quod subpudet me nescire, quo in mari sit insula de qua tam multa recenseam, uel quod sunt apud nos unus & alter, sed unus maxime, uir pius & professione Theologus, qui miro flagrat desyderio adeundae Vtopiae, non inani & curiosa libidine collustrandi noua, sed uti religionem nos-tram, feliciter ibi coeptam, foueat atque adaugeat.

¶Quod quo faciat rite, decreuit ante curare ut mittatur a Pontifice, atque adeo ut creetur Vtopiensibus Episcopus, nihil eo scrupulo retardatus, quod hoc anti-stitium sit illi precibus impetrandum. Quippe sanctum ducit ambitum, quem non honoris aut quaestus ratio, sed pietatis respectus pepererit. Quamobrem te oro mi Petre uti aut praesens, si potes commode, aut absens per epistolam, com-pelles Hythlodaeum, atque efficias, ne quicquam huic operi meo, aut insit falsi, aut ueri desyderetur. Atque haud scio an praestet ipsum ei librum ostendi. Nam neque alius aeque sufficit, si quid est erratum corrigere, neque is ipse aliter hoc praestare potest, quam si quae sunt a me scripta perlegerit. Ad haec: fiet ut hoc pacto intelligas, accipiatne libenter, an grauatim ferat, hoc operis a me conscribi. Nempe si suos labores decreuit ipse mandare literis, nolit fortasse me: neque ego certe uelim, Vtopiensium per me uulgata republica, florem illi gratiamque nouitatis historiae suae praeripere.

¶Quanquam ut uere dicam, nec ipse mecum satis adhuc constitui, an sim omnino aediturus. Etenim tam uaria sunt palata mortalium, tam morosa quo-rundam ingenia, tam ingrati animi, tam absurda iudicia, ut cuni hijs haud paulo felicius agi uideatur, qui iucundi atque hilares genio indulgent suo, quam qui semet macerant curis, ut aedant aliquid quod alijs, aut fastidientibus, aut ingra-tis, uel utilitati possit esse, uel uoluptati.

¶Plurimi literas nesciunt: multi contemnunt. Barbarus ut durum reijcit, quic-quid non est plane barbarum, Scioli aspernantur ut triuiale, quicquid obsoletis uerbis non scatet. quibusdam solum placent uetera, plerisque tan-tum sua. Hic tam tetricus est, ut non admittat iocos, hic tam insulsus, ut non ferat sales. tam sinu quidam sunt, ut nasum omnem uelut aquam ab rabido morsus cane, reformident. adeo mobiles alij sunt, ut aliud sedentes probent, aliud stantes. Hi sedent in tabernis, & inter pocula de scriptorum iudicant ingenijs, magnaque cum autoritate condemnant utcunque lubitum est, suis quenque scriptis, ueluti capillicio uellicantes, ipsi interim tuti, & quod dici solet, ἔξω βέλους. quippe tam leues & abrasi undique, ut ne pilum quidem habeant boni uiri, quo possint

St. Sir omas More 5

apprehendi. Sunt praeterea quidam tam ingrati, ut quum impense delectentur opere: nihilo tamen magis ament autorem. non absimiles inhumanis hospiti-bus, qui quum opiparo conuiuio prolixe sint excepti, saturi demum discedunt domum, nullis habitis gratijs ei, a quo sunt inuitati. I nunc & hominibus tam delicati palati: tam uarij gustus: animi praeterea tam memoris & grati, tuis im-pensis epulum instrue.

¶Sed tamen mi Petre tu illud age quod dixi cum Hythlodaeo. postea tamen integrum erit hac de re consultare denuo.

Quanquam si id ipsius uoluntate fiat: quandoquidemscribendi labore defunctus: nunc sero sapio:

quod reliquum est de aedendo:sequar amicorum consilium:

atque in primis tuum.Vale dulcissimePetre Aegidi:

cum optima coniuge:ac me ut soles ama: quando

ego te amo etiam plus quam soleo. Finis

6 Utopia

utopia

THE DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY, A MOST EXTRAORDINARY MAN, ON THE BEST SORT OF COM-MMONWEALTH AND THE NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA

BOOK ONE

AS TOLD TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS THOMAS MORE, BOTH CITI-ZEN AND UNDERSHERRIF OF THE RENOWNED CITY OF LONDON

Henry VIII., the unconquered King of England, a prince adorned with all the virtues that become a great monarch, having some differences of no small consequence with Charles the most serene Prince of Castile, sent me into Flan-ders, as his ambassador, for treating and composing matters between them. I was colleague and companion to that incomparable man Cuthbert Tonstal, whom the King, with such universal applause, lately made Master of the Rolls; but of whom I will say nothing; not because I fear that the testimony of a friend will be suspected, but rather because his learning and virtues are too great for me to do them justice, and so well known, that they need not my commendations, unless I would, according to the proverb, “Show the sun with a lantern.”

¶Those that were appointed by the Prince to treat with us, met us at Bruges, according to agreement; they were all worthy men. The Margrave of Bruges was their head, and the chief man among them; but he that was esteemed the wisest, and that spoke for the rest, was George Temse, the Provost of Casselsee: both art and nature had concurred to make him eloquent: he was very learned in the law; and, as he had a great capacity, so, by a long practice in affairs, he was very dex-terous at unravelling them. After we had several times met, without coming to an agreement, they went to Brussels for some days, to know the Prince’s pleasure; and, since our business would admit it, I went to Antwerp.

¶While I was there, among many that visited me, there was one that was more acceptable to me than any other, Peter Giles, born at Antwerp, who is a man of great honor, and of a good rank in his town, though less than he deserves; for I do not know if there be anywhere to be found a more learned and a better bred young man; for as he is both a very worthy and a very knowing person, so he is so civil to all men, so particularly kind to his friends, and so full of candour and affection, that there is not, perhaps, above one or two anywhere to be found, that is in all respects so perfect a friend: he is extraordinarily modest, there is no arti-fice in him, and yet no man has more of a prudent simplicity. His conversation was so pleasant and so innocently cheerful, that his company in a great measure lessened any longings to go back to my country, and to my wife and children, which an absence of four months had quickened very much.

¶One day, as I was returning home from mass at St. Mary’s, which is the chief church, and the most frequented of any in Antwerp, I saw him, by accident, talk-

DE OPTIMO STATV REI PVBLICAE DEQVE NOVA INS-VLA VTOPIA SERMONIS QVEM RAPHAEL HYTHLODAEUS VIR EXIMIVS, DE OPTIMO REIPVBLICAE STATV HABVIT

LIBER PRIMUS

PER ILLVSTREM VIRUM THOMAM MORVM INCLITAE BRI-TANNIARVM VRBIS LONDINI ET CIVEM, ET VICECOMITEM.

Cum non exigui momenti negotia quaedam inuictissimus Angliae Rex Henricus eius nominis octauus, omnibus egregii principis artibus ornatissimus, cum serenissimo castellae principe Carolo controuersa nu-per habuisset, ad ea tractanda, componendaque, oratorem me legauit in Flandriam, comitem et collegam uiri incomparabilis Cuthberti Tunstalli, quem sacris scriniis nuper ingenti omnium gratulatione praefecit, de cuius sane laudi-bus nihil a me dicetur, non quod uerear ne parum sincerae fidei testis habenda sit amicitia, sed quod uirtus eius, ac doctrina maior est, quam ut a me praedicari possit, tum notior ubique atque illustrior, quam ut debeat, nisi uideri uelim solem lucerna, quod aiunt, ostendere.

¶occurrerunt nobis Brugis—sic enim conuenerat—hi, quibus a principe ne-gotium demandabatur, egregii uiri omnes. in his praefectus Brugensis uir mag-nificus, princeps et caput erat, ceterum os et pectus Georgius Temsicius Cas-siletanus Praepositus, non arte solum, uerum etiam natura facundus, ad haec iureconsultissimus, tractandi uero negotii cum ingenio, tum assiduo rerum usu eximius artifex. ubi semel atque iterum congressi, quibusdam de rebus non satis consentiremus, illi in aliquot dies uale nobis dicto, Bruxellas profecti sunt, prin-cipis oraculum sciscitaturi.

¶ego me interim—sic enim res ferebat—Antuerpiam confero. ibi dum uersor, saepe me inter alios, sed quo non alius gratior, inuisit Petrus Aegidius Antuer-piae natus, magna fide, et loco apud suos honesto, dignus honestissimo, quippe iuuenis haud scio doctiorne, an moratior. est enim optimus et litteratissimus, ad haec animo in omnes candido, in amicos uero tam propenso pectore, amore, fide, adfectu tam sincero, ut uix unum aut alterum usquam inuenias, quem illi sentias omnibus amicitiae numeris esse conferendum. rara illi modestia, nemini longius abest fucus, nulli simplicitas inest prudentior, porro sermone tam lepi-dus, et tam innoxie facetus, ut patriae desiderium, ac laris domestici, uxoris, et liberorum, quorum studio reuisendorum nimis quam anxie tenebar—iam tum enim plus quattuor mensibus abfueram domo—magna ex parte mihi dulcissima consuetudine sua, et mellitissima confabulatione leuauerit.

¶hunc cum die quadam in templo diuae Mariae, quod et opere pulcherrimum, et populo celeberrimum est, rei diuinae interfuissem, atque peracto sacro, para-rem inde in hospitium redire, forte colloquentem uideo cum hospite quodam,

homo peregrinans Raphael Hythlodaeus

10 Utopia

ing with a stranger, who seemed past the flower of his age; his face was tanned, he had a long beard, and his cloak was hanging carelessly about him, so that, by his looks and habit, I concluded he was a seaman.

¶As soon as Peter saw me, he came and saluted me, and as I was returning his civility, he took me aside, and pointing to him with whom he had been discoursing, he said, “Do you see that man? I was just thinking to bring him to you.” I answered, “He should have been very welcome on your account.” “And on his own too,” replied he, “if you knew the man, for there is none alive that can give so copious an account of unknown nations and countries as he can do, which I know you very much desire.” “Then,” said I, “I did not guess amiss, for at first sight I took him for a seaman.” “But you are much mistaken,” said he, “for he has not sailed as a seaman, but as a traveller, or rather a philosopher. This Raphael, who from his family carries the name of Hythloday, is not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but is eminently learned in the Greek, having applied himself more particularly to that than to the former, because he had given himself much to philosophy, in which he knew that the Romans have left us nothing that is valuable, except what is to be found in Seneca and Cicero. He is a Portuguese by birth, and was so desirous of seeing the world, that he divided his estate among his brothers, ran the same hazard as Americus Vesputius, and bore a share in three of his four voyages that are now published; only he did not return with him in his last, but obtained leave of him, almost by force, that he might be one of those twenty-four who were left at the farthest place at which they touched in their last voyage to New Castile. The leaving him thus did not a little gratify one that was more fond of travelling than of returning home to be buried in his own country; for he used often to say, that the way to heaven was the same from all places, and he that had no grave had the heavens still over him.

¶Yet this disposition of mind had cost him dear, if God had not been very gra-cious to him; for after he, with five Castalians, had travelled over many countries, at last, by strange good fortune, he got to Ceylon, and from thence to Calicut, where he, very happily, found some Portuguese ships; and, beyond all men’s ex-pectations, returned to his native country.”

¶When Peter had said this to me, I thanked him for his kindness in intending to give me the acquaintance of a man whose conversation he knew would be so acceptable; and upon that Raphael and I embraced each other. After those civilities were past which are usual with strangers upon their first meeting, we all went to my house, and entering into the garden, sat down on a green bank and entertained one another in discourse.

¶He told us that when Vesputius had sailed away, he, and his companions that stayed behind in New Castile, by degrees insinuated themselves into the affections of the people of the country, meeting often with them and treating them gently; and at last they not only lived among them without danger, but conversed familiarly with them, and got so far into the heart of a prince, whose name and country I have forgot, that he both furnished them plentifully with all things necessary, and also with the conveniences of travelling, both boats when they went by water, and waggons when they trained over land: he sent with them a very faithful guide, who was to introduce and recommend them to such other

St. Sir omas More 11

uergentis ad senium aetatis, uultu adusto, promissa barba, penula neglectim ab humero dependente, qui mihi ex uultu atque habitu nauclerus esse uidebatur.

¶at Petrus ubi me conspexit, adit ac salutat. respondere conantem seducit paululum, et uides inquit hunc!—simul designabat eum cum quo loquentem uideram—eum inquit iam hinc ad te recta parabam ducere. uenisset inquam pergratus mihi tua causa. immo, inquit ille, si nosses hominem, sua. nam nemo uiuit hodie mortalium omnium, qui tantam tibi hominum, terrarumque incog-nitarum narrare possit historiam. quarum rerum audiendarum scio auidissimum esse te. ergo inquam non pessime coniectaui. nam primo aspectu protinus sensi hominem esse nauclerum. atqui inquit aberrasti longissime; nauigauit quidem non ut Palinurus, sed ut Ulysses; immo uelut nempe Plato. Raphael iste, sic enim uocatur gentilicio nomine Hythlodaeus, et latinae linguae non indoctus, et graecae doctissimus—cuius ideo studiosior quam Romanae fuit, quoniam totum se addixerat philosophiae; qua in re nihil quod alicuius momenti sit, praeter Sen-ecae quaedam, ac Ciceronis extare latine cognouit—relicto fratribus patrimonio, quod ei domi fuerat—est enim Lusitanus—orbis terrarum contemplandi studio Amerigo Vespucio se adiunxit, atque in tribus posterioribus illarum quattuor nauigationum quae passim iam leguntur, perpetuus eius comes fuit, nisi quod in ultima cum eo non rediit. curauit enim atque adeo extorsit ab Amerigo, ut ipse in his xxiiii esset qui ad fines postremae nauigationis in castello relinquebantur. itaque relictus est, uti obtemperaretur animo eius, peregrinationis magis quam sepulchri curioso. quippe cui haec assidue sunt in ore, caelo tegitur qui non habet urnam, et undique ad superos tantumdem esse uiae. quae mens eius, nisi deus ei propitius adfuisset, nimio fuerat illi constatura.

¶ceterum postquam digresso Vespucio multas regiones cum quinque castel-lanorum comitibus emensus est, mirabili tandem fortuna Taprobanen delatus, inde peruenit in Caliquit, ubi repertis commode Lusitanorum nauibus, in pa-triam denique praeter spem reuehitur.

¶haec ubi narrauit Petrus, actis ei gratiis quod tam officiosus in me fuisset, ut cuius uiri colloquium mihi gratum speraret, eius uti sermone fruerer, tantam rationem habuisset, ad Raphaelem me conuerto, tum ubi nos mutuo salutas-semus, atque illa communia dixissemus, quae dici in primo hospitum congressu solent, inde domum meam digredimur, ibique in horto considentes in scamno cespitibus herbeis constrato, confabulamur.

¶narrauit ergo nobis, quo pacto posteaquam Vespucius abierat, ipse, sociique eius, qui in castello remanserant, conueniendo atque blandiendo coeperint se paulatim eius terrae gentibus insinuare, iamque non innoxie modo apud eas, sed etiam familiariter uersari, tum principi cuidam—cuius et patria mihi, et nomen excidit—grati, carique esse. eius liberalitate narrabat commeatum, atque uiaticum ipsi et quinque eius comitibus affatim fuisse suppeditatum, cum itin-eris—quod per aquam ratibus, per terram curru peragebant—fidelissimo duce, qui eos ad alios principes, quos diligenter commendati petebant, adduceret. nam post multorum itinera dierum, oppida atque urbes aiebat reperisse se, ac non pessime institutas magna populorum frequentia respublicas.

12 Utopia

princes as they had a mind to see: and after many days’ journey, they came to towns, and cities, and to commonwealths, that were both happily governed and well peopled.

¶Under the equator, and as far on both sides of it as the sun moves, there lay vast deserts that were parched with the perpetual heat of the sun; the soil was withered, all things looked dismally, and all places were either quite uninhabited, or abounded with wild beasts and serpents, and some few men, that were neither less wild nor less cruel than the beasts themselves. But, as they went farther, a new scene opened, all things grew milder, the air less burning, the soil more ver-dant, and even the beasts were less wild: and, at last, there were nations, towns, and cities, that had not only mutual commerce among themselves and with their neighbors, but traded, both by sea and land, to very remote countries. There they found the conveniencies of seeing many countries on all hands, for no ship went any voyage into which he and his companions were not very welcome.

¶The first vessels that they saw were flat-bottomed, their sails were made of reeds and wicker, woven close together, only some were of leather; but, after-wards, they found ships made with round keels and canvas sails, and in all re-spects like our ships, and the seamen understood both astronomy and naviga-tion. He got wonderfully into their favor by showing them the use of the needle, of which till then they were utterly ignorant. They sailed before with great cau-tion, and only in summer time; but now they count all seasons alike, trusting wholly to the loadstone, in which they are, perhaps, more secure than safe; so that there is reason to fear that this discovery, which was thought would prove so much to their advantage, may, by their imprudence, become an occasion of much mischief to them.

¶But it were too long to dwell on all that he told us he had observed in every place, it would be too great a digression from our present purpose: whatever is necessary to be told concerning those wise and prudent institutions which he observed among civilised nations, may perhaps be related by us on a more proper occasion. We asked him many questions concerning all these things, to which he answered very willingly; we made no inquiries after monsters, than which nothing is more common; for everywhere one may hear of ravenous dogs and wolves, and cruel men-eaters, but it is not so easy to find states that are well and wisely governed.

¶As he told us of many things that were amiss in those new-discovered coun-tries, so he reckoned up not a few things, from which patterns might be taken for correcting the errors of these nations among whom we live; of which an account may be given, as I have already promised, at some other time; for, at present, I intend only to relate those particulars that he told us, of the manners and laws of the Utopians: but I will begin with the occasion that led us to speak of that commonwealth.

¶After Raphael had discoursed with great judgment on the many errors that were both among us and these nations, had treated of the wise institutions both here and there, and had spoken as distinctly of the customs and government of every nation through which he had past, as if he had spent his whole life in it, Peter, be-ing struck with admiration, said, “I wonder, Raphael, how it comes that you enter

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¶nempe sub aequatoris linea tum hinc atque inde ab utroque latere quantum fere spatii solis orbita complectitur, uastas obiacere solitudines perpetuo feruore torridas. squalor undique et tristis rerum facies horrida atque inculta omnia feris habitata, serpentibusque, aut denique hominibus, neque minus efferis quam sint beluae, neque minus noxiis. ceterum ubi longius euectus sis, paulatim omnia man-suescere. caelum minus asperum, solum uirore blandum, mitiora animantium in-genia, tandem aperiri populos, urbes, oppida, in his assidua non inter se modo, ac finitimos, sed procul etiam dissitas gentes, terra marique commercia. inde sibi natam facultatem multas ultro citroque terras inuisendi, quod nulla nauis ad iter quodlibet instruebatur, in quam non ille, comitesque eius libentissime admitte-bantur.

¶naues quas primis regionibus conspexerunt, carina plana fuisse nar-rabat. uela consutis papyris aut uiminibus intendebantur, alibi coriacea. post uero acuminatas carinas canabea uela reppererunt. omnia denique nostris similia. nautae maris ac caeli non imperiti. sed miram se narrabat inisse gratiam, tradito magnetis usu, cuius antea penitus erant ignari. ideoque timide pelago consueuisse sese, neque alias temere, quam aestate credere. nunc uero eius fiducia lapidis contemnunt hiemem, securi magis, quam tuti, ut periculum sit, ne quae res magno eis bono futura putabatur, eadem per imprudentiam magno-rum causa malorum fiat.

¶quid quoque in loco se uidisse narrauit, et longum fuerit explicare, neque hui-us est operis institutum, et alio fortasse loco dicetur a nobis, praesertim quicquid ex usu fuerit non ignorari, qualia sunt in primis ea, quae apud populos usquam ciuiliter conuiuentes animaduertit, recte prudenterque prouisa. his enim de re-bus et nos auidissime rogabamus, et ille libentissime disserebat, omissa interim inquisitione monstrorum, quibus nihil est minus nouum. nam Scyllas et Cele-nos rapaces, et Lestrigonas populiuoros, atque eiuscemodi immania portenta, nusquam fere non inuenias, at sane ac sapienter institutos ciues haud reperias ubilibet. ceterum ut multa apud nouos illos populos adnotauit perperam con-sulta, sic haud pauca recensuit, unde possint exempla sumi corrigendis harum urbium, nationum, gentium, ac regnorum erroribus idonea, alio, ut dixi, loco a me commemoranda.

¶nunc ea tantum referre animus est, quae de moribus atque institutis narrabat Utopiensium, praemisso tamen eo sermone, quo uelut tractu quodam ad eius mentionem reipublicae deuentum est.

¶nam cum Raphael prudentissime recensuisset, alia hic, alia illic errata, utro-bique certe plurima, tum quae apud nos, quaeue item sunt apud illos cauta sa-pientius, cum uniuscuiusque populi mores atque instituta sic teneret, tamquam in quemcumque locum diuertisset, totam ibi uitam uixisse uideretur, admiratus hominem miror Petrus, profecto mi Raphael, inquit, cur te regi cuipiam non adiungas, quorum neminem esse satis scio, cui tu non sis futurus uehementer gratus, utpote quem hac doctrina, atque hac locorum hominumque peritia non oblectare solum, sed exemplis quoque instruere, atque adiuuare consilio sis ido-neus, simul hoc pacto et tuis rebus egregie consulueris, et tuorum omnium com-modis magno esse adiumento possis.

peregrinationes Raphaelis

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into no king’s service, for I am sure there are none to whom you would not be very acceptable; for your learning and knowledge, both of men and things, is such, that you would not only entertain them very pleasantly, but be of great use to them, by the examples you could set before them, and the advices you could give them; and by this means you would both serve your own interest, and be of great use to all your friends.”

¶“As for my friends,” answered he, “I need not be much concerned, having al-ready done for them all that was incumbent on me; for when I was not only in good health, but fresh and young, I distributed that among my kindred and friends which other people do not part with till they are old and sick: when they then un-willingly give that which they can enjoy no longer themselves. I think my friends ought to rest contented with this, and not to expect that for their sakes I should enslave myself to any king.”

¶“Soft and fair!” said Peter; “I do not mean that you should be a slave to any king, but only that you should assist them and be useful to them.”

¶“The change of the word,” said he, “does not alter the matter.” ¶“But term it as you will,” replied Peter, “I do not see any other way in which you

can be so useful, both in private to your friends and to the public, and by which you can make your own condition happier.”

¶“Happier?” answered Raphael, “is that to be compassed in a way so abhorrent to my genius? Now I live as I will, to which I believe, few courtiers can pretend; and there are so many that court the favor of great men, that there will be no great loss if they are not troubled either with me or with others of my temper.”

¶Upon this, said I, “I perceive, Raphael, that you neither desire wealth nor great-ness; and, indeed, I value and admire such a man much more than I do any of the great men in the world. Yet I think you would do what would well become so generous and philosophical a soul as yours is, if you would apply your time and thoughts to public affairs, even though you may happen to find it a little uneasy to yourself; and this you can never do with so much advantage as by being taken into the council of some great prince and putting him on noble and worthy actions, which I know you would do if you were in such a post; for the springs both of good and evil flow from the prince over a whole nation, as from a lasting foun-tain. So much learning as you have, even without practice in affairs, or so great a practice as you have had, without any other learning, would render you a very fit counsellor to any king.”

¶“You are doubly mistaken,” said he, “Mr. More, both in your opinion of me and in the judgment you make of things: for as I have not that capacity that you fancy I have, so if I had it, the public would not be one jot the better when I had sacrificed my quiet to it. For most princes apply themselves more to affairs of war than to the useful arts of peace; and in these I neither have any knowledge, nor do I much desire it; they are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right or wrong, than on governing well those they possess: and, among the min-isters of princes, there are none that are not so wise as to need no assistance, or at least, that do not think themselves so wise that they imagine they need none; and if they court any, it is only those for whom the prince has much personal

St. Sir omas More 15

¶quod ad meos attinet, inquit ille, non ualde commoueor, nempe in quos me-diocriter opinor me officii mei partes impleuisse. nam quibus rebus alii non nisi senes et aegri cedunt, immo tum quoque aegre cedunt, cum amplius retinere non possunt, eas res ego non sanus modo ac uegetus, sed iuuenis quoque cogna-tis, amicisque dispartiui, quos debere puto hac mea esse benignitate contentos, neque id exigere atque expectare praeterea, ut memet eorum causa regibus in seruitium dedam.

¶bona uerba inquit Petrus, mihi uisum est non ut seruias regibus, sed ut inse-ruias.

¶hoc est inquit ille, una syllaba plusquam seruias.¶at ego sic censeo inquit Petrus, quoquo tu nomine rem appelles, eam tamen

ipsam esse uiam, qua non aliis modo et priuatim, et publice possis conducere, sed tuam quoque ipsius conditionem reddere feliciorem.

¶felicioremne inquit Raphael, ea uia facerem, a qua abhorret animus! atqui nunc sic uiuo ut uolo, quod ego certe suspicor paucissimis purpuratorum con-tingere. quin satis est eorum, qui potentum amicitias ambiunt, ne magnam putes iacturam fieri, si me atque uno aut altero mei similibus sint carituri.

¶tum ego, perspicuum est inquam te mi Raphael, neque opum esse, neque potentiae cupidum, atque ego profecto huius tuae mentis hominem non minus ueneror ac suspicio, quam eorum quemuis, qui maxime rerum sunt potentes. ceterum uideberis plane rem te atque isthoc animo tuo tam generoso, tam uere philosopho dignam facturus, si te ita compares, ut uel cum aliquo priuatim in-commodo ingenium tuum atque industriam, publicis rebus accommodes, quod numquam tanto cum fructu queas, quanto si a consiliis fueris magno alicui principi, eique—quod te facturum certe scio—recta atque honesta persuaseris. nempe a principe bonorum, malorumque omnium torrens in totum populum, uelut a perenni quodam fonte promanat. in te uero tam absoluta doctrina est, ut uel citra magnum rerum usum, porro tanta rerum peritia, ut sine ulla doctrina, egregium consiliarium cuiuis regum sis praestaturus.

¶bis erras, inquit ille, mi More, primum in me, deinde in re ipsa. nam neque mihi ea est facultas, quam tu tribuis, et si maxime esset, tamen cum otio meo negotium facesserem, publicam rem nihil promoueam. primum enim princi-pes ipsi plerique omnes militaribus studiis—quorum ego neque peritiam habeo, neque desidero—libentius occupantur, quam bonis pacis artibus, maiusque multo studium est, quibus modis per fas ac nefas noua sibi regna pariant, quam uti parta bene administrent. praeterea quicumque regibus a consilio sunt, eo-rum nemo est, qui non aut uere tantum sapit, ut non egeat, aut tantum sibi sapere uidetur, ut non libeat alterius probare consilium, nisi quod absurdissimis quibusque dictis assentiuntur et supparasitantur eorum, quos ut maxime apud principem gratiae, student assentatione demereri sibi. et certe sic est natura com-paratum, ut sua cuique inuenta blandiantur. sic et coruo suus arridet pullus, et suus simiae catulus placet.

16 Utopia

favor, whom by their fawning and flatteries they endeavour to fix to their own interests; and, indeed, nature has so made us, that we all love to be flattered and to please ourselves with our own notions: the old crow loves his young, and the ape her cubs.

¶Now if in such a court, made up of persons who envy all others and only ad-mire themselves, a person should but propose anything that he had either read in history or observed in his travels, the rest would think that the reputation of their wisdom would sink, and that their interests would be much depressed if they could not run it down: and, if all other things failed, then they would fly to this, that such or such things pleased our ancestors, and it were well for us if we could but match them. They would set up their rest on such an answer, as a sufficient confutation of all that could be said, as if it were a great misfortune that any should be found wiser than his ancestors. But though they willingly let go all the good things that were among those of former ages, yet, if better things are proposed, they cover themselves obstinately with this excuse of reverence to past times. I have met with these proud, morose, and absurd judgments of things in many places, particularly once in England.”

¶“Were you ever there?” said I. ¶“Yes, I was,” answered he, “and stayed some months there, not long after the

rebellion in the West was suppressed, with a great slaughter of the poor people that were engaged in it.

¶“I was then much obliged to that reverend prelate, John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal, and Chancellor of England; a man,” said he, “Peter (for Mr. More knows well what he was), that was not less venerable for his wisdom and virtues than for the high character he bore: he was of a middle stature, not broken with age; his looks begot reverence rather than fear; his conversation was easy, but serious and grave; he sometimes took pleasure to try the force of those that came as suitors to him upon business by speaking sharply, though decently, to them, and by that he discovered their spirit and presence of mind; with which he was much delighted when it did not grow up to impudence, as bearing a great resemblance to his own temper, and he looked on such persons as the fittest men for affairs. He spoke both gracefully and weightily; he was eminently skilled in the law, had a vast understanding, and a prodigious memory; and those excellent talents with which nature had furnished him were improved by study and experience.

¶When I was in England the King depended much on his counsels, and the Gov-ernment seemed to be chiefly supported by him; for from his youth he had been all along practised in affairs; and, having passed through many traverses of fortune, he had, with great cost, acquired a vast stock of wisdom, which is not soon lost when it is purchased so dear.

¶One day, when I was dining with him, there happened to be at table one of the English lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high commendation of the severe execution of justice upon thieves, ‘who,’ as he said, ‘were then hanged so fast that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet!’ and, upon that, he said, ‘he could not wonder enough how it came to pass that, since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left, who were still robbing in all places.’

St. Sir omas More 17

¶quod si quis in illo coetu uel alienis inuidentium, uel praeferentium sua, aliq-uid afferat, quod aut aliis temporibus factum legit, aut aliis fieri locis uidit, ibi qui audiunt, perinde agunt, ac si tota sapientiae suae periclitaretur opinio, et post illa pro stultis plane sint habendi, nisi aliquid sufficiant inuenire, quod in aliorum inuentis uertant uitio. si cetera destituant, tum huc confugiunt, haec nostris, inquiunt, placuere maioribus, quorum prudentiam utinam nos aequare-mus, itaque hoc dicto ueluti egregie perorata re considunt. tamquam magnum sit periculum, si quis ulla in re deprehendatur maioribus suis sapientior. a quibus tamen, ut quicque optime consultum est, ita aequissimo animo ualere sinimus. at si qua de re potuit consuli prudentius, eam protinus ansam cupide arreptam mordicus retinemus. itaque in haec superba, absurda, ac morosa iudicia, cum saepe alibi, tum semel in Anglia quoque incidi.

¶obsecro inquam, fuisti apud nos!¶fui inquit, atque aliquot menses ibi sum uersatus, non multo post eam cla-

dem, qua Anglorum occidentalium ciuile aduersus regem bellum miseranda ip-sorum strage compressum est.

¶interea multum debui reuerendissimo patri Ioanni Mortono Cantu-ariensi Archiepiscopo et Cardinali, ac tum quoque Angliae Cancellario, uiro mi Petre—nam Moro cognita sum narraturus—non authoritate magis, quam prudentia ac uirtute uenerabili. etenim statura ei mediocris erat, nec aetati, quamquam serae cedens. uultus quem reuereare, non horreas. in congressu non difficilis. serius tamen et grauis. libido erat asperius interdum compellando supplicantes experiri, sed sine noxa, quid ingenii, quam animi praesentiam quisque prae se ferret, qua uelut cognata sibi uirtute, modo abesset impudentia delectabatur, et ut idoneam ad res gerendas amplectebatur, sermo politus et efficax, iuris magna peritia, ingenium incomparabile, memoria ad prodigium usque excellens. haec enim natura egregia, discendo atque exer-cendo prouexit.

¶huius consiliis rex plurimum fidere, multum respublica niti—cum ego ad-eram—uidebatur. quippe qui ab prima fere iuuenta protinus a schola coniectus in aulam, maximis in negotiis per omnem uersatus aetatem, ac uariis fortunae aestibus assidue iactatus prudentiam rerum—quae sic recepta non facile elabi-tur—multis, magnisque cum periculis didicerat.

¶forte fortuna cum die quodam in eius mensa essem, laicus quidam legum uestratium peritus aderat, is nescio unde nactus occasionem, coepit accurate laudare, rigidam illam iustitiam, quae tum illic exercebatur in fures, quos passim narrabat nonnumquam suspendi uiginti in una cruce, atque eo uehementius dicebat se mirari, cum tam pauci elaberentur supplicio, quo malo fato fieret, uti tam multi tamen ubique grassarentur.

de Cardinalis Ioannis Mortoni conuiuione

18 Utopia

¶Upon this, I (who took the boldness to speak freely before the Cardinal) said, ‘There was no reason to wonder at the matter, since this way of punishing thieves was neither just in itself nor good for the public; for, as the severity was too great, so the remedy was not effectual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it ought to cost a man his life; no punishment, how severe soever, being able to restrain those from robbing who can find out no other way of livelihood. In this,’ said I, ‘not only you in England, but a great part of the world, imitate some ill masters, that are readier to chastise their scholars than to teach them. There are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves, but it were much better to make such good provisions by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and of dying for it.’

¶‘There has been care enough taken for that,’ said he; ‘there are many handicrafts, and there is husbandry, by which they may make a shift to live, unless they have a greater mind to follow ill courses.’ ‘That will not serve your turn,’ said I, ‘for many lose their limbs in civil or foreign wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago in your wars with France, who, being thus mutilated in the service of their king and country, can no more follow their old trades, and are too old to learn new ones; but since wars are only accidental things, and have intervals, let us consider those things that fall out every day.

¶There is a great number of noblemen among you that are themselves as idle as drones, that subsist on other men’s labor, on the labor of their tenants, whom, to raise their revenues, they pare to the quick. This, indeed, is the only instance of their frugality, for in all other things they are prodigal, even to the beggaring of themselves; but, besides this, they carry about with them a great number of idle fellows, who never learned any art by which they may gain their living; and these, as soon as either their lord dies, or they themselves fall sick, are turned out of doors; for your lords are readier to feed idle people than to take care of the sick; and often the heir is not able to keep together so great a family as his predecessor did. Now, when the stomachs of those that are thus turned out of doors grow keen, they rob no less keenly; and what else can they do? For when, by wandering about, they have worn out both their health and their clothes, and are tattered, and look ghastly, men of quality will not entertain them, and poor men dare not do it, knowing that one who has been bred up in idleness and pleasure, and who was used to walk about with his sword and buckler, despising all the neighborhood with an insolent scorn as far below him, is not fit for the spade and mattock; nor will he serve a poor man for so small a hire and in so low a diet as he can afford to give him.’

¶To this he answered, ‘This sort of men ought to be particularly cherished, for in them consists the force of the armies for which we have occasion; since their birth inspires them with a nobler sense of honor than is to be found among tradesmen or ploughmen.’

¶‘You may as well say,’ replied I, ‘that you must cherish thieves on the account of wars, for you will never want the one as long as you have the other; and as robbers prove sometimes gallant soldiers, so soldiers often prove brave robbers, so near an alliance there is between those two sorts of life. But this bad custom, so common among you, of keeping many servants, is not peculiar to this nation. In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people, for the whole country is full of soldiers, still

St. Sir omas More 19

¶tum ego, ausus enim sum libere apud Cardinalem loqui; nihil mireris inquam. nam haec punitio furum et supra iustum est, et non ex usu publico. est enim ad uin-dicanda furta nimis atrox, nec tamen ad refrenanda sufficiens. quippe neque furtum simplex tam ingens facinus est, ut capite debeat plecti, neque ulla poena est tanta, ut ab latrociniis cohibeat eos, qui nullam aliam artem quaerendi uictus habent. itaque hac in re non uos modo, sed bona pars huius orbis imitari uidetur malos praeceptores, qui discipulos uerberant libentius quam docent. decernuntur enim furanti grauia atque horrenda supplicia, cum potius multo fuerit prouidendum, uti aliquis esset prouentus uitae, ne cuiquam tam dira sit furandi primum, de-hinc pereundi necessitas.

¶est inquit ille, satis hoc prouisum; sunt artes mechanicae, est agricolatio, ex his tueri uitam liceat, ni sponte mali esse mallent. at non sic euades inquam. nam primum omittamus eos, qui saepe uel ab externis bellis, uel ciuilibus mutili redeunt domum, ut nuper apud uos e Cornubiensi proelio, et non ita pridem e Gallico, qui uel reipublicae impendunt membra, uel regi, quos neque pristinas artes exercere debilitas patitur, neque aetas nouam discere. hos inquam omit-tamus, quando bella per intermissas uices commeant. ea contemplemur, quae nullo die non accidunt.

¶tantus est ergo nobilium numerus, qui non ipsi modo degant otiosi tamquam fuci laboribus aliorum, quos puta suorum praediorum colonos augendis redi-tibus ad uiuum usque radunt. nam eam solam frugalitatem nouere, homines alioquin ad mendicitatem usque prodigi; uerum immensam quoque otiosorum stipatorum turbam circumferunt, qui nullam umquam quaerendi uictus artem didicere. hi simul atque herus obierit, aut ipsi aegrotauerint, eiiciuntur ilico. nam et otiosos libentius quam aegrotos alunt, et saepe morientis heres non protinus alendae sufficit paternae familiae. interim illi esuriunt strenue, nisi strenue latrocinentur. nam quid faciant! siquidem ubi errando paululum uestes ac ualetudinem attriuere, morbo iam squalidos, atque obsitos pannis, neque generosi dignantur accipere, neque audent rustici; non ignari eum qui molliter educatus in otio ac deliciis, solitus sit accinctus acinace ac cetra, totam uiciniam uultu nebulonico despicere et contemnere omnes prae se, haudquaquam ido-neum fore, qui cum ligone ac marra, maligna mercede ac uictu parco, fideliter inseruiat pauperi.

¶ad haec ille, atqui nobis inquit, hoc hominum genus in primis fouendum est. in his enim, utpote hominibus animi magis excelsi ac generosioris, quam sunt opifices aut agricolae, consistunt uires ac robur exercitus, si quando sit confli-gendum bello.

¶profecto inquam ego, eadem opera dicas licet, belli gratia fouendos esse fures, quibus haud dubie numquam carebitis, dum habebitis hos. quin neque latrones sunt instrenui milites, neque milites ignauissimi latronum, adeo inter has artes belle conuenit. at hoc uitium tamen frequens est uobis, non proprium. est enim omnium fere gentium commune. nam Gallias infestat alia praeterea pestis pesti-lentior, tota patria stipendiariis, in pace quoque—si illa pax est—oppleta atque obsessa militibus, eadem persuasione inductis, qua uos otiosos hic ministros alendos esse censuistis. nempe quod Morosophis uisum est, in eo sitam esse publicam salutem, si in promptu semper adsit ualidum, firmumque praesidium,

20 Utopia

kept up in time of peace (if such a state of a nation can be called a peace); and these are kept in pay upon the same account that you plead for those idle retainers about noblemen: this being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, that it is necessary for the public safety to have a good body of veteran soldiers ever in readiness. They think raw men are not to be depended on, and they sometimes seek occasions for making war, that they may train up their soldiers in the art of cutting throats, or, as Sallust observed, “for keeping their hands in use, that they may not grow dull by too long an intermission.”

¶But France has learned to its cost how dangerous it is to feed such beasts. The fate of the Romans, Carthaginians, and Syrians, and many other nations and cities, which were both overturned and quite ruined by those standing armies, should make others wiser; and the folly of this maxim of the French appears plainly even from this, that their trained soldiers often find your raw men prove too hard for them, of which I will not say much, lest you may think I flatter the English.

¶Every day’s experience shows that the mechanics in the towns or the clowns in the country are not afraid of fighting with those idle gentlemen, if they are not dis-abled by some misfortune in their body or dispirited by extreme want; so that you need not fear that those well-shaped and strong men (for it is only such that noble-men love to keep about them till they spoil them), who now grow feeble with ease and are softened with their effeminate manner of life, would be less fit for action if they were well bred and well employed. And it seems very unreasonable that, for the prospect of a war, which you need never have but when you please, you should maintain so many idle men, as will always disturb you in time of peace, which is ever to be more considered than war. But I do not think that this necessity of stealing arises only from hence; there is another cause of it, more peculiar to England.’

¶‘What is that?’ said the Cardinal: ¶‘The increase of pasture,’ said I, ‘by which your sheep, which are naturally

mild, and easily kept in order, may be said now to devour men and unpeople, not only villages, but towns; for wherever it is found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even those holy men, the abbots! not contented with the old rents which their farms yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do no good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns, reserving only the churches, and en-close grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them. As if forests and parks had swallowed up too little of the land, those worthy countrymen turn the best inhabited places into solitudes.

¶For when an insatiable wretch, who is a plague to his country, resolves to en-close many thousand acres of ground, the owners, as well as tenants, are turned out of their possessions by trick or by main force, or, being wearied out by ill usage, they are forced to sell them; by which means those miserable people, both men and women, married and unmarried, old and young, with their poor but numerous families (since country business requires many hands), are all forced to change their seats, not knowing whither to go; and they must sell, almost for nothing, their household stuff, which could not bring them much money, even

St. Sir omas More 21

maxime ueteranorum. neque enim confidunt inexercitatis quicquam, ut uel ideo quaerendum eis bellum sit, ne imperitos habeant milites, et homines iugulandi gratis, ne—ut habet facete Sallustius—manus aut animus incipiat per otium torpescere.

¶at quam sit perniciosum huiusmodi beluas alere, et Gallia suo malo didicit, et Romanorum, Carthaginensium, ac Syrorum, tum multarum gentium exempla declarant, quorum omnium non imperium modo, sed agros quoque, atque adeo urbes ipsas parati ipsorum exercitus aliis atque aliis occasionibus euerterunt. quam uero non magnopere necessarium, uel hinc elucescit, quod ne Galli qui-dem milites armis ab unguiculis exercitatissimi cum euocatis comparati uestris, admodum saepe gloriantur superiores sese discessisse, ut ne quid dicam amplius, ne praesentibus uidear adblandiri uobis.

¶sed nec uestri illi uel opifices urbici, uel rudes atque agrestes agricolae otio-sos generosorum stipatores creduntur ualde pertimescere, nisi aut hi quibus ad uires atque audaciam corpus contigit ineptius, aut quorum animi uis inopia rei familiaris infringitur, adeo periculum nullum est, ne quorum ualida et robusta corpora—neque enim nisi selectos dignantur generosi corrumpere—nunc uel elanguescunt otio, uel negotiis prope muliebribus emolliuntur, iidem bonis artibus instructi ad uitam, et uirilibus exercitati laboribus effeminentur. certe utcumque sese haec habet res, illud mihi nequaquam uidetur publicae rei condu-cere, in euentum belli, quod numquam habetis, nisi cum uultis, infinitam eius generis turbam alere, quod infestat pacem, cuius tanto maior haberi ratio, quam belli debeat. neque haec tamen sola est furandi necessitas. est alia magis quantum credo, peculiaris uobis.

¶quaenam est ea! inquit¶oues Cardinalis. inquam uestrae, quae tam mites esse, tamque exiguo solent

ali, nunc—uti fertur—tam edaces atque indomitae esse coeperunt, ut homines deuorent ipsos, agros, domos, oppida uastent ac depopulentur. nempe quibus-cumque regni partibus nascitur lana tenuior, atque ideo pretiosior, ibi nobiles et generosi, atque adeo Abbates aliquot sancti uiri, non his contenti reditibus, fruc-tibusque annuis, qui maioribus suis solebant ex praediis crescere, nec habentes satis, quod otiose ac laute uiuentes, nihil in publicum prosint, nisi etiam obsint, aruo nihil relinquunt, onmia claudunt pascuis, demoliuntur domos, diruunt oppida, templo dumtaxat stabulandis ouibus relicto, et tamquam parum soli perderent apud uos ferarum saltus, ac uiuaria, illi boni uiri habitationes omnes, et quicquid usquam est culti, uertunt in solitudinem.

¶ergo ut unus helluo inexplebilis ac dira pestis patriae, continuatis agris, ali-quot milia iugerum uno circumdet septo, eiiciuntur coloni. quidam suis etiam aut circumscripti fraude, aut ui oppressi exuuntur, aut fatigati iniuriis, adiguntur ad uenditionem. itaque quoquo pacto emigrant miseri, uiri, mulieres, mariti, uxores, orbi, uiduae, parentes cum paruis liberis, et numerosa magis quam di-uite familia, ut multis opus habet manibus res rustica, emigrant inquam e no-tis atque assuetis laribus, nec inueniunt quo se recipiant, supellectilem omnem haud magno uendibilem, etiam si manere possit emptorem, cum extrudi necesse est, minimo uenundant. id cum breui errando insumpserint, quid restat aliud denique, quam uti furentur, et pendeant iuste scilicet, aut uagentur atque men-

22 Utopia

though they might stay for a buyer. When that little money is at an end (for it will be soon spent), what is left for them to do but either to steal, and so to be hanged (God knows how justly!), or to go about and beg? and if they do this they are put in prison as idle vagabonds, while they would willingly work but can find none that will hire them; for there is no more occasion for country labor, to which they have been bred, when there is no arable ground left. One shepherd can look after a flock, which will stock an extent of ground that would require many hands if it were to be ploughed and reaped.

¶This, likewise, in many places raises the price of corn. The price of wool is also so risen that the poor people, who were wont to make cloth, are no more able to buy it; and this, likewise, makes many of them idle: for since the increase of pasture God has punished the avarice of the owners by a rot among the sheep, which has destroyed vast numbers of them—to us it might have seemed more just had it fell on the owners themselves. But, suppose the sheep should increase ever so much, their price is not likely to fall; since, though they cannot be called a monopoly, because they are not engrossed by one person, yet they are in so few hands, and these are so rich, that, as they are not pressed to sell them sooner than they have a mind to it, so they never do it till they have raised the price as high as possible.

¶And on the same account it is that the other kinds of cattle are so dear, because many villages being pulled down, and all country labor being much neglected, there are none who make it their business to breed them. The rich do not breed cattle as they do sheep, but buy them lean and at low prices; and, after they have fattened them on their grounds, sell them again at high rates. And I do not think that all the inconveniences this will produce are yet observed; for, as they sell the cattle dear, so, if they are consumed faster than the breeding countries from which they are brought can afford them, then the stock must decrease, and this must needs end in great scarcity;

¶and by these means, this your island, which seemed as to this particular the happiest in the world, will suffer much by the cursed avarice of a few persons: besides this, the rising of corn makes all people lessen their families as much as they can; and what can those who are dismissed by them do but either beg or rob? And to this last a man of a great mind is much sooner drawn than to the former.

¶Luxury likewise breaks in apace upon you to set forward your poverty and misery; there is an excessive vanity in apparel, and great cost in diet, and that not only in noblemen’s families, but even among tradesmen, among the farm-ers themselves, and among all ranks of persons. You have also many infamous houses, and, besides those that are known, the taverns and ale-houses are no bet-ter; add to these dice, cards, tables, football, tennis, and quoits, in which money runs fast away; and those that are initiated into them must, in the conclusion, betake themselves to robbing for a supply.

¶Banish these plagues, and give orders that those who have dispeopled so much soil may either rebuild the villages they have pulled down or let out their grounds to such as will do it; restrain those engrossings of the rich, that are as bad almost as monopolies; leave fewer occasions to idleness; let agriculture be set up again,

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dicent. quamquam tum quoque uelut errones coniiciuntur in carcerem, quod otiosi obambulent, quorum operam nemo est qui conducat, cum illi cupidissime offerant. nam rusticae rei cui assueuerunt nihil est quod agatur, ubi nihil seritur. siquidem unus opilio atque bubulcus sufficit ei terrae depascendae pecoribus, in cuius cultum, ut sementi faciendae sufficeret, multae poscebantur manus.

¶atque hac ratione fit, ut multis in locis annona multo sit carior. quin lanarum quoque adeo increuit pretium, ut a tenuioribus, qui pannos inde solent apud uos conficere, prorsus emi non possint, atque ea ratione plures ab opere ablegantur in otium. nam post aucta pascua infinitam ouium uim absumpsit tabes, uelut eorum cupiditatem ulciscente deo immissa in oues lue, quam in ipsorum capita contortam esse fuerat iustius. quod si maxime increscat ouium numerus, pretio nihil decrescit tamen. quod earum, si monopolium appellari non potest quod non unus uendit, certe oligopolium est. reciderunt enim fere in manus pauco-rum, eorundemque diuitum, quos nulla necessitas urget ante uendendi quam libet, nec ante libet quam liceat quanti libet.

¶iam cetera quoque pecorum genera, ut aeque cara sint, eadem ratio est, atque hoc etiam amplius, quod dirutis uillis, atque imminuta re rustica non sint qui foeturam curent. neque enim diuites illi, ut ouium, sic etiam armentorum foe-tus educant; sed aliunde macra empta uili, posteaquam suis pascuis pinguerint, magno reuendunt. ideoque, sicuti reor, nondum sentitur totum huius rei incom-modum. nempe adhuc his modo locis reddunt cara, ubi uendunt. ceterum ubi aliquandiu celerius extulerint illinc, quam nasci possint, tum demum ibi quo-que paulatim decrescente copia, ubi coemuntur, necesse est hic insigni laboretur inopia.

¶ita qua re uel maxime felix haec uestra uidebatur insula, iam ipsam paucorum improba cupiditas uertit in perniciem. nam haec annonae caritas in causa est, cur quisque quam possit plurimos e familia dimittat, quo quaeso nisi mendica-tum, aut quod generosis animis persuadeas facilius latrocinatum!

¶quid quod ad miseram hanc egestatem, atque inopiam adiungitur, importuna luxuries. nam et ministris nobilium, et opificibus, et ipsis propemodum rusticis, et omnibus denique ordinibus, multum est insolentis apparatus in uestibus, ni-mius in uictu luxus. iam ganea, lustra, lupanar, et aliud lupanar tabernae, uinar-iae, ceruisiariae, postremo tot improbi ludi, alea, charta, fritillus, pila, sphaera, discus, an non haec celeriter exhausta pecunia, recta suos mystas mittunt aliquo latrocinatum!

¶has perniciosas pestes eiicite, statuite, ut uillas atque oppida rustica, aut hi res-tituant qui diruere, aut ea cedant reposituris, atque aedificare uolentibus. refre-nate coemptiones istas diuitum, ac uelut monopolii exercendi licentiam. pauciores alantur otio, reddatur agricolatio, lanificium instauretur, ut sit honestum nego-tium, quo se utiliter exerceat otiosa ista turba, uel quos hactenus inopia fures fecit, uel qui nunc errones aut otiosi sunt ministri, fures nimirum utrique futuri. certe nisi his malis medemini, frustra iactetis exercitam in uindicanda furta iustitiam, nempe speciosam magis, quam aut iustam aut utilem. siquidem cum pessime sini-tis educari, et mores paulatim ab teneris annis corrumpi, puniendos uidelicet, tum demum cum ea flagitia uiri designent, quorum spem de se perpetuam a pueritia usquam praebuerant, quid aliud quaeso quam facitis fures, et iidem plectitis!

24 Utopia

and the manufacture of the wool be regulated, that so there may be work found for those companies of idle people whom want forces to be thieves, or who now, being idle vagabonds or useless servants, will certainly grow thieves at last. If you do not find a remedy to these evils it is a vain thing to boast of your severity in punishing theft, which, though it may have the appearance of justice, yet in itself is neither just nor convenient; for if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this but that you first make thieves and then punish them?’

¶“While I was talking thus, the Counsellor, who was present, had prepared an answer, and had resolved to resume all I had said, according to the formality of a debate, in which things are generally repeated more faithfully than they are answered, as if the chief trial to be made were of men’s memories.

¶‘You have talked prettily, for a stranger,’ said he, ‘having heard of many things among us which you have not been able to consider well; but I will make the whole matter plain to you, and will first repeat in order all that you have said; then I will show how much your ignorance of our affairs has misled you; and will, in the last place, answer all your arguments. And, that I may begin where I promised, there were four things—’

¶‘Hold your peace!’ said the Cardinal; ‘this will take up too much time; there-fore we will, at present, ease you of the trouble of answering, and reserve it to our next meeting, which shall be to-morrow, if Raphael’s affairs and yours can admit of it. But, Raphael,’ said he to me, ‘I would gladly know upon what reason it is that you think theft ought not to be punished by death: would you give way to it? or do you propose any other punishment that will be more useful to the public? for, since death does not restrain theft, if men thought their lives would be safe, what fear or force could restrain ill men?

¶On the contrary, they would look on the mitigation of the punishment as an invitation to commit more crimes.’ I answered, ‘It seems to me a very unjust thing to take away a man’s life for a little money, for nothing in the world can be of equal value with a man’s life: and if it be said, “that it is not for the money that one suffers, but for his breaking the law,” I must say, extreme justice is an extreme injury: for we ought not to approve of those terrible laws that make the smallest offences capital, nor of that opinion of the Stoics that makes all crimes equal; as if there were no difference to be made between the killing a man and the taking his purse, between which, if we examine things impartially, there is no likeness nor proportion. God has commanded us not to kill, and shall we kill so easily for a little money? But if one shall say, that by that law we are only forbid to kill any except when the laws of the land allow of it, upon the same grounds, laws may be made, in some cases, to allow of adultery and perjury: for God having taken from us the right of disposing either of our own or of other people’s lives, if it is pretended that the mutual consent of men in making laws can authorise man-slaughter in cases in which God has given us no example, that it frees people from the obligation of the divine law, and so makes murder a lawful action, what is this, but to give a preference to human laws before the di-vine? and, if this is once admitted, by the same rule men may, in all other things,

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¶iam me haec loquente iuris ille consultus interim se ad dicendum compo-suerat, ac statuerat secum modo illo solemni disputantium uti, qui diligentius repetunt quam respondent, adeo bonam partem laudis ponunt in memoria.

¶belle, inquit, dixisti profecto, cum sis uidelicet hospes, qui magis audire his de rebus aliquid potueris, quam exacte quicquam cognoscere, id quod ego pau-cis efficiam perspicuum. nam primum ordine recensebo quae tu dixisti. deinde ostendam quibus in rebus imposuit tibi nostrarum rerum ignoratio, postremo rationes tuas omnes diluam atque dissoluam. igitur ut a primo quod sum pol-licitus exordiar, quattuor mihi uisus es…

¶tace inquit Cardinalis; nam haud responsurus paucis uideris qui sic incipias. quamobrem leuabimus in praesenti te hac respondendi molestia, seruaturi ta-men integrum id munus tibi in proximum congressum uestrum, quem—nisi quid impediat, aut te, aut Raphaelem hunc—crastinus dies uelim referat. sed interim abs te mi Raphael perquam libenter audierim, quare tu furtum putes ultimo supplicio non puniendum quamue aliam poenam ipse statuas, quae ma-gis conducat in publicum. nam tolerandum ne tu quidem sentis. at si nunc per mortem quoque, tamen in furtum ruitur, proposita semel uitae securitate, quae uis, quis metus posset absterrere maleficos; qui mitigatione supplicii, uelut prae-mio quodam ad maleficium se inuitatos interpretarentur!

¶omnino mihi uidetur inquam pater benignissime homini uitam eripi propter ereptam pecuniam prorsus inicum esse. siquidem cum humana uita ne omni-bus quidem fortunae possessionibus paria fieri posse arbitror. quod si laesam iustitiam, si leges uiolatas, hac rependi poena dicant, haud pecuniam; quid ni merito summum illud ius, summa uocetur iniuria! nam neque legum probanda sunt tam Manliana imperia, ut sicubi in leuissimis parum obtemperetur, illico stringant gladium; neque tam Stoica scita, ut omnia peccata adeo existiment paria, uti nihil iudicent interesse, occidatne aliquis hominem, an nummum ei surripiat, inter quae—si quicquam aequitas ualet—nihil omnino simile aut af-fine. deus uetuit occidi quemquam, et nos tam facile occidimus ob ademptam pecuniolam! quod si quis interpretetur, illo dei iussu interdictam necis potes-tatem, nisi quatenus humana lex declaret occidendum, quid obstat quo minus homines eodem modo constituant inter se, quatenus stuprum admittendum sit, adulterandum, peierandum! siquidem cum deus non alienae modo, uerum etiam suae cuique mortis ius ademerit, si hominum inter se consensus de mutua cede, certis placitis consentientium, adeo debet ualere, ut illius praecepti uinculis eximat suos satellites, qui sine ullo exemplo dei, eos interemerint, quos humana sanctio iussit occidi; an non hoc pacto praeceptum illud dei tantum iuris est habiturum, quantum humana iura permiserint! ac fiet nimirum ut ad eundem modum omnibus in rebus statuant homines, quatenus diuina mandata conu-eniat obseruari. denique lex Mosaica, quamquam inclemens et aspera; nempe in seruos, et quidem obstinatos lata, tamen pecunia furtum haud morte mulctauit. ne putemus deum in noua lege clementiae; qua pater imperat filiis maiorem indulsisse nobis inuicem saeuiendi licentiam.

26 Utopia

put what restrictions they please upon the laws of God. If, by the Mosaical law, though it was rough and severe, as being a yoke laid on an obstinate and servile nation, men were only fined, and not put to death for theft, we cannot imagine, that in this new law of mercy, in which God treats us with the tenderness of a father, He has given us a greater licence to cruelty than He did to the Jews.

¶Upon these reasons it is, that I think putting thieves to death is not law-ful; and it is plain and obvious that it is absurd and of ill consequence to the commonwealth that a thief and a murderer should be equally punished; for if a robber sees that his danger is the same if he is convicted of theft as if he were guilty of murder, this will naturally incite him to kill the person whom otherwise he would only have robbed; since, if the punishment is the same, there is more security, and less danger of discovery, when he that can best make it is put out of the way; so that terrifying thieves too much provokes them to cruelty.

¶“But as to the question, ‘What more convenient way of punishment can be found?’ I think it much easier to find out that than to invent anything that is worse; why should we doubt but the way that was so long in use among the old Romans, who understood so well the arts of government, was very proper for their punish-ment? They condemned such as they found guilty of great crimes to work their whole lives in quarries, or to dig in mines with chains about them.

¶But the method that I liked best was that which I observed in my travels in Persia, among the Polylerits, who are a considerable and well-governed people: they pay a yearly tribute to the King of Persia, but in all other respects they are a free nation, and governed by their own laws: they lie far from the sea, and are environed with hills; and, being contented with the productions of their own country, which is very fruitful, they have little commerce with any other nation; and as they, according to the genius of their country, have no inclination to enlarge their borders, so their mountains and the pension they pay to the Persian, secure them from all inva-sions. Thus they have no wars among them; they live rather conveniently than with splendor, and may be rather called a happy nation than either eminent or famous; for I do not think that they are known, so much as by name, to any but their next neighbors.

¶Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not, as it is in other places, to the prince, for they reckon that the prince has no more right to the stolen goods than the thief; but if that which was stolen is no more in being, then the goods of the thieves are estimated, and restitu-tion being made out of them, the remainder is given to their wives and children; and they themselves are condemned to serve in the public works, but are neither imprisoned nor chained, unless there happens to be some extraordinary circum-stance in their crimes. They go about loose and free, working for the public: if they are idle or backward to work they are whipped, but if they work hard they are well used and treated without any mark of reproach; only the lists of them are called always at night, and then they are shut up. They suffer no other uneasiness but this of constant labor; for, as they work for the public, so they are well entertained out of the public stock, which is done differently in different places: in some places whatever is bestowed on them is raised by a charitable contribution; and, though this way may seem uncertain, yet so merciful are the inclinations of that people, that

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¶haec sunt cur non licere putem. quam uero sit absurdum, atque etiam perniciosum reipublicae furem, atque homicidam ex aequo puniri, nemo est, opinor, qui nesciat. nempe cum latro conspiciat non minus imminere discriminis dumtaxat furti damnato, quam si praeterea conuincatur homi-cidii, hac una cogitatione impellitur in caedem eius, quem alioqui fuerat tantum spoliaturus. quippe praeterquam quod deprehenso nihil sit plus peri-culi, est etiam in caede securitas maior, et maior caelandi spes sublato facinoris indice. itaque dum fures nimis atrociter studemus perterrefacere, in bonorum incitamus perniciem.

¶iam quod quaeri solet; quae punitio possit esset commodior; hoc meo iudicio haud paulo facilius est repertu; quam quae possit esse deterior. cur enim dubi-temus eam uiam utilem esse castigandis sceleribus; quam scimus olim tam diu placuisse Romanis administrandae reipublicae peritissimis! nempe hi magnorum facinorum conuictos in lapidicinas, atque fodienda metalla damnabant, perpe-tuis adseruandos uinculis.

¶quamquam ego quod ad hanc rem attinet, nullius institutum gentis magis probo, quam id quod interea dum peregrinabar, in Perside obseruatum apud uulgo dictos Polyleritas adnotaui, populum neque exiguum, neque imprudenter institutum, et nisi quod tributum quotannis Persarum pendit regi; cetera libe-rum ac suis permissum legibus. ceterum quoniam longe ab mari, montibus fere circumdati, et suae terrae nulla in re maligne contenti fructibus, neque adeunt alios saepe, neque adeuntur. tamen ex uetusto more gentis, neque fines prorogare student, et quos habent ab omni facile iniuria, et montes tuentur, et pensio quam rerum potienti persoluunt, immunes prorsus ab militia, haud perinde splendide, atque commode, felicesque magis quam nobiles, aut clari degunt. quippe ne nomine quidem opinor praeterquam conterminis admodum, satis noti.

¶ergo apud hos furti qui peraguntur, quod sustulere domino reddunt, non, quod alibi fieri solet, principi; utpote cui tantum iuris esse censent in rem fur-tiuam quantum ipsi furi; sin res perierit, pretio ex bonis furum confecto ac perso-luto tum reliquo uxoribus eorum atque liberis integro, ipsi damnantur in opera, ac nisi atrociter commissum furtum est, neque clauduntur ergastulo, neque ges-tant compedes, sed liberi, ac soluti in publicis occupantur operibus. detrectantes ac languidius gerentes sese; non tam uinculis cohercent quam excitant uerberi-bus, strenuam nauantes operam, absunt a contumeliis, noctu tantum nomina-tim censiti cubiculis includuntur. praeter assiduum laborem nihil incommodi est in uita. aluntur enim haud duriter qui publicae rei seruiunt, e publico. alibi aliter. siquidem alicubi quod impenditur in eos ex eleemosyna colligitur, atque ea uia quamquam incerta; tamen ut est ille populus misericors nulla reperitur uberior. alibi reditus quidam publici ad id destinantur. est ubi certum in eos usus tributum uiritim conferunt. quin aliquot in locis nullum publicum opus faciunt, sed ut priuatus quisque eget mercenariis, ita illorum cuiuspiam in eum diem op-eram, stata mercede conducit apud forum, paulo minoris quam quanti liberam fuerat conducturus; praeterea fas est seruilem ignauiam flagris corripere. sic fit uti numquam opere careant; et praeter uictum aliquid quoque die ab singulis publico inferatur aerario.

28 Utopia

they are plentifully supplied by it; but in other places public revenues are set aside for them, or there is a constant tax or poll-money raised for their maintenance. In some places they are set to no public work, but every private man that has occasion to hire workmen goes to the market-places and hires them of the public, a little lower than he would do a freeman. If they go lazily about their task he may quicken them with the whip. By this means there is always some piece of work or other to be done by them; and, besides their livelihood, they earn somewhat still to the public.

¶They all wear a peculiar habit, of one certain color, and their hair is cropped a little above their ears, and a piece of one of their ears is cut off. Their friends are al-lowed to give them either meat, drink, or clothes, so they are of their proper color; but it is death, both to the giver and taker, if they give them money; nor is it less penal for any freeman to take money from them upon any account: and it is also death for any of these slaves (so they are called) to handle arms. Those of every divi-sion of the country are distinguished by a peculiar mark, which it is capital for them to lay aside, to go out of their bounds, or to talk with a slave of another jurisdiction, and the very attempt of an escape is no less penal than an escape itself. It is death for any other slave to be accessory to it; and if a freeman engages in it he is condemned to slavery. Those that discover it are rewarded—if freemen, in money; and if slaves, with liberty, together with a pardon for being accessory to it; that so they might find their account rather in repenting of their engaging in such a design than in persist-ing in it.

¶These are their laws and rules in relation to robbery, and it is obvious that they are as advantageous as they are mild and gentle; since vice is not only destroyed and men preserved, but they are treated in such a manner as to make them see the necessity of being honest and of employing the rest of their lives in repairing the injuries they had formerly done to society.

¶Nor is there any hazard of their falling back to their old customs; and so little do travellers apprehend mischief from them that they generally make use of them for guides from one jurisdiction to another; for there is nothing left them by which they can rob or be the better for it, since, as they are disarmed, so the very having of money is a sufficient conviction: and as they are certainly punished if discovered, so they cannot hope to escape; for their habit being in all the parts of it different from what is commonly worn, they cannot fly away, unless they would go naked, and even then their cropped ear would betray them.

¶The only danger to be feared from them is their conspiring against the govern-ment; but those of one division and neighborhood can do nothing to any purpose unless a general conspiracy were laid amongst all the slaves of the several jurisdic-tions, which cannot be done, since they cannot meet or talk together; nor will any venture on a design where the concealment would be so dangerous and the discovery so profitable. None are quite hopeless of recovering their freedom, since by their obedience and patience, and by giving good grounds to believe that they will change their manner of life for the future, they may expect at last to obtain their liberty, and some are every year restored to it upon the good character that is given of them.

¶When I had related all this, I added that I did not see why such a method might not be followed with more advantage than could ever be expected from that severe

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¶uno quodam colore uestiuntur et omnes et soli, capillo non abraso uerum paulo supra auriculas attonso, e quarum altera paululum praescinditur. cibum cuique ab amicis dari, potumque ac sui coloris uestem, licet; pecuniam datam esse danti pariter, atque accipienti capitale, neque minus periculosum etiam homini libero quacumque de causa nummum a damnato recepisse, et seruos item—sic enim damnatos uocant—arma contingere. suos quaeque regio propria distinguit nota, quam abiecisse capitale est, ut uel extra suos conspici fines, uel cum alterius regionis seruo quicquam esse collocutum. at neque tutior fugae meditatio quam ipsa est fuga. quin conscium talis fuisse consilii in seruo nex est; in libero seruitus. contra indici praemia decreta sunt; libero pecunia, seruo libertas. utrique uero uenia atque impunitas conscientiae, ne quando persequi malum consilium quam poenitere sit tutius.

¶huius rei haec lex atque hic ordo est, quem dixi. qui quantum habeat humanita-tis et commodi, facile patet. quando sic irascitur, ut uitia perimat seruatis homini-bus, atque ita tractatis, ut bonos esse necesse sit. et quantum ante damni dederunt, tantum reliqua uita resartiant.

¶porro ne ad pristinos relabantur mores, adeo nullus est metus, ut uiatores quoque quibus iter aliquo institutum est, non aliis uiae ducibus sese tutioreis arbitrentur, quam seruis illis ad quamque regionem subinde commutatis. nempe ad perpetrandum latrocinium nihil habent usquam non importunum; manus inermes; pecunia tantum sceleris index; deprehenso parata uindicta; neque spes ulla prorsus fugiendi quoquam. quo enim pacto falleret ac tegeret fugam; homo nulla uestium parte populo similis; nisi abeat nudus! quin sic quoque fugientem proderet auricula.

¶at ne inito saltem consilio coniurent in rempublicam id demum scilicet periculum est. quasi in tantam uenire spem ulla possit uicinia non tentatis ac sollicitatis ante multarum regionum seruitiis. quae tantum absunt a facultate conspirandi; ut ne conuenire quidem; et colloqui aut salutare se mutuo liceat; ut credantur interim id consilium intrepide credituri suis; quod reticentibus pe-riculosum, prodentibus maximo esse bono sciant. cum contra nemo sit prorsus exspes, obediendo ac perferendo, bonamque de se praebendo spem, emendati-oris in posterum uitae, posse his modis fieri, ut libertatem aliquando recuperet. quippe nullo non anno restitutis aliquot commendatione patientiae.

¶haec cum dixissem atque adiecissem nihil mihi uideri causae, quare non hic modus haberi uel in Anglia possit, multo maiore cum fructu, quam illa iustitia, quam iuris ille peritus tantopere laudauerat.

30 Utopia

justice which the Counsellor magnified so much. ¶To this he answered, ‘That it could never take place in England without endan-

gering the whole nation.’ As he said this he shook his head, made some grimaces, and held his peace, while all the company seemed of his opinion.

Except the Cardinal, who said, ‘That it was not easy to form a judgment of its success, since it was a method that never yet had been tried; but if,’ said he, ‘when sentence of death were passed upon a thief, the prince would reprieve him for a while, and make the experiment upon him, denying him the privilege of a sanctuary; and then, if it had a good effect upon him, it might take place; and, if it did not succeed, the worst would be to execute the sentence on the condemned persons at last; and I do not see,’ added he, ‘why it would be either unjust, incon-venient, or at all dangerous to admit of such a delay; in my opinion the vagabonds ought to be treated in the same manner, against whom, though we have made many laws, yet we have not been able to gain our end.’

¶When the Cardinal had done, they all commended the motion, though they had despised it when it came from me, but more particularly commended what related to the vagabonds, because it was his own observation.

¶“I do not know whether it be worth while to tell what followed, for it was very ridiculous; but I shall venture at it, for as it is not foreign to this matter, so some good use may be made of it. There was a Jester standing by, that counterfeited the fool so naturally that he seemed to be really one; the jests which he offered were so cold and dull that we laughed more at him than at them, yet sometimes he said, as it were by chance, things that were not unpleasant, so as to justify the old proverb, ‘That he who throws the dice often, will sometimes have a lucky hit.’ When one of the company had said that I had taken care of the thieves, and the Cardinal had taken care of the vagabonds, so that there remained nothing but that some public provision might be made for the poor whom sickness or old age had disabled from labor,

¶‘Leave that to me,’ said the Fool, ‘and I shall take care of them, for there is no sort of people whose sight I abhor more, having been so often vexed with them and with their sad complaints; but as dolefully soever as they have told their tale, they could never prevail so far as to draw one penny from me; for either I had no mind to give them anything, or, when I had a mind to do it, I had nothing to give them; and they now know me so well that they will not lose their labor, but let me pass without giving me any trouble, because they hope for nothing—no more, in faith, than if I were a priest; but I would have a law made for sending all these beggars to monasteries, the men to the Benedictines, to be made lay-brothers, and the women to be nuns.’

¶The Cardinal smiled, and approved of it in jest, but the rest liked it in earnest. There was a divine present, who, though he was a grave morose man, yet he was so pleased with this reflection that was made on the priests and the monks that he began to play with the Fool.

¶And said to him, ‘This will not deliver you from all beggars, except you take care of us Friars.’

St. Sir omas More 31

¶sub haec ille, nempe iureconsultus, numquam inquit istud sic stabiliri queat in Anglia, ut non in summum discrimen adducat rempublicam et simul haec dicens, commouit caput, ac distorsit labrum, atque ita conticuit. et omnes qui aderant, pedibus in eius ibant sententiam.

¶tum Cardinalis non est, inquit, procliue diuinare, commodene an secus res cessura sit, nullo prorsus facto periculo. uerum si pronuntiata mortis sententia, differri executionem iubeat princeps, atque hunc experiatur morem, cohibitis asylorum priuilegiis. tum uero si res comprobetur euentu esse utilis, rectum fuerit eam stabiliri. alioqui tunc quoque afficere supplicio eos, qui sunt ante damnati, neque minus e republica fuerit, neque magis iniustum, quam si nunc idem fieret, nec ullum interea nasci ex ea re potest periculum. quin mihi certe uidentur errones quoque ad eundem posse modum non pessime tractari, in quos hactenus tam multis aeditis legibus, nihil promouimus tamen.

¶haec ubi dixit Cardinalis, quae me narrante contempserant omnes, eadem nemo non certatim laudibus est prosecutus, maxime tamen illud de erronibus, quoniam hoc ab ipso adiectum est. nescio an quae sunt secuta silere praestiterit. erant enim ridicula, sed narrabo tamen. nam non erant mala, et aliquid ad hanc rem pertinebant.

¶adstabat forte parasitus quidam, qui uideri uolebat imitari morionem, sed ita simulabat, ut propior uero esset, tam frigidis dictis captans risum, ut ipse saepi-us, quam dicta sua rideretur. excidebant homini tamen interdum quaedam, adeo non absurda, ut fidem adagio facerent, crebro iactu iaci aliquando is Venerem. ergo, dicente quodam e conuiuis, iam meo sermone bene prouisum esse furibus, atque a Cardinale etiam cautum de erronibus, restare nunc uti his praeterea con-suleretur publicitus, quos ad egestatem morbus aut senectus impulisset, atque ad labores unde uiui possit, reddidisset impotes.

¶sine, inquit, me. nam ego et hoc recte ut fiat uidero. etenim hoc genus homi-num misere cupio aliquo e conspectu amoliri meo, ita me male uexarunt saepe, cum querulis illis opplorationibus flagitarent pecuniam, quas numquam tamen tam commode potuerunt occinere, ut nummum a me extorquerent. quippe semper alterum euenit, ut aut non libeat dare, aut ne liceat quidem, quando nihil est quod detur. itaque nunc coeperunt sapere. nam ne perdant operam, ubi me praeterire uident, praetermittunt taciti, ita nihil a me sperant amplius, non hercule magis quam si essem sacerdos. sed illos ego mendicos omnes lata lege distribui ac dispartiri iubeo in Benedictinorum coenobia, et fieri laicos ut uocant monachos; mulieres moniales esse impero.

¶subrisit Cardinalis et approbat ioco, ceteri etiam serio. ceterum theologus quidam frater hoc dicto in sacerdotes ac monachos adeo est exhilaratus, ut iam ipse quoque coeperit ludere homo alioqui prope ad toruitatem grauis.

¶at ne sic quidem, inquit, extricaberis a mendicis, nisi nobis quoque prospex-eris fratribus.

32 Utopia

¶‘That is done already,’ answered the Fool, ‘for the Cardinal has provided for you by what he proposed for restraining vagabonds and setting them to work, for I know no vagabonds like you.’

¶This was well entertained by the whole company, who, looking at the Cardi-nal, perceived that he was not ill-pleased at it; only the Friar himself was vexed, as may be easily imagined, and fell into such a passion that he could not forbear railing at the Fool, and calling him knave, slanderer, backbiter, and son of per-dition, and then cited some dreadful threatenings out of the Scriptures against him. Now the Jester thought he was in his element, and laid about him freely.

¶‘Good Friar,’ said he, ‘be not angry, for it is written, “In patience possess your soul.”’

¶The Friar answered (for I shall give you his own words), ‘I am not angry, you hangman; at least, I do not sin in it, for the Psalmist says, “Be ye angry and sin not.”’

¶Upon this the Cardinal admonished him gently, and wished him to govern his passions. ‘No, my lord,’ said he, ‘I speak not but from a good zeal, which I ought to have, for holy men have had a good zeal, as it is said, “The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up;” and we sing in our church that those who mocked Elisha as he went up to the house of God felt the effects of his zeal,

‘which that mocker, that rogue, that scoundrel, will perhaps feel.’ ¶‘You do this, perhaps, with a good intention,’ said the Cardinal, ‘but, in my

opinion, it were wiser in you, and perhaps better for you, not to engage in so ridiculous a contest with a Fool.’

¶‘No, my lord,’ answered he, ‘that were not wisely done, for Solomon, the wisest of men, said, “Answer a Fool according to his folly,” which I now do, and show him the ditch into which he will fall, if he is not aware of it; for if the many mockers of Elisha, who was but one bald man, felt the effect of his zeal, what will become of the mocker of so many Friars, among whom there are so many bald men? We have, likewise, a bull, by which all that jeer us are excommunicated.’

¶When the Cardinal saw that there was no end of this matter he made a sign to the Fool to withdraw, turned the discourse another way, and soon after rose from the table, and, dismissing us, went to hear causes.

“Thus, Mr. More, I have run out into a tedious story, of the length of which I had been ashamed, if (as you earnestly begged it of me) I had not observed you to hearken to it as if you had no mind to lose any part of it. I might have con-tracted it, but I resolved to give it you at large, that you might observe how those that despised what I had proposed, no sooner perceived that the Cardinal did not dislike it but presently approved of it, fawned so on him and flattered him to such a degree, that they in good earnest applauded those things that he only liked in jest; and from hence you may gather how little courtiers would value either me or my counsels.”

¶To this I answered, “You have done me a great kindness in this relation; for as everything has been related by you both wisely and pleasantly, so you have made me imagine that I was in my own country and grown young again, by recalling that good Cardinal to my thoughts, in whose family I was bred from my childhood;

St. Sir omas More 33

¶atqui, inquit Parasitus, hoc iam curatum est. nam Cardinalis egregie prospexit uobis cum statueret de cohercendis, atque opere exercendis erronibus. nam uos estis errones maximi.

¶hoc quoque dictum, cum coniectis in Cardinalem oculis eum uiderent non abnuere, coeperunt onmes non illibenter arripere, excepto fratre. nam is—neque equidem miror—tali perfusus aceto, sic indignatus est, atque incanduit, ut nec a conuiciis quidem potuerit temperare; hominem uocauit nebulonem, detrac-torem, susurronem, et filium perditionis, minas interim terribiles citans e scrip-tura sacra. iam scurra serio scurrari coepit. et erat plane in sua palaestra.

¶noli, inquit, irasci bone frater, scriptum est, in patientia uestra possidebitis animas uestras

¶rursum frater—referam enim ipsius uerba—non irascor, inquit furcifer, uel saltem non pecco. nam Psalmista dicit, irascimini et nolite peccare.

¶admonitus deinde frater a Cardinale suauiter, ut suos affectus compesceret, non domine, inquit, ego loquor nisi ex bono zelo sicut debeo, nam uiri sancti habuerunt bonum zelum, unde dicitur: zelus domus tuae comedit me et canitur in ecclesiis: irrisores Helizei, dum conscendit domum dei, zelus calui sentiunt,

¶sicut fortasse sentiet iste derisor, scurra, ribaldus.¶facis inquit, Cardinalis bono fortassis affectu, sed mihi uideris facturus, nescio

an sanctius, certe sapientius, si te ita compares, ne cum homine stulto et ridiculo ridiculum tibi certamen instituas.

¶non domine inquit, non facerem sapientius. nam Solomon ipse sapientis-simus dicit: responde stulto secundum stultitiam eius sicut ego nunc facio, et demonstro ei foueam in quam cadet, nisi bene praecaueat. nam si multi irrisores Helizei, qui erat tantum unus caluus, senserunt zelus calui, quanto magis sentiet unus derisor multorum fratrum, in quibus sunt multi calui! et etiam habemus bullam Papalem, per quam omnes qui derident nos, sunt excommunicati.

¶Cardinalis, ubi uidit nullum fieri finem, nutu ablegato parasito, ac aliam in rem commodum uerso sermone, paulo post surgit e mensa, atque audiendis clientum negotiis dedit se, nosque dimisit.

¶en mi More, quam longo te sermone oneraui, quod tam diu facere plane puduisset me, nisi tu et cupide flagitasses, et sic uidereris audire, tamquam nolles quicquam eius confabulationis omitti, quae quamquam aliquanto perstrictius, narranda tamen mihi fuit omnino propter eorum iudicium, qui quae me dicente spreuerant, eadem rursus euestigio non improbante Cardi-nale, etiam ipsi comprobarunt, usque adeo assentantes ei, ut parasiti quoque eius inuentis, quae dominus per iocum non aspernabatur, adblandirentur et serio propemodum admitterent. ut hinc possis aestimare quanti me ac mea consilia aulici forent aestimaturi.

¶profecto mi Raphael inquam magna me affecisti uoluptate, ita sunt abs te dicta prudenter simul et lepide omnia, praeterea uisus mihi interim sum, non solum in patria uersari, uerum etiam repuerascere quodammodo iucunda recor-datione Cardinalis illius, in cuius aula puer sum educatus. cuius uiri memoriae quod tu tam impense faues, non credas mi Raphael quanto mihi sis effectus hoc nomine carior, cum esses alioqui carissimus. ceterum non possum adhuc ullo

de optimo statu reipublicae

34 Utopia

and though you are, upon other accounts, very dear to me, yet you are the dearer because you honor his memory so much; but, after all this, I cannot change my opinion, for I still think that if you could overcome that aversion which you have to the courts of princes, you might, by the advice which it is in your power to give, do a great deal of good to mankind, and this is the chief design that every good man ought to propose to himself in living; for your friend Plato thinks that nations will be happy when either philosophers become kings or kings become philoso-phers. It is no wonder if we are so far from that happiness while philosophers will not think it their duty to assist kings with their counsels.”

¶“They are not so base-minded,” said he, “but that they would willingly do it; many of them have already done it by their books, if those that are in power would but hearken to their good advice. But Plato judged right, that except kings them-selves became philosophers, they who from their childhood are corrupted with false notions would never fall in entirely with the counsels of philosophers, and this he himself found to be true in the person of Dionysius. “Do not you think that if I were about any king, proposing good laws to him, and endeavouring to root out all the cursed seeds of evil that I found in him, I should either be turned out of his court, or, at least, be laughed at for my pains?

¶For instance, what could I signify if I were about the King of France, and were called into his cabinet council, where several wise men, in his hearing, were pro-posing many expedients; as, by what arts and practices Milan may be kept, and Naples, that has so often slipped out of their hands, recovered; how the Venetians, and after them the rest of Italy, may be subdued; and then how Flanders, Brabant, and all Burgundy, and some other kingdoms which he has swallowed already in his designs, may be added to his empire? One proposes a league with the Venetians, to be kept as long as he finds his account in it, and that he ought to communicate counsels with them, and give them some share of the spoil till his success makes him need or fear them less, and then it will be easily taken out of their hands; an-other proposes the hiring the Germans and the securing the Switzers by pensions; another proposes the gaining the Emperor by money, which is omnipotent with him; another proposes a peace with the King of Arragon, and, in order to cement it, the yielding up the King of Navarre’s pretensions; another thinks that the Prince of Castile is to be wrought on by the hope of an alliance, and that some of his courtiers are to be gained to the French faction by pensions. The hardest point of all is, what to do with England; a treaty of peace is to be set on foot, and, if their alliance is not to be depended on, yet it is to be made as firm as possible, and they are to be called friends, but suspected as enemies: therefore the Scots are to be kept in readiness to be let loose upon England on every occasion; and some banished nobleman is to be supported underhand (for by the League it cannot be done avowedly) who has a pretension to the crown, by which means that suspected prince may be kept in awe.

¶Now when things are in so great a fermentation, and so many gallant men are joining counsels how to carry on the war, if so mean a man as I should stand up and wish them to change all their counsels—to let Italy alone and stay at home, since the kingdom of France was indeed greater than could be well governed by one man; that therefore he ought not to think of adding others to it.

St. Sir omas More 35

pacto meam demutare sententiam, quin te plane putem, si animum inducas tuum, uti ne ab aulis principum abhorreas, in publicum posse te tuis consiliis plurimum boni conferre. quare nihil magis incumbit tuo, hoc est boni uiri, offi-cio. siquidem cum tuus censeat Plato. respublicas ita demum futuras esse felices, si aut regnent philosophi, aut reges philosophentur, quam procul aberit felicitas, si philosophi regibus nec dignentur saltem suum impartiri consilium!

¶non sunt, inquit ille, tam ingrati, quin id libenter facerent, immo multi li-bris aeditis iam fecerunt, si ii qui rerum potiuntur essent parati, bene consul-tis parere. sed bene haud dubie praeuidit Plato, nisi reges philosophentur ipsi, numquam futurum, ut peruersis opinionibus a pueris imbuti, atque infecti peni-tus philosophantium comprobent consilia; quod ipse quoque experiebatur apud Dionysium. an non me putas, si apud aliquem regum decreta sana proponerem, et perniciosa malorum semina, conarer illi euellere, protinus aut eiiciendum aut habendum ludibrio!

¶age finge me apud regem esse Gallorum, atque in eius considere consi-lio, dum in secretissimo secessu praesidente rege ipso, in corona pruden-tissimorum hominum, magnis agitur studiis, quibus artibus ac machina-mentis Mediolanum retineat, ac fugitiuam illam Neapolim ad se retrahat; postea uero euertat Venetos, ac totam Italiam subiiciat sibi. deinde Flandros Brabantos, totam postremo Burgundiam suae faciat ditionis. atque alias praeterea gentes, quarum regnum iam olim animo inuasit. hic dum alius suadet feriendum cum Venetis foedus tantisper duraturum, dum ipsis fuerit commodum, cum illis communicandum consilium. quin deponendam quoque apud eosdem aliquam praedae partem, quam rebus ex sententia peractis repetat, dum alius consulit conducendos Germanos, alius pecunia demulcendos alius Heluetios. aduersus numen imperatoriae maiestatis, auro, uelut anathemate, propitiandum. dum alii uidetur cum Aragonum rege componendas esse res, et alieno Nauariae regno, uelut pacis authoramento cedendum; alius interim cen-set castelliae principem aliqua spe affinitatis irretiendum, atque aulicos nobi-les aliquot in suam factionem certa pensione esse pertrahendos. dum maximus omnium nodus occurrit, quid statuendum interim de Anglia sit. ceterum de pace tractandum tamen, et constringenda firmissimis uinculis, semper infirma societas, amici uocentur, suspiciantur ut inimici. habendos igitur paratos, uelut in statione Scotos, ad omnem intentos occasionem, si quid se commoueant An-gli protinus immittendos. ad haec fouendum exulem nobilem aliquem occulte, namque id aperte ne fiat prohibent foedera, qui id regnum sibi deberi contendat, ut ea uelut ansa contineat, suspectum sibi principem.

¶hic, inquam, in tanto rerum molimine, tot egregiis uiris ad bellum sua cer-tatim consilia conferentibus, si ego homuncio surgam, ac uerti iubeam uela, omittendam Italiam censeam et domi dicam esse manendum, unum Galliae reg-num fere maius esse, quam ut commode possit ab uno administrari, ne sibi putet rex de aliis adiiciendis esse cogitandum.

36 Utopia

¶And if, after this, I should propose to them the resolutions of the Achorians, a people that lie on the south-east of Utopia, who long ago engaged in war in order to add to the dominions of their prince another kingdom, to which he had some pre-tensions by an ancient alliance: this they conquered, but found that the trouble of keeping it was equal to that by which it was gained; that the conquered people were always either in rebellion or exposed to foreign invasions, while they were obliged to be incessantly at war, either for or against them, and consequently could never disband their army; that in the meantime they were oppressed with taxes, their money went out of the kingdom, their blood was spilt for the glory of their king without procuring the least advantage to the people, who received not the small-est benefit from it even in time of peace; and that, their manners being corrupted by a long war, robbery and murders everywhere abounded, and their laws fell into contempt; while their king, distracted with the care of two kingdoms, was the less able to apply his mind to the interest of either. When they saw this, and that there would be no end to these evils, they by joint counsels made an humble address to their king, desiring him to choose which of the two kingdoms he had the greatest mind to keep, since he could not hold both; for they were too great a people to be governed by a divided king, since no man would willingly have a groom that should be in common between him and another. Upon which the good prince was forced to quit his new kingdom to one of his friends (who was not long after dethroned), and to be contented with his old one.

¶To this I would add that after all those warlike attempts, the vast confusions, and the consumption both of treasure and of people that must follow them, perhaps upon some misfortune they might be forced to throw up all at last; therefore it seemed much more eligible that the king should improve his ancient kingdom all he could, and make it flourish as much as possible; that he should love his people, and be beloved of them; that he should live among them, govern them gently and let other kingdoms alone, since that which had fallen to his share was big enough, if not too big, for him:—pray, how do you think would such a speech as this be heard?”

¶“I confess,” said I, “I think not very well.” ¶“But what,” said he, “if I should sort with another kind of ministers, whose chief

contrivances and consultations were by what art the prince’s treasures might be increased? where one proposes raising the value of specie when the king’s debts are large, and lowering it when his revenues were to come in, that so he might both pay much with a little, and in a little receive a great deal. Another proposes a pretence of a war, that money might be raised in order to carry it on, and that a peace be concluded as soon as that was done; and this with such appearances of religion as might work on the people, and make them impute it to the piety of their prince, and to his tenderness for the lives of his subjects. A third offers some old musty laws that have been antiquated by a long disuse (and which, as they had been forgotten by all the subjects, so they had also been broken by them), and proposes the levying the penalties of these laws, that, as it would bring in a vast treasure, so there might be a very good pretence for it, since it would look like the executing a law and the doing of justice. A fourth proposes the prohibiting of many things under severe penalties, especially such as were against the interest of the people, and then the

St. Sir omas More 37

¶tum si illis proponerem decreta Achoriorum populi, Utopiensium insulae ad Euronoton oppositi, qui cum olim bellum gessissent, ut regi suo aliud obtinerent regnum, quod affinitatis antiquae causa sibi contendebat haereditate deberi, consecuti tandem id, ubi uiderunt nihilo sibi minus esse molestiae in retinendo, quam in quaerendo pertulerunt, uerum assidua pullulare semina, uel internae rebellionis, uel externae incursionis, in deditos ita semper aut pro illis, aut contra pugnandum, numquam dari facultatem dimittendi exercitus, compilari interim se, efferri foras pecuniam, alienae gloriolae suum impendi sanguinem, pacem nihilo tutiorem, domi corruptos bello mores, imbibitam latrocinandi libidinem, confirmatam caedibus audaciam, leges esse contemptui, quod rex in duorum curam regnorum distractus, minus in utrumuis animum posset intendere. cum uiderent alioqui tantis malis nullum finem fore, inito tandem consilio, regi suo humanissime fecerunt optionem retinendi utrius regni uellet. nam utriusque non fore potestatem, se plures esse, quam qui a dimidiato possint rege guber-nari, cum nemo sit libenter admissurus mulionem sibi cum alio communem. ita coactus est ille bonus princeps, nouo regno cuipiam ex amicis relicto—qui breui etiam post eiectus est—antiquo esse contentus.

¶praeterea si ostenderem omnes hos conatus bellorum, quibus tot nationes eius causa tumultuarentur, cum thesauros eius exhausissent, ac destruxissent popu-lum, aliqua tandem fortuna frustra cessuros tamen, proinde auitum regnum coleret, ornaret quantum posset, et faceret quam florentissimum. amet suos et ametur a suis, cum his una uiuat, imperetque suauiter, atque alia regna ualere sinat, quando id quod nunc ei contigisset, satis amplum superque esset. hanc orationem quibus auribus mi More, putas excipiendam!

¶profecto non ualde pronis inquam.¶pergamus ergo inquit, si consiliariis cum rege quopiam tractantibus, et com-

miniscentibus quibus technis ei queant coaceruare thesauros, dum unus inten-dendam consulit aestimationem monetae, cum ipsi sit eroganda pecunia. deiici-endam rursus infra iustum, cum fuerit corroganda. uti et multum aeris paruo dissoluat, et pro paruo multum recipiat; dum alius suadet ut bellum simulet, atque eo praetextu coacta pecunia cum uisum erit, faciat pacem, sanctis ceri-moniis, quo plebeculae oculis fiat praestigium, miseratus uidelicet humanum sanguinem princeps pius; dum alius ei suggerit in mentem, antiquas quasdam, et tineis adesas leges, longa desuetudine antiquatas, quas quod nemo latas me-minisset, omnes sint transgressi, earum ergo mulctas iubeat exigi, nullum uberi-orem prouentum esse, nullum magis honorificum, utpote qui iustitiae prae se personam ferat; dum ab alio admonetur, uti sub magnis mulctis multa prohi-beat, maxime talia, quae ne fiant, in rem sit populi. post pecunia cum illis dis-penset, quorum commodis obstat interdictum, sic et a populo gratiam iniri, et duplex adferri compendium, uel dum ii mulctantur, quos quaestus cupiditas pel-lexit in casses, uel dum aliis uendit priuilegia, tanto pluris, quanto scilicet fuerit melior princeps, utpote qui grauatim quicquam contra populi commodum pri-uato cuiquam indulgeat, et ob id non nisi magno pretio. dum alius ei persuadet obstringendos sibi iudices, qui quauis in re pro regio iure disceptent, accersendos praeterea in palatium, atque inuitandos uti coram se de suis rebus disserant, ita nullam causam eius tam aperte iniquam fore, in qua non aliquis eorum uel con-

38 Utopia

dispensing with these prohibitions, upon great compositions, to those who might find their advantage in breaking them. This would serve two ends, both of them acceptable to many; for as those whose avarice led them to transgress would be se-verely fined, so the selling licences dear would look as if a prince were tender of his people, and would not easily, or at low rates, dispense with anything that might be against the public good. Another proposes that the judges must be made sure, that they may declare always in favor of the prerogative; that they must be often sent for to court, that the king may hear them argue those points in which he is concerned; since, how unjust soever any of his pretensions may be, yet still some one or other of them, either out of contradiction to others, or the pride of singularity, or to make their court, would find out some pretence or other to give the king a fair color to carry the point. For if the judges but differ in opinion, the clearest thing in the world is made by that means disputable, and truth being once brought in question, the king may then take advantage to expound the law for his own profit; while the judges that stand out will be brought over, either through fear or modesty; and they being thus gained, all of them may be sent to the bench to give sentence boldly as the king would have it; for fair pretences will never be wanting when sentence is to be given in the prince’s favor. It will either be said that equity lies of his side, or some words in the law will be found sounding that way, or some forced sense will be put on them; and, when all other things fail, the king’s undoubted prerogative will be pretended, as that which is above all law, and to which a religious judge ought to have a special regard. Thus all consent to that maxim of Crassus, that a prince cannot have treasure enough, since he must maintain his armies out of it; that a king, even though he would, can do nothing unjustly; that all property is in him, not excepting the very persons of his subjects; and that no man has any other property but that which the king, out of his goodness, thinks fit to leave him. And they think it is the prince’s interest that there be as little of this left as may be, as if it were his advantage that his people should have neither riches nor liberty, since these things make them less easy and willing to submit to a cruel and unjust government. Whereas necessity and poverty blunts them, makes them patient, beats them down, and breaks that height of spirit that might otherwise dispose them to rebel.

¶Now what if, after all these propositions were made, I should rise up and assert that such counsels were both unbecoming a king and mischievous to him; and that not only his honor, but his safety, consisted more in his people’s wealth than in his own; if I should show that they choose a king for their own sake, and not for his; that, by his care and endeavours, they may be both easy and safe; and that, there-fore, a prince ought to take more care of his people’s happiness than of his own, as a shepherd is to take more care of his flock than of himself?

¶It is also certain that they are much mistaken that think the poverty of a nation is a mean of the public safety. Who quarrel more than beggars? who does more earnestly long for a change than he that is uneasy in his present circumstances? and who run to create confusions with so desperate a boldness as those who, having nothing to lose, hope to gain by them? If a king should fall under such contempt or envy that he could not keep his subjects in their duty but by oppression and ill usage, and by rendering them poor and miserable, it were certainly better for him to quit his kingdom than to retain it by such methods as make him, while he keeps the name of authority, lose the majesty due to it. Nor is it so becoming the dignity of a

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tradicendi studio, uel pudore dicendi eadem, uel quo gratiam ineant, apud eum aliquam reperiant rimam, qua possit intendi calumnia. sic dum iudicibus diuersa sentientibus, res per se clarissima disputatur, et ueritas in quaestionem uenit, ansam commodum regi dari, pro suo commodo ius interpretandi. ceteros aut pudore accessuros, aut metu, sic intrepide fertur postea pro tribunali sententia. neque enim deesse praetextus potest pronuncianti pro principe. nempe cui satis est aut aequitatem a sua parte esse, aut uerba legis, aut contortum scripti sensum, aut quae legibus denique omnibus praeponderat, apud religiosos iudices prin-cipis indisputabilem praerogatiuam. dum omnes in Crassiano illo consentiunt atque conspirant, nullam auri uim satis esse principi, cui sit alendus exercitus. praeterea nihil iniuste regem facere, ut maxime etiam uelit posse. quippe omnia omnium eius esse, ut homines etiam ipsos, tantum uero cuique esse proprium quantum regis benignitas ei non ademerit, quod ipsum ut quam minimum sit, principis multum referre, ut cuius tutamentum in eo situm sit, ne populus di-uitiis ac libertate lasciuiat, quod hae res minus patienter ferant dura atque iniusta imperia, cum contra egestas atque inopia retundat animos, ac patientes reddat, adimatque pressis generosos rebellandi spiritus.

¶hic si ego rursus adsurgens contendam haec consilia omnia regi et inhonesta esse, et perniciosa. cuius non honor modo, sed securitas quoque in populi magis opibus sita sit quam suis. quos si ostendam, regem sibi deligere sua causa, non regis, uidelicet uti eius labore ac studio ipsi commode uiuant. tutique ab iniuriis. eoque magis ad principem eam pertinere curam, ut populo bene sit suo, quam ut sibi, non aliter ac pastoris officium est, oues potius quam semet pascere, qua-tenus opilio est.

¶nam quod populi egestatem censeant pacis praesidium esse, lon-gissime aberrare eos ipsa res docet. nempe ubi plus rixarum comperias, quam inter mendicos! quis intentius mutationi rerum studet, quam cui minime placet praesens uitae status! aut cui denique audacior impetus ad conturbanda omnia, spe alicunde lucrandi, quam cui iam nihil est quod pos-sit perdere! quod si rex aliquis adeo aut contemptus esset, aut inuisus suis, ut aliter eos continere in officio non possit, nisi contumeliis, compilatione, et ec-tione grassetur, eosque redigat ad mendicitatem, praestiterit illi profecto regno abdicare, quam his retinere artibus, quibus quamquam imperii nomen, retin-eat, certe amittit maiestatem. neque enim regiae dignitatis est, imperium in mendicos exercere, sed in opulentos potius, atque felices. quod ipsum sensit certe uir erecti ac sublimis animi Fabricius, cum responderet malle se imperare diuitibus, quam diuitem esse. et profecto unum aliquem uoluptate ac deliciis fluere, gementibus undique ac lamentantibus aliis, hoc non est regni, sed carceris esse custodem. denique ut imperitissimus medicus est, qui morbum nescit nisi morbo curare, ita qui uitam ciuium non nouit alia uia corrigere, quam ademp-tis uitae commodis, is se nescire fateatur imperare liberis. quin aut inertiam potius mutet suam, aut superbiam. nam his fere uitiis accidit, ut populus eum uel contemnat, uel habeat odio. uiuat innocuus de suo, sumptus ad reditus ac-commodet, refrenet maleficia, et recta institutione suorum praeueniat potius, quam sinat increscere, quae deinde puniat, leges abrogatas consuetudine haud temere reuocet, praesertim quae diu desitae numquam desideratae sunt. neque umquam commissi nomine eiusmodi quicquam capiat, quale priuatum quem-

40 Utopia

king to reign over beggars as over rich and happy subjects. And therefore Fabricius, a man of a noble and exalted temper, said ‘he would rather govern rich men than be rich himself; since for one man to abound in wealth and pleasure when all about him are mourning and groaning, is to be a gaoler and not a king.’ He is an unskilful physician that cannot cure one disease without casting his patient into another. So he that can find no other way for correcting the errors of his people but by taking from them the conveniences of life, shows that he knows not what it is to govern a free nation. He himself ought rather to shake off his sloth, or to lay down his pride, for the contempt or hatred that his people have for him takes its rise from the vices in himself. Let him live upon what belongs to him without wronging others, and accommodate his expense to his revenue. Let him punish crimes, and, by his wise conduct, let him endeavour to prevent them, rather than be severe when he has suf-fered them to be too common. Let him not rashly revive laws that are abrogated by disuse, especially if they have been long forgotten and never wanted. And let him never take any penalty for the breach of them to which a judge would not give way in a private man, but would look on him as a crafty and unjust person for pretend-ing to it.

¶To these things I would add that law among the Macarians, a people that live not far from Utopia, by which their king, on the day on which he began to reign, is tied by an oath, confirmed by solemn sacrifices, never to have at once above a thousand pounds of gold in his treasures, or so much silver as is equal to that in value. This law, they tell us, was made by an excellent king who had more regard to the riches of his country than to his own wealth, and therefore provided against the heaping up of so much treasure as might impoverish the people. He thought that moderate sum might be sufficient for any accident, if either the king had occasion for it against the rebels, or the kingdom against the invasion of an enemy; but that it was not enough to encourage a prince to invade other men’s rights: a circumstance that was the chief cause of his making that law. He also thought that it was a good provision for that free circulation of money so necessary for the course of commerce and exchange. And when a king must distribute all those extraordinary accessions that increase treasure beyond the due pitch, it makes him less disposed to oppress his subjects. Such a king as this will be the terror of ill men, and will be beloved by all the good. “If, I say, I should talk of these or such-like things to men that had taken their bias another way, how deaf would they be to all I could say!”

¶“No doubt, very deaf,” answered I; “and no wonder, for one is never to offer propositions or advice that we are certain will not be entertained. Discourses so much out of the road could not avail anything, nor have any effect on men whose minds were prepossessed with different sentiments. This philosophical way of spec-ulation is not unpleasant among friends in a free conversation; but there is no room for it in the courts of princes, where great affairs are carried on by authority.”

¶“That is what I was saying,” replied he, “that there is no room for philosophy in the courts of princes.”

¶“Yes, there is,” said I, “but not for this speculative philosophy, that makes every-thing to be alike fitting at all times; but there is another philosophy that is more pli-able, that knows its proper scene, accommodates itself to it, and teaches a man with propriety and decency to act that part which has fallen to his share. If when one

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piam iudex, uelut inicum ac uafrum non pateretur accipere.¶hic si proponerem illis Macarensium legem, qui et ipsi non longe ad-

modum absunt ab Utopia, quorum rex quo primum die auspicatur impe-rium, magnis adhibitis sacrificiis iuriiurando astringitur, numquam se uno tempore supra mille auri pondo in thesauris habiturum, aut argenti, quan-tum eius auri pretium aequet. hanc legem ferunt ab optimo quodam rege institutam, cui maiori curae fuit patriae commodum, quam diuitiae suae, uelut obicem aceruandae pecuniae tantae, quanta faceret inopiam eius in populo. nempe eum thesaurum uidebat suffecturum, siue regi aduer-sus rebelleis, siue regno aduersus hostium incursiones esset confligendum. ceterum minorem esse quam ut animos faciat inuadendi aliena. quae potissima condendae legis causa fuit. proxima quod sic prospectum putauit, ne desit pecunia, quae in quotidiana ciuium commutatione uersetur, et cum regi necesse est erogare, quicquid thesauro supra legitimum accreuit modum, non quaesiturum censuit occasiones iniuriae. talis rex et malis erit formidini, et a bonis amabitur. haec ergo atque huiusmodi si ingererem apud homines in contrariam partem uehementer inclinatos, quam surdis essem narraturus fabulam!

¶surdissimis inquam, haud dubie. neque hercule miror, neque mihi uiden-tur—ut uere dicam—huiusmodi sermones ingerendi, aut talia danda consilia, quae certus sis numquam admissum iri. quid enim prodesse possit, aut quomodo in illorum pectus influere sermo tam insolens, quorum praeoccupauit animos, atque insedit penitus diuersa persuasio! apud amiculos in familiari colloquio non insuauis est haec philosophia scholastica. ceterum in consiliis principum, ubi res magnae magna authoritate aguntur, non est his rebus locus.

¶hoc est, inquit ille, quod dicebam non esse apud principes locum philoso-phiae.

¶immo inquam est uerum, non huic scholasticae, quae quiduis putet ubiuis conuenire, sed est alia philosophia ciuilior, quae suam nouit scenam, eique sese accommodans, in ea fabula quae in manibus est, suas partes concinne et cum decoro tutatur. hac utendum est tibi. alioquin dum agitur quaepiam Plauti co-moedia, nugantibus inter se uernulis, si tu in proscenium prodeas habitu philo-sophico, et recenseas ex Octauia locum in quo Seneca disputat cum Nerone. nonne praestiterit egisse mutam personam, quam aliena recitando talem fecisse tragicomoediam! corruperis enim, peruerterisque praesentem fabulam, dum diuersa permisces, etiam si ea quae tu affers meliora fuerint. quaecumque fabula in manu est, eam age quam potes optime. neque ideo totam perturbes, quod tibi in mentem uenit alterius, quae sit lepidior.

42 Utopia

of Plautus’ comedies is upon the stage, and a company of servants are acting their parts, you should come out in the garb of a philosopher, and repeat, out of Octavia, a discourse of Seneca’s to Nero, would it not be better for you to say nothing than by mixing things of such different natures to make an impertinent tragi-comedy? for you spoil and corrupt the play that is in hand when you mix with it things of an opposite nature, even though they are much better. Therefore go through with the play that is acting the best you can, and do not confound it because another that is pleasanter comes into your thoughts.

¶It is even so in a commonwealth and in the councils of princes; if ill opinions cannot be quite rooted out, and you cannot cure some received vice according to your wishes, you must not, therefore, abandon the commonwealth, for the same reasons as you should not forsake the ship in a storm because you cannot command the winds. You are not obliged to assault people with discourses that are out of their road, when you see that their received notions must prevent your making an im-pression upon them: you ought rather to cast about and to manage things with all the dexterity in your power, so that, if you are not able to make them go well, they may be as little ill as possible; for, except all men were good, everything cannot be right, and that is a blessing that I do not at present hope to see.”

¶“According to your argument,” answered he, “all that I could be able to do would be to preserve myself from being mad while I endeavoured to cure the madness of others; for, if I speak with, I must repeat what I have said to you; and as for lying, whether a philosopher can do it or not I cannot tell: I am sure I cannot do it. But though these discourses may be uneasy and ungrateful to them, I do not see why they should seem foolish or extravagant; indeed, if I should either propose such things as Plato has contrived in his ‘Commonwealth,’ or as the Utopians practise in theirs, though they might seem better, as certainly they are, yet they are so dif-ferent from our establishment, which is founded on property (there being no such thing among them), that I could not expect that it would have any effect on them. But such discourses as mine, which only call past evils to mind and give warning of what may follow, leave nothing in them that is so absurd that they may not be used at any time, for they can only be unpleasant to those who are resolved to run headlong the contrary way; and if we must let alone everything as absurd or ex-travagant—which, by reason of the wicked lives of many, may seem uncouth—we must, even among Christians, give over pressing the greatest part of those things that Christ hath taught us, though He has commanded us not to conceal them, but to proclaim on the housetops that which He taught in secret. The greatest parts of His precepts are more opposite to the lives of the men of this age than any part of my discourse has been, but the preachers seem to have learned that craft to which you advise me: for they, observing that the world would not willingly suit their lives to the rules that Christ has given, have fitted His doctrine, as if it had been a leaden rule, to their lives, that so, some way or other, they might agree with one another. But I see no other effect of this compliance except it be that men become more secure in their wickedness by it; and this is all the success that I can have in a court, for I must always differ from the rest, and then I shall signify nothing; or, if I agree with them, I shall then only help forward their madness.

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¶sic est in republica sic in consultationibus principum. si radicitus euelli non possint opiniones prauae, nec receptis usu uitiis mederi queas, ex animi tui sen-tentia, non ideo tamen deserenda respublica est, et in tempestate nauis destitu-enda est, quoniam uentos inhibere non possis. at neque insuetus et insolens sermo inculcandus, quem scias apud diuersa persuasos pondus non habiturum, sed obliquo ductu conandum est, atque adnitendum tibi, uti pro tua uirili om-nia tractes commode. et quod in bonum nequis uertere, efficias saltem, ut sit quam minime malum. nam ut omnia bene sint, fieri non potest, nisi omnes boni sint, quod ad aliquot abhinc annos adhuc non expecto.

¶hac, inquit, arte nihil fieret aliud, quam ne dum aliorum furori mederi studeo, ipse cum illis insaniam. nam si uera loqui uolo, talia loquar necesse est. ceterum falsa loqui, sitne philosophi nescio, certe non est meum. qua-mquam ille meus sermo ut fuerit fortasse ingratus illis, atque molestus, ita non uideo cur uideri debeat usque ad ineptias insolens. quod si aut ea dice-rem, quae fingit Plato in sua republica aut ea quae faciunt Utopienses in sua, haec quamquam essent, ut certe sunt, meliora, tamen aliena uideri pos-sint, quod hic singulorum priuatae sunt possessiones, illic omnia sunt communia. mea uero oratio—nisi quod ad eos qui statuissent secum, ruere diuersa uia praecipites, iucundus esse non potest, qui reuocet ac praemon-stret pericula—alioquin quid habuit, quod non ubiuis dici, uel conueniat, uel oporteat! equidem si omittenda sunt omnia tamquam insolentia atque absurda, quaecumque peruersi mores hominum fecerunt, ut uideri possint aliena, dis-simulemus oportet, apud Christianos, pleraque omnia quae Christus docuit, ac dissimulari usqueadeo uetuit, ut ea quoque quae ipse in aures insusurrasset suis, palam in tectis iusserit praedicari. quorum maxima pars ab istis moribus longe est alienior, quam mea fuit oratio. nisi quod concionatores homines cal-lidi, tuum illud consilium secuti puto, quando mores suos homines ad Christi normam grauatim paterentur aptari, doctrinam eius uelut regulam plumbeam accommodauerunt ad mores, ut aliquo saltem pacto coniungerentur scilicet. qua re nihil uideo quid profecerint, nisi ut securius liceat esse malos, atque ipse pro-fecto tantumdem proficiam in consiliis principum.

44 Utopia

¶I do not comprehend what you mean by your ‘casting about,’ or by ‘the bending and handling things so dexterously that, if they go not well, they may go as little ill as may be;’ for in courts they will not bear with a man’s holding his peace or con-niving at what others do: a man must barefacedly approve of the worst counsels and consent to the blackest designs, so that he would pass for a spy, or, possibly, for a traitor, that did but coldly approve of such wicked practices; and therefore when a man is engaged in such a society, he will be so far from being able to mend mat-ters by his ‘casting about,’ as you call it, that he will find no occasions of doing any good—the ill company will sooner corrupt him than be the better for him; or if, notwithstanding all their ill company, he still remains steady and innocent, yet their follies and knavery will be imputed to him; and, by mixing counsels with them, he must bear his share of all the blame that belongs wholly to others.

¶“It was no ill simile by which Plato set forth the unreasonableness of a philoso-pher’s meddling with government. ‘If a man,’ says he, ‘were to see a great company run out every day into the rain and take delight in being wet—if he knew that it would be to no purpose for him to go and persuade them to return to their houses in order to avoid the storm, and that all that could be expected by his going to speak to them would be that he himself should be as wet as they, it would be best for him to keep within doors, and, since he had not influence enough to correct other people’s folly, to take care to preserve himself.’

¶“Though, to speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely own that as long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily: not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to be absolutely miserable.

¶Therefore, when I reflect on the wise and good constitution of the Utopians, among whom all things are so well governed and with so few laws, where virtue hath its due reward, and yet there is such an equality that every man lives in plen-ty—when I compare with them so many other nations that are still making new laws, and yet can never bring their constitution to a right regulation; where, not-withstanding every one has his property, yet all the laws that they can invent have not the power either to obtain or preserve it, or even to enable men certainly to dis-tinguish what is their own from what is another’s, of which the many lawsuits that every day break out, and are eternally depending, give too plain a demonstration.

¶When, I say, I balance all these things in my thoughts, I grow more favorable to Plato, and do not wonder that he resolved not to make any laws for such as would not submit to a community of all things; for so wise a man could not but foresee that the setting all upon a level was the only way to make a nation happy; which cannot be obtained so long as there is property, for when every man draws to him-self all that he can compass, by one title or another, it must needs follow that, how plentiful soever a nation may be, yet a few dividing the wealth of it among them-selves, the rest must fall into indigence. So that there will be two sorts of people among them, who deserve that their fortunes should be interchanged—the former useless, but wicked and ravenous; and the latter, who by their constant industry serve the public more than themselves, sincere and modest men.

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¶nam aut diuersa sentiam, quod perinde fuerit, ac si nihil sentiam, aut eadem, et ipsorum adiutor sim, ut inquit Micio Terentianus, insaniae. nam obliquus ille ductus tuus non uideo quid sibi uelit, quo censes adnitendum, si non pos-sint omnia reddi bona, tamen ut tractentur commode, fiantque, quoad licet, quam minime mala. quippe non est ibi dissimulandi locus, nec licet conniuere. approbanda sunt aperte pessima consilia, et decretis pestilentissimis subscriben-dum est. speculatoris uice fuerit, ac pene proditoris, etiam qui improbe consulta maligne laudauerit. porro nihil occurrit, in quo prodesse quicquam possis, in eos delatus collegas, qui uel optimum uirum facilius corruperint, quam ipsi cor-rigantur, quorum peruersa consuetudine uel deprauaberis, uel ipse integer atque innocens, alienae malitiae, stultitiaeque praetexeris, tantum abest ut aliquid pos-sit in melius obliquo illo ductu conuertere.

¶quam ob rem pulcherrima similitudine declarat Plato, cur merito sapientes abstineant a capessenda quippe republica. cum populum uideant in plateas ef-fusum assiduis imbribus perfundi, nec persuadere queant illis, ut se subducant pluuiae, tectaque subeant. gnari nihil profuturos sese si exeant, quam ut una compluantur, semet intra tecta continent habentes satis, quando alienae stulti-tiae non possunt mederi, si ipsi saltem sint in tuto.

¶quamquam profecto mi More—ut ea uere dicam, quae meus animus fert—mihi uidetur ubicumque priuatae sunt possessiones, ubi omnes omnia pecuniis metiuntur, ibi uix umquam posse fieri, ut cum republica aut iuste agatur, aut prospere, nisi uel ibi sentias agi iuste, ubi optima quaeque perueniunt ad pes-simos, uel ibi feliciter, ubi omnia diuiduntur in paucissimos, nec illos habitos undecumque commode, ceteris uero plane miseris.

¶quam ob rem cum apud animum meum reputo, prudentissima atque sanctissima instituta Utopiensium, apud quos tam paucis legibus, tam com-mode res administrantur, ut et uirtuti pretium sit, et tamen aequatis rebus omnia abundent omnibus, tum ubi his eorum moribus ex aduerso comparo, tot nationes alias, semper ordinantes, nec ullam satis ordinatam umquam, earum omnium in quibus quod quisque nactus fuerit, suum uocat priuatum, quorum tam multae indies conditae leges non sufficiunt, uel ut consequatur quisquam, uel ut tueatur, uel ut satis internoscat ab alieno, illud quod suum inuicem quisque priuatum nominat, id quod facile indicant infinita illa tam assidue nascentia, quam numquam finienda litigia.

¶haec inquam, dum apud me considero, aequior Platoni fio, minusque demiror, dedignatum illis leges ferre ullas, qui recusabant eas quibus ex aequo omnes omnia partirentur commoda. siquidem facile praeuidit homo prudentis-simus, unam atque unicam illam esse uiam ad salutem publicam, si rerum indi-catur aequalitas, quae nescio an umquam possit obseruari, ubi sua sunt singu-lorum propria. nam cum certis titulis, quisque quantum potest, ad se conuertit, quantacumque fuerit rerum copia, eam omnem pauci inter se partiti, reliquis relinquunt inopiam, fereque accidit, ut alteri sint alterorum sorte dignissimi, cum illi sint rapaces, improbi atque inutiles, contra hi modesti uiri, ac simplices, et cotidiana industria, in publicum quam in semet benigniores.

46 Utopia

¶From whence I am persuaded that till property is taken away, there can be no equitable or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily governed; for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and the far best part of mankind, will be still oppressed with a load of cares and anxieties. I confess, without taking it quite away, those pressures that lie on a great part of mankind may be made lighter, but they can never be quite removed.

¶For if laws were made to determine at how great an extent in soil, and at how much money, every man must stop—to limit the prince, that he might not grow too great; and to restrain the people, that they might not become too insolent—and that none might factiously aspire to public employments, which ought neither to be sold nor made burdensome by a great expense, since otherwise those that serve in them would be tempted to reimburse themselves by cheats and violence, and it would become necessary to find out rich men for undergoing those employments, which ought rather to be trusted to the wise.

¶These laws, I say, might have such effect as good diet and care might have on a sick man whose recovery is desperate; they might allay and mitigate the disease, but it could never be quite healed, nor the body politic be brought again to a good habit as long as property remains; and it will fall out, as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore you will provoke another, and that which removes the one ill symptom produces others, while the strengthening one part of the body weakens the rest.”

¶“On the contrary,” answered I, “it seems to me that men cannot live convenient-ly where all things are common. How can there be any plenty where every man will excuse himself from labor? for as the hope of gain doth not excite him, so the con-fidence that he has in other men’s industry may make him slothful. If people come to be pinched with want, and yet cannot dispose of anything as their own, what can follow upon this but perpetual sedition and bloodshed, especially when the rever-ence and authority due to magistrates falls to the ground? for I cannot imagine how that can be kept up among those that are in all things equal to one another.”

¶“I do not wonder,” said he, “that it appears so to you, since you have no notion, or at least no right one, of such a constitution; but if you had been in Utopia with me, and had seen their laws and rules, as I did, for the space of five years, in which I lived among them, and during which time I was so delighted with them that indeed I should never have left them if it had not been to make the discovery of that new world to the Europeans, you would then confess that you had never seen a people so well constituted as they.”

¶“You will not easily persuade me,” said Peter, “that any nation in that new world is better governed than those among us; for as our understandings are not worse than theirs, so our government (if I mistake not) being more ancient, a long prac-tice has helped us to find out many conveniences of life, and some happy chances have discovered other things to us which no man’s understanding could ever have invented.”

¶“As for the antiquity either of their government or of ours,” said he, “you cannot pass a true judgment of it unless you had read their histories; for, if they are to be believed, they had towns among them before these parts were so much as inhabited; and as for those discoveries that have been either hit on by chance or made by inge-

St. Sir omas More 47

¶adeo mihi certe persuadeo, res aequabili ac iusta aliqua ratione distribui, aut feliciter agi cum rebus mortalium, nisi sublata prorsus proprietate, non posse. sed manente illa, mansuram semper apud multo maximam, multoque optimam hominum partem, egestatis et erumnarum anxiam atque ineuitabilem sarcinam. quam ut fateor leuari aliquantulum posse, sic tolli plane contendo non posse.

¶nempe si statuatur ne quis supra certum agri modum possideat, et uti sit legitimus cuique census pecuniae, si fuerit legibus quibusdam cautum, ut neque sit princeps nimium potens, neque populus nimis insolens, tum mag-istratus ne ambiantur, neu dentur uenum, aut sumptus in illis fieri sit necesse, alioquin et occasio datur per fraudem ac rapinas sarciendae pecuniae, et fit ne-cessitas eis muneribus praeficiendi diuites, quae potius fuerant administranda prudentibus.

¶talibus inquam legibus, quemadmodum aegra assiduis solent fomentis fulciri corpora deploratae ualetudinis, ita haec quoque mala leniri queant, ac mitigari. ut sanentur uero atque in bonum redeant habitum, nulla omnino spes est, dum sua cuique sunt propria. quin dum unius partis curae studes, aliarum uulnus ex-asperaueris, ita mutuo nascitur ex alterius medela alterius morbus, quando nihil sic adiici cuiquam potest, ut non idem adimatur alii.

¶at mihi inquam contra uidetur, ibi numquam commode uiui posse, ubi om-nia sint communia. nam quo pacto suppetat copia rerum, unoquoque ab labore subducente se! utpote quem neque sui quaestus urget ratio, et alienae industriae fiducia reddit segnem. at cum et stimulentur inopia, neque quod quisquam fue-rit nactus, id pro suo tueri ulla possit lege, an non necesse est perpetua caede ac seditione laboretur! sublata praesertim authoritate ac reuerentia magistratuum, cui quis esse locus possit, apud homines taleis, quos inter nullum discrimen est, ne comminisci quidem queo.

¶non miror inquit, sic uideri tibi, quippe cui eius imago rei, aut nulla succur-rit, aut falsa. uerum si in Utopia fuisses mecum, moresque eorum atque instituta uidisses praesens, ut ego feci, qui plus annis quinque ibi uixi, neque umquam uoluissem inde discedere, nisi ut nouum illum orbem proderem, tum plane faterere, populum recte institutum nusquam alibi te uidisse quam illic.

¶atqui profecto inquit Petrus Aegidius, aegre persuadeas mihi, melius insti-tutum populum in nouo illo, quam in hoc noto nobis orbe reperiri, ut in quo neque deteriora ingenia, et uetustiores opinor esse, quam in illo respublicas et in quibus plurima ad uitam commoda longus inuenit usus, ut ne adiiciam apud nos casu reperta quaedam, quibus excogitandis nullum potuisset ingenium suf-ficere.

¶quod ad uetustatem, inquit ille, rerum attinet publicarum, tum pronunciare posses rectius, si historias illius orbis perlegisses, quibus si fides haberi debet, pri-us apud eos erant urbes, quam homines apud nos. iam uero quicquid hactenus uel ingenium inuenit, uel casus repperit, hoc utrobique potuit extitisse. ceterum ego certe puto, ut illis praestemus ingenio, studio tamen atque industria longe a tergo relinquimur. nam—ut ipsorum habent annales—ante appulsum illuc nostrum de rebus nostris—quos illi uocant ultraequinoctialeis—nihil umquam quicquam audierant, nisi quod olim annis ab hinc ducentis supra mille, nauis quaedam apud insulam Utopiam naufragio periit, quam tempestas eo detulerat.

48 Utopia

nious men, these might have happened there as well as here. I do not deny but we are more ingenious than they are, but they exceed us much in industry and application. They knew little concerning us before our arrival among them. They call us all by a general name of ‘The nations that lie beyond the equinoctial line;’ for their chronicle mentions a shipwreck that was made on their coast twelve hundred years ago, and that some Romans and Egyptians that were in the ship, getting safe ashore, spent the rest of their days amongst them.

¶And such was their ingenuity that from this single opportunity they drew the ad-vantage of learning from those unlooked-for guests, and acquired all the useful arts that were then among the Romans, and which were known to these shipwrecked men; and by the hints that they gave them they themselves found out even some of those arts which they could not fully explain, so happily did they improve that accident of having some of our people cast upon their shore. But if such an accident has at any time brought any from thence into Europe, we have been so far from improving it that we do not so much as remember it, as, in aftertimes perhaps, it will be forgot by our people that I was ever there; for though they, from one such ac-cident, made themselves masters of all the good inventions that were among us, yet I believe it would be long before we should learn or put in practice any of the good institutions that are among them. And this is the true cause of their being better governed and living happier than we, though we come not short of them in point of understanding or outward advantages.” Upon this I said to him, “I earnestly beg you would describe that island very particularly to us; be not too short, but set out in order all things relating to their soil, their rivers, their towns, their people, their manners, constitution, laws, and, in a word, all that you imagine we desire to know; and you may well imagine that we desire to know everything concerning them of which we are hitherto ignorant.”

¶“I will do it very willingly,” said he, “for I have digested the whole matter care-fully, but it will take up some time.”

¶“Let us go, then,” said I, “first and dine, and then we shall have leisure enough.” ¶He consented; we went in and dined. ¶And after dinner came back and sat down in the same place. I ordered my ser-

vants to take care that none might come and interrupt us, and both Peter and I desired Raphael to be as good as his word. When he saw that we were very intent upon it he paused a little to recollect himself, and began in this manner:—

end of book one

St. Sir omas More 49

eiecti sunt in litus Romani quidam, atque Aegyptii, qui postea numquam inde discessere.

¶hanc unam occasionem, uide quam commodam illis sua fecit industria. nihil artis erat intra Romanum imperium, unde possit aliquis esse usus, quod non illi aut ab expositis hospitibus didicerint, aut acceptis quaerendi seminibus adinu-enerint. tanto bono fuit illis aliquos hinc semel illuc esse delatos. at si qua similis fortuna quempiam antehac illinc huc perpulerit, tam penitus hoc obliteratum est, quam istud quoque forsan excidet posteris, me aliquando illic fuisse. et ut illi uno statim congressu quicquid a nobis commode inuentum est, fecerunt suum; sic diu futurum puto, priusquam nos accipiamus quicquam quod apud illos melius quam nobis est institutum. quod unum maxime esse reor in causa, cur cum neque ingenio, neque opibus inferiores simus eis, ipsorum tamen res quam nostra prudentius administretur, et felicius efflorescat.

¶ergo mi Raphael inquam, quaeso te atque obsecro, describe nobis insulam. nec uelis esse breuis, sed explices ordine, agros, fluuios, urbes, homines, mo-res, instituta, leges, ac denique omnia, quae nos putes uelle cognoscere. putabis autem uelle quicquid adhuc nescimus.

¶nihil inquit faciam libentius. nam haec in promptu habeo. sed res otium pos-cit.

¶eamus ergo inquam intro pransum, mox tempus nostro arbitratu sumemus.¶fiat inquit. ita ingressi prandemus.¶pransi, in eundem reuersi locum, in eodem sedili consedimus, ac iussis minis-

tris ne quis interpellaret, ego ac Petrus Aegidius hortamur Raphaelem, ut praestet quod erat pollicitus. is ergo ubi nos uidit intentos, atque auidos audiendi, cum paulisper tacitus et cogitabundus assedisset, hunc in modum exorsus est.

primi libri finis

50 UtopiaDISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY ON THE BEST SORT OF COMMMONWEALTH

BOOK TWO

AS TOLD TO THOMAS MORE, CITIZEN AND UNDERSHERRIF

The island of Utopia is in the middle two hundred miles broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a great part of it, but it grows narrower towards both ends. Its figure is not unlike a crescent. Between its horns the sea comes in eleven miles broad, and spreads itself into a great bay, which is environed with land to the compass of about five hundred miles, and is well secured from winds. In this bay there is no great current; the whole coast is, as it were, one continued harbour, which gives all that live in the island great convenience for mutual commerce. But the entry into the bay, occasioned by rocks on the one hand and shallows on the other, is very dangerous. In the middle of it there is one single rock which appears above water, and may, therefore, easily be avoided; and on the top of it there is a tower, in which a garrison is kept; the other rocks lie under water, and are very dangerous. The channel is known only to the natives; so that if any stranger should enter into the bay without one of their pilots he would run great danger of shipwreck. For even they themselves could not pass it safe if some marks that are on the coast did not direct their way; and if these should be but a little shifted, any fleet that might come against them, how great soever it were, would be certainly lost. On the other side of the island there are likewise many harbours; and the coast is so fortified, both by nature and art, that a small number of men can hinder the descent of a great army.

¶But they report (and there remains good marks of it to make it credible) that this was no island at first, but a part of the continent. Utopus, that conquered it (whose name it still carries, for Abraxa was its first name), brought the rude and uncivilised inhabitants into such a good government, and to that measure of politeness, that they now far excel all the rest of mankind. Having soon subdued them, he designed to sepa-rate them from the continent, and to bring the sea quite round them. To accomplish this he ordered a deep channel to be dug, fifteen miles long; and that the natives might not think he treated them like slaves, he not only forced the inhabitants, but also his own soldiers, to labor in carrying it on. As he set a vast number of men to work, he, beyond all men’s expectations, brought it to a speedy conclusion. And his neighbors, who at first laughed at the folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought to perfec-tion than they were struck with admiration and terror.

¶“There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well built, the manners, cus-toms, and laws of which are the same, and they are all contrived as near in the same manner as the ground on which they stand will allow. The nearest lie at least twenty-four miles’ distance from one another, and the most remote are not so far distant but that a man can go on foot in one day from it to that which lies next it.

¶Every city sends three of their wisest senators once a year to Amaurot, to consult about their common concerns; for that is the chief town of the island, being situated

“The

St. Sir omas More 51SERMONIS QUEM RAPHAEL HYTHLODAEUS DE OPTIMO REIPUBLICAE STATU HABUIT

LIBER SECUNDUS

PER THOMAM MORUM CIUEM ET UICECOMITEM LONDINENSEM.

Utopiensium insula in media sui parte—nam hac latissima est—milia passuum ducenta porrigitur, magnumque per insulae spatium non mul-to angustior, fines uersus paulatim utrimque tenuatur. hi uelut circum-ducti circino quingentorum ambitu milium, insulam totam in lunae speciem renascentis effigiant. cuius cornua fretum interfluens, milibus passuum plus minus undecim dirimit, ac per ingens inane diffusum, circumiectu undique terrae prohibitis uentis, uasti in morem lacus stagnans ma-gis quam saeuiens, omnem prope eius terrae aluum pro portu facit. magnoque hominum usu naues quaqua uersus transmittit. fauces hinc uadis, inde saxis formidolosae. in medio ferme interstitio una rupes eminet, eoque innoxia, cui inaedificatam turrim praesidio tenent, ceterae latentes et insidiosae. canales solis ipsis noti, atque ideo non temere accidit, uti exterus quisquam hunc in sinum, nisi Utopiano duce, penetret, ut in quem uix ipsis tutus ingressus est, nisi sig-nis quibusdam e litore uiam regentibus. his in diuersa translatis loca, hostium quamlibet numerosam classem facile in perniciem traherent. ab altera parte non infrequentes portus. at ubique descensus in terram ita natura munitus, aut arte, ut ingentes copiae paucis inde queant propugnatoribus arceri.

¶ceterum uti fertur, utique ipsa loci facies prae se fert, ea tellus olim non am-biebatur mari. sed Utopus cuius utpote uictoris nomen refert insula, nam ante id temporis Abraxa dicebatur, quique rudem atque agrestem turbam ad id quo nunc ceteros prope mortales antecellit cultus, humanitatisque perduxit, primo protinus appulsu uictoria potitus, passuum milia quindecim, qua parte tel-lus continenti adhaesit, exscindendum curauit, ac mare circum terram duxit. cumque ad id operis non incolas modo coegisset—ne contumeliae loco laborem ducerent—sed suos praeterea milites omnes adiungeret, in tantam hominum multitudinem opere distributo incredibili celeritate res perfecta, finitimos—qui initio uanitatem incoepti riserant—admiratione successus ac terrore perculerit.

¶insula ciuitates habet quattuor et quinquaginta spatiosas omnes ac magnificas lingua, moribus, institutis, legibus, prorsus iisdem, idem situs omnium, eadem ubique quatenus per locum licet, rerum facies. harum quae proximae inter se sunt milia quattuor ac uiginti separant. nulla rursus est tam deserta, e qua non ad aliam urbem pedibus queat unius itinere diei perueniri.

¶ciues quaque ex urbe terni senes ac rerum periti tractatum de rebus insu-lae communibus, quotannis conueniunt nam Amaurotum.—ea urbs quod tamquam in umbilico terrae sita maxime iacet omnium partium legatis oppor-tuna—prima, princepsque habetur.

Raphaelis sermo pomeridianus

de Utopiensium insula

52 Utopia

near the centre of it, so that it is the most convenient place for their assemblies. ¶The jurisdiction of every city extends at least twenty miles, and, where the towns lie

wider, they have much more ground. No town desires to enlarge its bounds, for the people consider themselves rather as tenants than landlords.

¶They have built, over all the country, farmhouses for husbandmen, which are well contrived, and furnished with all things necessary for country labor. Inhabitants are sent, by turns, from the cities to dwell in them; no country family has fewer than forty men and women in it, besides two slaves. There is a master and a mistress set over every family, and over thirty families there is a magistrate. Every year twenty of this family come back to the town after they have stayed two years in the country, and in their room there are other twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country work from those that have been already one year in the country, as they must teach those that come to them the next from the town. By this means such as dwell in those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so commit no errors which might other-wise be fatal and bring them under a scarcity of corn. But though there is every year such a shifting of the husbandmen to prevent any man being forced against his will to follow that hard course of life too long, yet many among them take such pleasure in it that they desire leave to continue in it many years.

¶These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns either by land or water, as is most convenient. They breed an infinite multitude of chickens in a curious manner; for the hens do not sit and hatch them, but a vast number of eggs are laid in a gentle and equal heat in order to be hatched, and they are no sooner out of the shell, and able to stir about, but they seem to consider those that feed them as their mothers, and follow them as other chickens do the hen that hatched them. They breed very few horses, but those they have are full of mettle, and are kept only for exercising their youth in the art of sitting and riding them; for they do not put them to any work, either of ploughing or carriage, in which they employ oxen. For though their horses are stronger, yet they find oxen can hold out longer; and as they are not subject to so many diseases, so they are kept upon a less charge and with less trouble. And even when they are so worn out that they are no more fit for labor, they are good meat at last.

¶They sow no corn but that which is to be their bread; for they drink either wine, cider or perry, and often water, sometimes boiled with honey or liquorice, with which they abound; and though they know exactly how much corn will serve every town and all that tract of country which belongs to it, yet they sow much more and breed more cattle than are necessary for their consumption, and they give that overplus of which they make no use to their neighbors.

¶When they want anything in the country which it does not produce, they fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it given them; for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a festival day.

¶When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the country send to those in the towns and let them know how many hands they will need for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one day.

St. Sir omas More 53

¶agri ita commode ciuitatibus assignati sunt, ut ab nulla parte minus soli quam duodecim passuum milia una quaeuis habeat. ab aliqua multo etiam am-plius, uidelicet qua parte longius urbes inter se disiunguntur. nulli urbi cupido promouendorum finium. quippe quos habent agricolas magis eorum se, quam dominos putant.

¶habent ruri per omnes agros commode dispositas domos, rusticis instru-mentis instructas. hae habitantur ciuibus per uices eo commigrantibus. nulla familia rustica in uiris mulieribusque pauciores habet, quam quadraginta praeter duos ascriptitios seruos, quibus pater materque familias graues ac maturi prae-ficiuntur, et singulis tricenis familiis phylarchus unus. e quaque familia uiginti quotannis in urbem remigrant, hi qui biennium ruri compleuere. in horum locum totidem recentes ex urbe subrogantur, ut ab his qui annum ibi fuere. atque ideo rusticarum peritiores rerum, instituantur, alios anno sequente doc-turi, ne si pariter omnes ibi noui, agricolationisque rudes essent, aliquid in annona per imperitiam peccaretur. is innouandorum agricolarum mos, et si solemnis sit, ne quisquam inuitus asperiorem uitam cogatur continuare diu-tius, multi tamen quos rusticae rei studium natura delectat, plures sibi annos impetrant.

¶agricolae terram colunt, nutriunt animalia, ligna comparant, atque in urbem qua commodum est, terra, mariue conuehunt. pullorum infinitam educant mul-titudinem, mirabili artificio. neque enim incubant oua gallinae, sed magnum eorum numerum calore quodam aequabili fouentes animant, educantque, hi simul atque e testa prodiere, homines, uice matrum comitantur, et agnoscunt. equos alunt perquam paucos, nec nisi ferocientes, neque alium in usum quam exercendae rebus equestribus iuuentuti. nam omnem, seu colendi, seu uehendi laborem, boues obeunt, quos—ut fatentur—equis impetu cedere, sic patientia uincere, nec tot obnoxios morbis putant, ad haec minore impendio, et operae, et sumptus ali, ac denique laboribus emeritos, in cibum tandem usui esse.

¶semente in solum panem utuntur. nam aut uuarum uinum bibunt, aut po-morum, pirorumue, aut denique aquam nonnumquam meram, saepe etiam, qua mel, aut glycyrizam incoxerint, cuius haud exiguam habent copiam.

¶cum exploratum habeant—habent enim certissimum—quantum annonae consumat urbs, et circumiectus urbi conuentus, tamen multo amplius et se-mentis faciunt, et pecudum educant, quam quod in suos usus sufficiat, relicum impartituri finitimis. quibuscumque rebus opus est, quae res ruri non habentur, eam suppellectilem omnem ab urbe petunt, et sine ulla rerum commutatione, a magistratibus urbanis nullo negotio consequuntur. nam illo singulo quoque mense, plerique ad festum diem conueniunt.

¶cum frumentandi dies instat, magistratibus urbanis agricolarum phylarchi denunciant, quantum ciuium numerum ad se mitti conueniat, quae multitudo frumentatorum, cum ad ipsum diem opportune adsit, uno prope sereno die tota frumentatione defunguntur.

54 Utopia

¶He that knows one of their towns knows them all—they are so like one another, ex-cept where the situation makes some difference. I shall therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for as none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this, because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it.

¶It lies upon the side of a hill, or, rather, a rising ground. Its figure is almost square, for from the one side of it, which shoots up almost to the top of the hill, it runs down, in a descent for two miles, to the river Anider; but it is a little broader the other way that runs along by the bank of that river.

¶The Anider rises about eighty miles above Amaurot, in a small spring at first. But other brooks falling into it, of which two are more considerable than the rest, as it runs by Amaurot it is grown half a mile broad; but, it still grows larger and larger, till, after sixty miles’ course below it, it is lost in the ocean. Between the town and the sea, and for some miles above the town, it ebbs and flows every six hours with a strong current. The tide comes up about thirty miles so full that there is nothing but salt water in the river, the fresh water being driven back with its force; and above that, for some miles, the water is brackish; but a little higher, as it runs by the town, it is quite fresh; and when the tide ebbs, it continues fresh all along to the sea.

¶There is a bridge cast over the river, not of timber, but of fair stone, consisting of many stately arches; it lies at that part of the town which is farthest from the sea, so that the ships, without any hindrance, lie all along the side of the town.

¶There is, likewise, another river that runs by it, which, though it is not great, yet it runs pleasantly, for it rises out of the same hill on which the town stands, and so runs down through it and falls into the Anider. The inhabitants have fortified the foun-tain-head of this river, which springs a little without the towns; that so, if they should happen to be besieged, the enemy might not be able to stop or divert the course of the water, nor poison it; from thence it is carried, in earthen pipes, to the lower streets. And for those places of the town to which the water of that small river cannot be conveyed, they have great cisterns for receiving the rain-water, which supplies the want of the other.

¶The town is compassed with a high and thick wall, in which there are many towers and forts; there is also a broad and deep dry ditch, set thick with thorns, cast round three sides of the town, and the river is instead of a ditch on the fourth side.

¶The streets are very convenient for all carriage, and are well sheltered from the winds. Their buildings are good, and are so uniform that a whole side of a street looks like one house. The streets are twenty feet broad; there lie gardens behind all their houses.

¶These are large, but enclosed with buildings, that on all hands face the streets, so that every house has both a door to the street and a back door to the garden. Their doors have all two leaves, which, as they are easily opened, so they shut of their own accord; and, there being no property among them, every man may freely enter into any house whatsver. At every ten years’ end they shift their houses by lots.

¶They cultivate their gardens with great care, so that they have both vines, fruits, herbs, and flowers in them; and all is so well ordered and so finely kept that I never saw gardens anywhere that were both so fruitful and so beautiful as theirs. And this humour of ordering their gardens so well is not only kept up by the pleasure they find in it, but

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¶urbium qui unam norit, omnes nouerit, ita sunt inter se—quate-nus loci natura non obstat—omnino similes. depingam igitur unam quampiam—neque enim admodum refert quam—sed quam potius, quam Amaurotum! qua nec ulla dignior est, quippe cui senatus gratia reliquae deferunt, nec ulla mihi notior, ut in qua annos quinque perpetuos uixerim.

¶situm est igitur Amaurotum, in leni deiectu montis, figura fere quadrata. nam latitudo eius paulo infra collis incoepta uerticem, milibus passuum duobus ad flumen Anydrum pertinet, secundum ripam aliquanto longior.

¶oritur Anydrus milibus octoginta supra Amaurotum, modico fonte, sed alio-rum occursu fluminum, atque in his duorum etiam mediocrium auctus, ante urbem ipsam, quingentos in latum passus extenditur, mox adhuc amplior, sex-aginta milia prolapsus, excipitur oceano. hoc toto spacio, quod urbem ac mare interiacet, ac supra urbem quoque aliquot milia, sex horas perpetuas influens aestus, ac refluus alternat celeri flumine. cum sese pelagus infert, triginta in longum milia, totum Anydri alueum suis occupat undis, profligato retrorsum fluuio. tum aliquanto ultra liquorem eius salsugine corrumpit, dehinc paulatim dulcescens amnis, sincerus urbem perlabitur, ac refugientem uicissim purus et incorruptus, ad ipsas prope fauces insequitur.

¶urbs aduersae fluminis ripae, non pilis ac sublicibus ligneis, sed ex opere lapideo, egregie arcuato ponte, commissa est, ab ea parte, quae longissime distat a mari, quo naues totum id latus urbis possint inoffensae praeteruehi.

¶habent alium praeterea fluuium, haud magnum quidem illum, sed perquam placidum, ac iucundum. nam ex eodem scaturiens monte, in quo ciuitas col-locatur, mediam illam per deuexa perfluens Anydro miscetur. eius fluuii caput, fontemque, quod paulo extra urbem nascitur, munimentis amplexi, Amaurotani iunxerunt oppido. ne si qua uis hostium ingruat, intercipi, atque auerti aqua, neue corrumpi queat. inde canalibus coctilibus, diuersim ad inferiores urbis par-tes aqua diriuatur, id sicubi locus fieri uetat, cisternis capacibus, collecta pluuia, tantumdem usus adfert.

¶murus altus, ac latus oppidum cingit, turribus, ac propugnaculis frequens, arida fossa, sed alta, lataque ac ueprium sepibus impedita tribus ab lateribus circumdat moenia, quarto flumen ipsum pro fossa est.

¶plateae cum ad uecturam, tum aduersus uentos descriptae, commode aedi-ficia neutiquam sordida, quorum longa, et totum per uicum, perpetua series, aduersa domorum fronte conspicitur. has uicorum frontes uia distinguit pedes uiginti lata. posterioribus aedium partibus, quanta est uici longitudo, hortus adiacet, latus, et uicorum tergis undique circumseptus.

¶nulla domus est, quae non ut hostium in plateam, ita posticum in hortum habeat. quin bifores quoque facili tractu manus apertiles, ac dein sua sponte coeuntes, quemuis intromittunt, ita nihil usquam priuati est. nam domos ipsas uno quoque decennio sorte commutant.

¶hos hortos magnifaciunt. in his uineas, fructus, herbas, flores habent. tanto nitore, cultuque, ut nihil fructuosius usquam uiderim, nihil elegantius. qua in re studium eorum, non ipsa uoluptas modo, sed uicorum quoque inuicem de suo cuiusque horti cultu certamen accendit. et certe non aliud quicquam temere

de urbibus, ac nominatim de Amauroto

56 Utopia

also by an emulation between the inhabitants of the several streets, who vie with each other. And there is, indeed, nothing belonging to the whole town that is both more useful and more pleasant. So that he who founded the town seems to have taken care of nothing more than of their gardens.

¶For they say the whole scheme of the town was designed at first by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to the ornament and improvement of it to be added by those that should come after him, that being too much for one man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the history of their town and State, are preserved with an exact care, and run backwards seventeen hundred and sixty years. From these it appears that their houses were at first low and mean, like cottages, made of any sort of timber, and were built with mud walls and thatched with straw. But now their houses are three storeys high, the fronts of them are faced either with stone, plastering, or brick, and between the facings of their walls they throw in their rubbish. Their roofs are flat, and on them they lay a sort of plaster, which costs very little, and yet is so tempered that it is not apt to take fire, and yet resists the weather more than lead. They have great quanti-ties of glass among them, with which they glaze their windows; they use also in their windows a thin linen cloth, that is so oiled or gummed that it both keeps out the wind and gives free admission to the light.

¶Thirty families choose every year a magistrate, who was once called the Syphogrant, but is now called the Philarch; and over every ten Syphogrants, with the families subject to them, there is another magistrate, who was once called the Tranibore, but of late the Archphilarch.

¶All the Syphogrants, who are in number two hundred, choose the Prince out of a list of four who are named by the people of the four divisions of the city; but they take an oath, before they proceed to an election, that they will choose him whom they think most fit for the office: they give him their voices secretly, so that it is not known for whom every one gives his suffrage.

¶The Prince is for life, unless he is removed upon suspicion of some design to enslave the people. The Tranibors are new chosen every year, but yet they are, for the most part, continued; all their other magistrates are only annual.

¶The Tranibors meet every third day, and oftener if necessary, and consult with the Prince either concerning the affairs of the State in general, or such private differences as may arise sometimes among the people, though that falls out but seldom.

¶There are always two Syphogrants called into the council chamber, and these are changed every day. It is a fundamental rule of their government, that no conclusion can be made in anything that relates to the public till it has been first debated three days in their council. It is death for any to meet and consult concerning the State, unless it be either in their ordinary council, or in the assembly of the whole body of the people.

¶These things have been so provided among them that the Prince and the Trani-bors may not conspire together to change the government and enslave the people; and therefore when anything of great importance is set on foot, it is sent to the Syphogrants, who, after they have communicated it to the families that belong to their divisions, and have considered it among themselves, make report to the senate; and, upon great occasions, the matter is referred to the council of the whole island. One rule observed in their council is, never to debate a thing on the same day in which it is first proposed;

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urbe tota reperias, siue ad usum ciuium, siue ad uoluptatem commodius. eoque nullius rei, quam huiusmodi hortorum, maiorem habuisse curam uidetur is qui condidit.

¶nam totam hanc urbis figuram, iam inde ab initio descriptam ab ipso Utopo ferunt. sed ornatum, ceterumque cultum, quibus unius aetatem hominis haud suffecturam uidit, posteris adiiciendum reliquit. itaque scriptum in annalibus ha-bent, quos ab capta usque insula, mille septingentorum, ac sexaginta annorum complectentes historiam, diligenter et religiose perscriptos adseruant, aedes initio humiles, ac ueluti casas, et tuguria fuisse, e quolibet ligno temere factas, parietes luto obductos, culmina in aciem fastigiata stramentis operuerant. at nunc omnis domus uisenda forma tabulatorum trium, parietum facies, aut silice, aut cementis, aut latere coctili constructae, in aluum introrsus congesto rudere. tecta in planum subducta, quae intritis quibusdam insternunt. nullius impendii, sed ea temperatu-ra, quae nec igni obnoxia sit, et tolerandis tempestatum iniuriis plumbum superet. uentos a fenestris uitro—nam eius ibi creberrimus usus est—expellunt. interim etiam lino tenui, quod perlucido oleo, aut succino perlinunt, gemino nimirum commodo. siquidem ad eum modum fit, ut et plus lucis transmittat, et uentorum minus admittat.

¶triginta quaeque familiae magistratum sibi quotannis eligunt, quem sua prisca lingua Syphograntum uocant, recentiore phylarchum, Sypho-grantis decem cum suis familiis Traniborus olim, nunc protophylarchus dictus praeficitur.

¶demum Syphogranti omnes, qui sunt ducenti, iurati lecturos sese, quem max-ime censent utilem, suffragiis occultis renunciant principem unum uidelicet ex his quattuor, quos eis populus nominauit. nam a quaque urbis quarta parte, selectus unus commendatur senatui.

¶principis magistratus perpetuus est in omnem illius uitam, nisi tyrannidis af-fectatae suspicio impediat. Traniboros quotannis eligunt. ceterum haud temere commutant. reliqui magistratus omnes annui.

¶Tranibori tertio quoque die, interdum si res postulat saepius, in consilium cum principe ueniunt. de republica consultant. controuersias priuatorum—si quae sunt—quae perquam paucae sunt, mature dirimunt.

¶Syphograntos semper in senatum duos adsciscunt, atque omni die diuersos. cautumque ut ne quid ratum sit quod ad rempublicam pertineat, de quo non tribus in senatu diebus ante agitatum, quam decretum sit. extra senatum, aut comitia publica de rebus communibus inire consilia capitale habetur. haec eo ferunt instituta, ne procliue esset, coniuratione principis, ac Tranibororum, op-presso per tyrannidem populo, statum reipublicae mutare. atque ideo quicquid magni momenti iudicatur, ad Syphograntorum comitia defertur, qui cum suis familiis communicata re, post inter se consultant, ac suum consilium renunciant senatui. interdum ad totius insulae consilium res defertur.

¶quin id quoque moris habet senatus, ut nihil, quo die primum proponitur, eodem disputetur. sed in sequentem senatum differatur, ne quis ubi quod in buccam primum uenerit, temere effutierit, ea potius excogitet postea, quibus decreta tueatur sua, quam quae ex reipublicae usu sint. malitque salutis publicae,

de magistratibus

58 Utopia

for that is always referred to the next meeting, so men may not rashly and in the heat of discourse engage themselves too soon, which might bias them so much that, instead of consulting the good of the public, they might rather study to support their first opin-ions, and by a perverse and preposterous sort of shame hazard their country rather than endanger their own reputation, or venture the being suspected to have wanted foresight in the expedients that they at first proposed; and therefore, to prevent this, they take care that they may rather be deliberate than sudden in their motions.

¶Agriculture is that which is so universally understood among them that no person, either man or woman, is ignorant of it; they are instructed in it from their childhood, partly by what they learn at school, and partly by practice, they being led out often into the fields about the town, where they not only see others at work but are likewise exercised in it themselves.

¶Besides agriculture, which is so common to them all, every man has some peculiar trade to which he applies himself; such as the manufacture of wool or flax, masonry, smith’s work, or carpenter’s work; for there is no sort of trade that is in great esteem among them. Throughout the island they wear the same sort of clothes, without any other distinction except what is necessary to distinguish the two sexes and the married and unmarried. The fashion never alters, and as it is neither disagreeable nor uneasy, so it is suited to the climate, and calculated both for their summers and winters. Every family makes their own clothes.

¶But all among them, women as well as men, learn one or other of the trades former-ly mentioned. Women, for the most part, deal in wool and flax, which suit best with their weakness, leaving the ruder trades to the men. The same trade generally passes down from father to son, inclinations often following descent: but if any man’s genius lies another way he is, by adoption, translated into a family that deals in the trade to which he is inclined; and when that is to be done, care is taken, not only by his father, but by the magistrate, that he may be put to a discreet and good man: and if, after a person has learned one trade, he desires to acquire another, that is also allowed, and is managed in the same manner as the former. When he has learned both, he follows that which he likes best, unless the public has more occasion for the other.

¶The chief, and almost only, business of the Syphogrants is to take care that no man may live idle, but that every one may follow his trade diligently; yet they do not wear themselves out with perpetual toil from morning to night, as if they were beasts of burden, which as it is indeed a heavy slavery.

¶So it is everywhere the common course of life amongst all mechanics except the Utopians: but they, dividing the day and night into twenty-four hours, appoint six for work, three of which are before dinner and three after; they then sup, and at eight o’clock, counting from noon, go to bed and sleep eight hours.

¶The rest of the time, besides that taken up in work, eating, and sleeping, is left to every man’s discretion; yet they are not to abuse that interval to luxury and idleness, but must employ it in some proper exercise, according to their various inclinations, which is, for the most part, reading. It is ordinary to have public lectures every morning before daybreak, at which none are obliged to appear but those who are marked out for literature; yet a great many, both men and women, of all ranks, go to hear lectures of one sort or other, according to their inclinations: but if others that are not made for contemplation, choose rather to employ themselves at that time in their trades, as

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quam opinionis de se iacturam facere, peruerso quodam ac praepostero pudore, ne initio parum prospexisse uideatur. cui prospiciendum initio fuit, ut consulto potius, quam cito loqueretur.

¶ars una est omnibus uiris, mulieribusque promiscua agricultura, cuius nemo est expers. hac a pueritia erudiuntur omnes, partim in schola traditis praeceptis, partim in agros uiciniores urbi, quasi per ludum educti, non intuentes modo, sed per exercitandi corporis occasionem tractantes etiam.

¶praeter agriculturam—quae est omnibus, ut dixi, communis—quilibet unam quampiam, tamquam suam docetur, ea est fere aut lanificium, aut operandi lini studium, aut cementariorum, aut fabri, seu ferrarii, seu materiarii artificium. neque enim aliud est opificium ullum, quod numerum aliquem, dictu dignum occupet illic. nam uestes, quarum, nisi quod habitu sexus discernitur, et caeli-batus a coniugio, una per totam insulam forma est, eademque per omne aeuum perpetua, nec ad oculum indecora, et ad corporis motum habilis, tum ad frigoris aestusque rationem apposita. eas inquam, quaeque sibi familia conficit.

¶sed ex aliis illis artibus unusquisque aliquam discit, nec uiri modo, sed mulieres etiam. ceterum hae uelut imbecilliores, leuiora tractant. lanam fere, linumque operantur. uiris artes reliquae magis laboriosae mandantur, maxima ex parte quisque in patriis artibus educatur. nam eo plerique natura feruntur. quod si quem animus alio trahat, in eius opificii, cuius capitur studio, familiam quampiam adoptione traducitur, cura non a patre modo eius, sed magistratibus etiam praestita, ut graui, atque honesto patrifamilias mancipetur. quin si quis unam perdoctus artem, aliam praeterea cupiuerit, eodem modo permittitur. utramque nactus, utram uelit exercet, nisi alterutra ciuitas magis egeat.

¶Syphograntorum, praecipuum ac prope unicum negotium est, curare, ac prospicere, ne quisquam desideat otiosus. sed uti suae quisque arti sedulo in-cumbat, nec ab summo mane tamen, ad multam usque noctem perpetuo labore, uelut iumenta, fatigatus.

¶nam ea plusquam seruilis erumna est, quae tamen ubique fere opificum uita est, exceptis Utopiensibus, qui cum in horas uigintiquattuor aequales, diem con-numerata nocte diuidant, sex dumtaxat operi deputant, tres ante meridiem, a quibus prandium ineunt, atque a prandio duas pomeridianas horas, cum inter-quieuerint, tres deinde rursus labori datas, cena claudunt. cum primam horam ab meridie numerent; sub octauam cubitum eunt. horas octo somnus uindicat.

¶quicquid inter operis horas ac somni cibique medium esset, id suo cuiusque arbitrio permittitur, non quo per luxum, aut segnitiem abutatur, sed quod ab opificio suo liberum, ex animi sententia in aliud quippiam studii bene collocet. has intercapedines plerique impendunt litteris. solemne est enim publicas coti-die lectiones haberi, antelucanis horis, quibus ut intersint, ii dumtaxat adigun-tur, qui ad litteras nominatim selecti sunt. ceterum ex omni ordine mares simul, ac feminae multitudo maxima ad audiendas lectiones, alii alias, prout cuiusque fert natura confluit. hoc ipsum tempus tamen, si quis arti suae malit insumere quod multis usu uenit—quorum animus in nullius contemplatione disciplinae consurgit—haud prohibetur, quin laudatur quoque, ut utilis reipublicae.

de artificiis

60 Utopia

many of them do, they are not hindered, but are rather commended, as men that take care to serve their country.

¶After supper they spend an hour in some diversion, in summer in their gardens, and in winter in the halls where they eat, where they entertain each other either with music or discourse. They do not so much as know dice, or any such foolish and mischievous games. They have, however, two sorts of games not unlike our chess; the one is be-tween several numbers, in which one number, as it were, consumes another; the other resembles a battle between the virtues and the vices, in which the enmity in the vices among themselves, and their agreement against virtue, is not unpleasantly represented; together with the special opposition between the particular virtues and vices; as also the methods by which vice either openly assaults or secretly undermines virtue; and virtue, on the other hand, resists it.

¶The time appointed for labor is to be narrowly examined, otherwise you may imag-ine that since there are only six hours appointed for work, they may fall under a scarcity of necessary provisions: but it is so far from being true that this time is not sufficient for supplying them with plenty of all things, either necessary or convenient, that it is rather too much; and this you will easily apprehend if you consider how great a part of all other nations is quite idle. First, women generally do little, who are the half of man-kind; and if some few women are diligent, their husbands are idle: then consider the great company of idle priests, and of those that are called religious men; add to these all rich men, chiefly those that have estates in land, who are called noblemen and gentle-men, together with their families, made up of idle persons, that are kept more for show than use; add to these all those strong and lusty beggars that go about pretending some disease in excuse for their begging; and upon the whole account you will find that the number of those by whose labors mankind is supplied is much less than you perhaps imagined: then consider how few of those that work are employed in labors that are of real service, for we, who measure all things by money, give rise to many trades that are both vain and superfluous, and serve only to support riot and luxury: for if those who work were employed only in such things as the conveniences of life require, there would be such an abundance of them that the prices of them would so sink that trades-men could not be maintained by their gains; if all those who labor about useless things were set to more profitable employments, and if all they that languish out their lives in sloth and idleness (every one of whom consumes as much as any two of the men that are at work) were forced to labor, you may easily imagine that a small proportion of time would serve for doing all that is either necessary, profitable, or pleasant to man-kind, especially while pleasure is kept within its due bounds.

¶This appears very plainly in Utopia; for there, in a great city, and in all the territory that lies round it, you can scarce find five hundred, either men or women, by their age and strength capable of labor, that are not engaged in it. Even the Syphogrants, though excused by the law, yet do not excuse themselves, but work, that by their examples they may excite the industry of the rest of the people; the like exemption is allowed to those who, being recommended to the people by the priests, are, by the secret suffrages of the Syphogrants, privileged from labor, that they may apply themselves wholly to study; and if any of these fall short of those hopes that they seemed at first to give, they are obliged to return to work; and sometimes a mechanic that so employs his leisure hours as to make a considerable advancement in learning is eased from being a tradesman and

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¶super cenam tum unam horam ludendo producunt, aestate in hortis, hieme in aulis illis communibus, in quibus comedunt. ibi aut musicen exercent, aut se ser-mone recreant. aleam atque id genus ineptos ac perniciosos ludos ne cognoscunt quidem, ceterum duos habent in usu ludos, latrunculorum ludo non dissimiles. alterum numerorum pugnam, in qua numerus numerum praedatur. alterum in quo collata acie cum uirtutibus uitia confligunt. quo in ludo perquam scite ostenditur et uitiorum inter se dissidium, et aduersus uirtutes concordia. item quae uitia, quibus se uirtutibus opponant, quibus uiribus aperte oppugnent, quibus machinamentis ab obliquo adoriantur, quo praesidio, uirtutes uitiorum uires infringant, quibus artibus eorum conatus eludant, quibus denique modis alterutra pars uictoriae compos fiat.

¶sed hoc loco, ne quid erretis quiddam pressius intuendum est. etenim quod sex dumtaxat horas in opere sunt, fieri fortasse potest, ut inopiam aliquam putes, necessariarum rerum sequi. quod tam longe abest ut accidat, ut id temporis ad omnium rerum copiam quae quidem ad uitae uel necessitatem requirantur uel commoditatem non sufficiat modo, sed supersit etiam, id quod uos quoque in-telligetis si uobiscum reputetis apud alias gentes, quam magna populi pars iners degit. primum mulieres fere omnes, totius summae dimidium, aut sicubi muli-eres negotiosae sunt, ibi ut plurimum, earum uice, uiri stertunt. ad haec, sacerdo-tum ac religiosorum, quos uocant, quanta quamque otiosa turba, adiice diuites omnes maxime praediorum dominos, quos uulgo generosos appellant ac nobiles, his adnumera ipsorum famulitium, totam uidelicet illam cetratorum nebulonum colluuiem. robustos denique ac ualentes mendicos adiunge, morbum quempiam praetexentes inertiae, multo certe pauciores esse quam putaras inuenies eos, quo-rum labore constant haec omnia quibus mortales utuntur. expende nunc tecum ex his ipsis quam pauci in necessariis opificiis uersantur. siquidem ubi omnia pecuniis metimur, multas artes necesse est exerceri inanes prorsus ac superfluas, luxus tantum ac libidinis ministras. nam haec ipsa multitudo quae nunc opera-tur, si partiretur in tam paucas artes, quam paucas commodus naturae usus pos-tulat; in tanta rerum abundantia; quantam nunc esse necesse sit, pretia nimirum uiliora forent, quam ut artifices inde uitam tueri suam possent. at si isti omnes quos nunc inertes artes distringunt; ac tota insuper otio ac desidia languescens turba, quorum unus quiuis earum rerum quae aliorum laboribus suppeditantur; quantum duo earundem operatores consumit; in opera uniuersi atque eadem utilia collocarentur, facile animaduertis; quantulum temporis ad suppeditanda omnia; quae uel necessitatis ratio; uel commoditatis efflagitet—adde uoluptatis etiam quae quidem uera sit ac naturalis—abunde satis superque foret.

¶atque id ipsum in Utopia res ipsa perspicuum facit. nam illic in tota urbe cum adiacente uicinia uix homines quingenti ex omni uirorum ac mulierum nu-mero, quorum aetas ac robur operi sufficit, uacatio permittitur. in iis syphogran-ti—quamquam leges eos labore soluerunt—ipsi tamen sese non eximunt; quo facilius exemplo suo reliquos ad labores inuitent. eadem immunitate gaudent hi; quos commendatione sacerdotum, persuasus populus occultis syphograntorum suffragiis ad perdiscendas disciplinas perpetuam uacationem indulget. quorum si quis conceptam de se spem fefellerit; ad opifices retruditur, contraque non rarenter usu uenit; ut mechanicus quispiam, subcisiuas illas horas tam gnauiter impendat litteris, tantum diligentia proficiat, ut opificio suo exemptus, in lit-

62 Utopia

ranked among their learned men. ¶Out of these they choose their ambassadors, their priests, their Tranibors, and the

Prince himself, anciently called their Barzenes, but is called of late their Ademus. ¶Thus from the great numbers among them that are neither suffered to be idle nor to

be employed in any fruitless labor, you may easily make the estimate how much may be done in those few hours in which they are obliged to labor.

¶But, besides all that has been already said, it is to be considered that the needful arts among them are managed with less labor than anywhere else. The building or the repairing of houses among us employ many hands, because often a thriftless heir suffers a house that his father built to fall into decay, so that his successor must, at a great cost, repair that which he might have kept up with a small charge; it frequently happens that the same house which one person built at a vast expense is neglected by another, who thinks he has a more delicate sense of the beauties of architecture, and he, suffering it to fall to ruin, builds another at no less charge.

¶Among the Utopians all things are so regulated that men very seldom build upon a new piece of ground, and are not only very quick in repairing their houses, but show their foresight in preventing their decay, so that their buildings are preserved very long with but very little labor, and thus the builders, to whom that care belongs, are often without employment, except the hewing of timber and the squaring of stones, that the materials may be in readiness for raising a building very suddenly when there is any occasion for it.

¶As to their clothes, observe how little work is spent in them; while they are at labor they are clothed with leather and skins, cut carelessly about them, which will last seven years, and when they appear in public they put on an upper garment which hides the other; and these are all of one color, and that is the natural color of the wool. As they need less woollen cloth than is used anywhere else, that which they make use of is much less costly; they use linen cloth more, but it is prepared with less labor, and they value cloth only by the whiteness of the linen or the cleanness of the wool, without much regard to the fineness of the thread.

¶While in other places four or five upper garments of woollen cloth of different col-ors, and as many vests of silk, will scarce serve one man, and while those that are nicer think ten too few, every man there is content with one, which very often serves him two years; nor is there anything that can tempt a man to desire more, for if he had them he would neither be the, warmer nor would he make one jot the better appearance for it.

¶Thus, since they are all employed in some useful labor, and since they content them-selves with fewer things, it falls out that there is a great abundance of all things among them; so that it frequently happens that, for want of other work, vast numbers are sent out to mend the highways; but when no public undertaking is to be performed, the hours of working are lessened. The magistrates never engage the people in unnecessary labor, since the chief end of the constitution is to regulate labor by the necessities of the public, and to allow the people as much time as is necessary for the improvement of their minds, in which they think the happiness of life consists.

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teratorum classem prouehatur.¶ex hoc litteratorum ordine legati, sacerdotes, Tranibori ac ipse denique deligi-

tur princeps, quem illi prisca ipsorum lingua Barzanem, recentiore Ademum appellant.

¶reliqua fere multitudo omnis; cum neque otiosa sit; nec inutilibus opificiis occupata, procliuis aestimatio est, quam paucae horae quantum boni operis pari-ant.

¶ad ea quae commemoraui, hoc praeterea facilitatis accedit quod in necessariis plerisque artibus, minore opera quam aliae gentes, opus habent. nam primum aedificiorum, aut structura; aut refectio ideo tam multorum assiduam ubique re-quirit operam, quod quae pater aedificauit; haeres parum frugi, paulatim dilabi sinit, ita quod minimo tueri potuit; successor eius de integro impendio magno cogitur instaurare. quin frequenter etiam quae domus alii ingenti sumptu stetit, hanc alius delicato animo contemnit, eaque neglecta; atque ideo breui collapsa; aliam alibi impensis non minoribus extruit.

¶at apud Utopienses compositis rebus omnibus; et constituta republica raris-sime accidit; uti noua collocandis aedibus area deligatur et non modo remedium celeriter praesentibus uitiis adhibetur, sed etiam imminentibus occurritur. ita fit, ut minimo labore, diutissime perdurent aedificia, et id genus opifices uix ha-beant interdum quod agant; nisi quod materiam dolare domi et lapides interim quadrare atque aptare iubentur, quo—si quod opus incidat—maturius possit exurgere.

¶iam in uestibus uide, quam paucis operis egeant; primum dum in opere sunt; corio neglectim aut pellibus amiciuntur quae in septennium durent. cum proce-dunt in publicum, superinduunt chlamydem uestem, quae rudiores illas uestes contegat; eius per totam insulam unus color est, atque is natiuus. itaque lanei panni, non modo multo minus quam usquam alibi sufficit, uerum is ipse quo-que multo minoris impendii est, at lini minor est labor, eoque usus crebrior, sed in lineo solus candor, in laneo sola mundicies conspicitur, nullum tenuioris fili pretium est.

¶itaque fit, ut cum alibi nusquam, uni homini quattuor aut quinque togae laneae diuersis coloribus, ac totidem sericiae tunicae sufficiant, delicatioribus paulo ne decem quidem, ibi una quisque contentus est, plerumque in biennium. quippe nec causa est ulla cur plures affectet, quas consecutus neque aduersus frigus esset munitior, neque uestitu uideretur uel pilo cultior.

¶quamobrem cum et omnes utilibus sese artibus exerceant, et ipsarum etiam opera pauciora sufficiant, fit nimirum, ut abundante rerum omnium copia, in-terdum in reficiendas—si quae detritae sunt—uias publicas immensam multi-tudinem educant, persaepe etiam cum nec talis cuiuspiam operis usus occurrat, pauciores horas operandi publice denuntient. neque enim superuacaneo labore ciues inuitos exercent magistratus; quandoquidem eius reipublicae institutio hunc unum scopum in primis respicit; ut quoad per publicas necessitates licet; quam plurimum temporis ab seruitio corporis ad animi libertatem cultumque ciuibus uniuersis asseratur. in eo enim sitam uitae felicitatem putant.

64 Utopia

¶It is now time to explain to you the mutual intercourse of this people, their com-merce, and the rules by which all things are distributed among them.

¶As their cities are composed of families, so their families are made up of those that are nearly related to one another. Their women, when they grow up, are married out, but all the males, both children and grandchildren, live still in the same house, in great obedience to their common parent, unless age has weakened his understanding, and in that case he that is next to him in age comes in his room.

¶Lest any city should become either too great, or by any accident be dispeopled, pro-vision is made that none of their cities may contain above six thousand families, besides those of the country around it. No family may have less than ten and more than sixteen persons in it, but there can be no determined number for the children under age; this rule is easily observed by removing some of the children of a more fruitful couple to any other family that does not have so many. By the same rule they supply cities that do not increase so fast from others that do; and if there is any increase over the whole island, then they draw out a number of their citizens out of the several towns and send them over to the neighboring continent, where, if they find that the inhabitants have more soil than they can well cultivate, they fix a colony, taking the inhabitants into their society if they are willing; and where they do that of their own accord, they quickly enter into their method of life and conform to their rules, and this proves a happiness to both nations; for, according to their constitution, such care is taken of the soil that it becomes fruitful enough for both, though it might be otherwise too narrow and barren for any one of them. If the natives refuse to conform themselves to their laws they drive them out of those bounds which they mark out for themselves, and use force if they resist, for they account it a very just cause of war for a nation to hinder others from pos-sessing a part of that soil of which they make no use, but which is suffered to lie idle and uncultivated, since every man has, by the law of nature, a right to such a waste portion of the earth as is necessary for his subsistence. If an accident has so lessened the number of the inhabitants of any of their towns that it cannot be made up from the other towns of the island without diminishing them too much (which is said to have fallen out but twice since they were first a people, when great numbers were carried off by the plague), the loss is then supplied by recalling as many as are wanted from their colonies, for they will abandon these rather than suffer the towns in the island to sink too low.

¶Returning to their manner of living in society: the oldest man of every family, as has been already said, is its governor; wives serve their husbands, and children their parents, and always the younger serves the elder. Every city is divided into four equal parts, and in the middle of each there is a market-place. What is brought thither, and manufactured by the several families, is carried from thence to houses appointed for that purpose, in which all things of a sort are laid by themselves; and thither every father goes, and takes whatever he or his family stand in need of, without either paying for it or leaving anything in exchange. There is no reason for giving a denial to any person, since there is such plenty of everything among them; and there is no danger of a man’s asking for more than he needs; they have no inducements to do this, since they are sure they shall always be supplied: it is the fear of want that makes any of the whole race of animals either greedy or ravenous; but, besides fear, there is in man a pride that makes him fancy it a particular glory to excel others in pomp and excess; but by the laws of the Utopians, there is no room for this.

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¶sed iam quo pacto sese mutuo ciues utantur; quae populi inter se commercia; quaeque sit distribuendarum rerum forma uidetur explicandum.

¶cum igitur ex familiis constet ciuitas; familias ut plurimum, cognationes ef-ficiunt. nam feminae—ubi maturuerint—collocatae maritis; in ipsorum domi-cilia concedunt. at masculi filii, ac deinceps nepotes; in familia permanent, et parentum antiquissimo parent. nisi prae senecta mente parum ualuerit. tunc enim aetate proximus ei sufficitur.

¶uerum ne ciuitas aut fieri infrequentior; aut ultra modum possit increscere, cauetur, ne ulla familia, quarum milia sex, quaeque ciuitas, excepto conuentu, complectitur; pauciores quam decem; pluresue quam sexdecim puberes habeat. impuberum enim nullus praefiniri numerus potest. hic modus facile seruatur, transcriptis iis in rariores familias, qui in plenioribus excrescunt. at si quando in totum plus iusto abundauerit; aliarum urbium suarum infrequentiam sarciunt. quod si forte per totam insulam plus aequo moles intumuerit, tum ex qualibet urbe descriptis ciuibus in continente proximo ubicumque indigenis agri multum superest, et cultu uacat; coloniam suis ipsorum legibus propagant, ascitis una terrae indigenis si conuiuere secum uelint. cum uolentibus coniuncti in idem uitae institutum; eosdemque mores, facile coalescunt, idque utriusque populi bono. efficiunt enim suis institutis, ut ea terra, utrisque abunda sit; quae alteris ante parca ac maligna uidebatur. renuentes ipsorum legibus uiuere, propellunt his finibus quos sibi ipsi describunt. aduersus repugnantes, bello confligunt. nam eam iustissimam belli causam ducunt, cum populus quispiam eius soli quo ipse non utitur, sed uelut inane ac uacuum possidet, aliis tamen qui ex naturae prae-scripto inde nutriri debeant, usum ac possessionem interdicat. si quando ullas ex suis urbibus aliquis casus, eousque imminuerit, ut ex aliis insulae partibus seruato suo cuiusque urbis modo, resarciri non possint—quod bis dumtaxat ab omni aeuo pestis grassante saeuitia fertur contigisse—remigrantibus e colonia ciuibus replentur. perire enim colonias potius patiuntur, quam ullam ex insula-nis urbibus imminui.

¶sed ad conuictum ciuium reuertor. antiquissimus—ut dixi—praeest fami-lae. ministri sunt uxores maritis, et liberi parentibus, atque in summa minores natu maioribus. ciuitas omnis in quattuor aequales partes diuiditur. in medio cuiusque partis forum est omnium rerum. eo in certas domos opera cuiusque familiae conuehuntur, atque in horrea singulae seorsum species distributae sunt. ab iis quilibet paterfamilias quibus ipse suique opus habent, petit, ac sine pecu-nia, sine omni prorsus hostimento quicquid petierit, aufert. quare enim negetur quicquam! cum et omnium rerum abunde satis sit nec timor ullus subsit, ne quisquam plusquam sit opus, flagitare uelit! nam cur superuacua petiturus pu-tetur is, qui certum habeat, nihil sibi umquam defuturum! nempe auidum ac rapacem, aut timor carendi facit, in omni animantum genere, aut in homine sola reddit superbia, quae gloriae sibi ducit, superflua rerum ostentatione ceteros antecellere, quod uitii genus in Utopiensium institutis nullum omnino locum habet.

de commerciis mutuis

¶Near these markets there are others for all sorts of provisions, where there are not only herbs, fruits, and bread, but also fish, fowl, and cattle. There are also, without their towns, places appointed near some running water for killing their beasts and for wash-ing away their filth, which is done by their slaves; for they suffer none of their citizens to kill their cattle, because they think that pity and good-nature, which are among the best of those affections that are born with us, are much impaired by the butchering of animals; nor do they suffer anything that is foul or unclean to be brought within their towns, lest the air should be infected by ill-smells, which might prejudice their health.

¶In every street there are great halls, that lie at an equal distance from each other, dis-tinguished by particular names. The Syphogrants dwell in those that are set over thirty families, fifteen lying on one side of it, and as many on the other. In these halls they all meet and have their repasts; the stewards of every one of them come to the marketplace at an appointed hour, and according to the number of those that belong to the hall they carry home provisions.

¶They take more care of their sick than of any others; these are lodged and provided for in public hospitals. They have belonging to every town four hospitals, that are built without their walls, and are so large that they may pass for little towns; by this means, if they had ever such a number of sick persons, they could lodge them conveniently, and at such a distance that such of them as are sick of infectious diseases may be kept so far from the rest that there can be no danger of contagion. The hospitals are furnished and stored with all things that are convenient for the ease and recovery of the sick; and those that are put in them are looked after with such tender and watchful care, and are so constantly attended by their skilful physicians, that as none is sent to them against their will, so there is scarce one in a whole town that, if he should fall ill, would not choose rather to go thither than lie sick at home.

¶After the steward of the hospitals has taken for the sick whatever the physician pre-scribes, then the best things that are left in the market are distributed equally among the halls in proportion to their numbers; only, in the first place, they serve the Prince, the Chief Priest, the Tranibors, the Ambassadors, and strangers, if there are any, which, in-deed, falls out but seldom, and for whom there are houses, well furnished, particularly appointed for their reception when they come among them.

¶At the hours of dinner and supper the whole Syphogranty being called together by sound of trumpet, they meet and eat together, except only such as are in the hospitals or lie sick at home. Yet, after the halls are served, no man is hindered to carry provisions home from the market-place, for they know that none does that but for some good rea-son; for though any that will may eat at home, yet none does it willingly, since it is both ridiculous and foolish for any to give themselves the trouble to make ready an ill dinner at home when there is a much more plentiful one made ready for him so near hand.

¶All the uneasy and sordid services about these halls are performed by their slaves; but the dressing and cooking their meat, and the ordering their tables, belong only to the women, all those of every family taking it by turns.

¶They sit at three or more tables, according to their number; the men sit towards the wall, and the women sit on the other side, that if any of them should be taken suddenly ill, which is no uncommon case amongst women with child, she may, without disturb-ing the rest, rise and go to the nurses’ room (who are there with the sucking children), where there is always clean water at hand and cradles, in which they may lay the young

¶adiuncta sunt foris—quae commemoraui—fora cibaria, in quae non olera modo, arborumque fructus et panes comportantur, sed pisces praeterea quadru-pedumque et auium quicquid esculentum est, extra urbem locis appositis ubi fluento tabum ac sordes eluantur. hinc deportant pecudes occisas depuratasque manibus famulorum—nam neque suos ciues patiuntur assuescere laniatu anima-lium, cuius usu, clementiam humanissimum naturae nostrae affectum paulatim deperire putant, neque sordidum quicquam atque immundum, cuius putredine corruptus aer morbum posset inuehere—perferri in urbem sinunt.

¶habet praeterea quilibet uicus, aulas quasdam capaces, aequali ab sese inuicem interuallo distantes, nomine quamque suo cognitas. has colunt Syphogranti, quarum unicuique triginta familiae uidelicet ab utroque latere quindecim sunt adscriptae, cibum ibi sumpturae. obsonatores cuiusque aulae, certa hora conu-eniunt in forum, ac relato suorum numero, cibum petunt.

¶sed prima ratio aegrotorum habetur, qui in publicis hospitiis curantur. nam quattuor habent in ambitu ciuitatis hospitia, paulo extra muros tam capacia ut totidem oppidulis aequari possint, tum ut neque aegrotorum numerus quamli-bet magnus anguste collocaretur, et per hoc incommode, tum quo ii qui tali morbo tenerentur, cuius contagio solet ab alio ad alium serpere, longius ab alio-rum coetu semoueri possint. haec hospitia ita sunt instructa, atque omnibus re-bus quae ad salutem conferant referta, tum tam tenera ac sedula cura adhibetur, tam assidua medicorum peritissimorum praesentia, ut cum illuc nemo mittatur inuitus, nemo tamen fere in tota urbe sit, qui aduersa ualetudine laborans, non ibi decumbere quam domi suae praeferat.

¶cum aegrotorum obsonator cibos ex medicorum praescripto receperit, dein-ceps optima quaeque inter aulas aequabiliter pro suo cuiusque numero dis-tribuuntur, nisi quod principis, pontificis, et Tranibororum respectus habetur, ac legatorum etiam, et exterorum omnium—si qui sunt, qui pauci ac raro sunt—sed iis quoque cum adsunt, domicilia certa atque instructa parantur.

¶ad has aulas prandii, cenaeque statis horis tota syphograntia conuenit, aeneae tubae clangore commonefacta, nisi qui aut in hospitiis, aut domi decumbunt. quamquam nemo prohibetur, postquam aulis est satis factum e foro domum cibum petere. sciunt enim neminem id temere facere, nam et si domi prandere nulli uetitum sit, nemo tamen hoc libenter facit, cum neque honestum habea-tur, et stultum sit deterioris parandi prandii sumere laborem, cum lautum atque opiparum praesto apud aulam, tam propinquam sit.

¶in hac aula ministeria omnia in quibus paulo plus sordis, aut laboris est, obeunt serui. ceterum coquendi, parandique cibi officium, et totius denique in-struendi conuiuii solae mulieres exercent, cuiusque uidelicet familiae per uices.

¶tribus, pluribusue mensis pro numero conuiuarum discumbitur. uiri ad pa-rietem, feminae exterius collocantur, ut si quid his subiti oboriatur mali, quod uterum gerentibus interdum solet accidere, imperturbatis ordinibus exurgant, atque inde ad nutrices abeant. sedent illae quidem seorsum cum lactentibus in cenaculo quodam ad id destinato, numquam sine foco atque aqua munda, nec absque cunis interim, ut et reclinare liceat infantulos, et ad ignem cum uelint exemptos fasciis libertate ac ludo reficere. suae quaeque soboli nutrix est, nisi aut mors, aut morbus impediat. id cum accidit, uxores Syphograntorum propere nu-

68 Utopia

children if there is occasion for it, and a fire, that they may shift and dress them before it. Every child is nursed by its own mother if death or sickness does not intervene; and in that case the Syphogrants’ wives find out a nurse quickly, which is no hard matter, for any one that can do it offers herself cheerfully; for as they are much inclined to that piece of mercy, so the child whom they nurse considers the nurse as its mother.

¶All the children under five years old sit among the nurses; the rest of the younger sort of both sexes, till they are fit for marriage, either serve those that sit at table, or, if they are not strong enough for that, stand by them in great silence and eat what is given them; nor have they any other formality of dining.

¶In the middle of the first table, which stands across the upper end of the hall, sit the Syphogrant and his wife, for that is the chief and most conspicuous place; next to him sit two of the most ancient, for there go always four to a mess. If there is a temple within the Syphogranty, the Priest and his wife sit with the Syphogrant above all the rest; next them there is a mixture of old and young, who are so placed that as the young are set near others, so they are mixed with the more ancient; which, they say, was appointed on this account: that the gravity of the old people, and the reverence that is due to them, might restrain the younger from all indecent words and gestures.

¶Dishes are not served up to the whole table at first, but the best are first set before the old, whose seats are distinguished from the young, and, after them, all the rest are served alike. The old men distribute to the younger any curious meats that happen to be set before them, if there is not such an abundance of them that the whole company may be served alike.

¶Thus old men are honored with a particular respect, yet all the rest fare as well as they. Both dinner and supper are begun with some lecture of morality that is read to them; but it is so short that it is not tedious nor uneasy to them to hear it. From hence the old men take occasion to entertain those about them with some useful and pleas-ant enlargements; but they do not engross the whole discourse so to themselves during their meals that the younger may not put in for a share; on the contrary, they engage them to talk, that so they may, in that free way of conversation, find out the force of every one’s spirit and observe his temper.

¶They despatch their dinners quickly, but sit long at supper, because they go to work after the one, and are to sleep after the other, during which they think the stomach carries on the concoction more vigorously. They never sup without music, and there is always fruit served up after meat; while they are at table some burn perfumes and sprinkle about fragrant ointments and sweet waters—in short, they want nothing that may cheer up their spirits; they give themselves a large allowance that way, and indulge themselves in all such pleasures as are attended with no inconvenience.

¶Thus do those that are in the towns live together; but in the country, where they live at a great distance, every one eats at home, and no family wants any necessary sort of provision, for it is from them that provisions are sent unto those that live in the towns.

¶If any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some other town, or desires to travel and see the rest of the country, he obtains leave very easily from the Syphogrant and Tranibors, when there is no particular occasion for him at home. Such as travel carry with them a passport from the Prince, which both certifies the licence that is

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tricem quaerunt, nec id difficile est. nam quae id praestare possunt, nulli officio sese offerunt libentius, quoniam et omnes eam misericordiam laude prosequun-tur, et qui educatur, nutricem parentis agnoscit loco.

¶in antro nutricum, considunt pueri omnes, qui primum lustrum non ex-pleuere. ceteri impuberes, quo in numero ducunt quicumque sexus alterius utri-us intra nubiles annos sunt, aut ministrant discumbentibus, aut qui per aetatem nondum ualent, adstant tamen, atque id summo cum silentio. utrique quod a sedentibus porrigitur, eo uescuntur, nec aliud discretum prandendi tempus habent.

¶in medio primae mensae, qui summus locus est, et cui—nam ea mensa suprema in parte cenaculi transuersa est—totus conuentus conspicitur, Syphograntus cum uxore considet. his adiunguntur duo ex natu maximis. sedent enim per omnes mensas quaterni. at si templum in ea Syphograntia situm est, sacerdos, eiusque uxor ita cum Syphogranto sedent ut praesideant. ab utraque parte collocantur iuniores, post senes rursus, atque hoc pacto per totam domum, et aequales inter se iunguntur, et dissimilibus tamen immiscentur, quod ideo ferunt institutum, ut senum grauitas ac reuerentia—cum nihil ita in mensa fieri, diciue potest, ut eos ab omni parte uicinos effugiat—iuniores ab improba uerborum, gestuumque licentia cohibeat.

¶ciborum fercula non a primo loco deinceps apponuntur, sed senioribus pri-mum omnibus—quorum insignes loci sunt—optimus quisque cibus infertur. deinde reliquis aequaliter ministratur. at senes lautitias suas—quarum non tanta erat copia, ut posset totam per domum affatim distribui—pro suo arbitratu cir-cumsedentibus impartiuntur. sic et maioribus natu suus seruatur honos, et com-modi tantumdem tamen, ad omneis peruenit.

¶omne prandium, cenamque ab aliqua lectione auspicantur, quae ad mores faciat, sed breui tamen ne fastidio sit. ab hac seniores, honestos sermones, sed neque tristes, nec infacetos ingerunt. at nec longis logis totum occupant pran-dium, quin audiunt libenter iuuenes quoque atque adeo de industria prouocant, quo et indolis cuiusque et ingenii per conuiuii libertatem prodentis sese, capiant experimentum.

¶prandia breuiuscula sunt, cenae largiores, quod labor illa, has somnus et noc-turna quies excipit, quam illi ad salubrem concoctionem magis efficacem putant. nulla cena sine musica transigitur. nec ullis caret secunda mensa bellariis. odores incendunt, et unguenta spargunt. nihilque non faciunt, quod exhilarare conui-uas possit. sunt enim hanc in partem aliquanto procliuiores, ut nullum uolupta-tis genus—ex quo nihil sequatur incommodi—censeant interdictum.

¶hoc pacto igitur in urbe conuiuunt, at ruri, qui longius ab sese dissiti sunt, omnes domi quisque suae comedunt. nulli enim familiae quicquam ad uictum deest, quippe a quibus id totum uenit, quo uescantur urbici.

¶at si quos aut amicorum alia in urbe commorantium, aut ipsius etiam uidendi loci desiderium coeperit, a Syphograntis ac Traniboris suis ueniam facile impetrant, nisi si quis usus impediat. mittitur ergo simul, numerus aliquis cum epistola principis, quae et datam peregrinandi copiam testatur, et redi-tus diem praescribit. uehiculum datur cum seruo publico, qui agat boues et curet. ceterum nisi mulieres in coetu habeant, uehiculum uelut onus et impedimentum,

de peregrinatione Utopiensium

70 Utopia

granted for travelling, and limits the time of their return. They are furnished with a wagon and a slave, who drives the oxen and looks after them; but, unless there are women in the company, the wagon is sent back at the end of the journey as a needless encumbrance. While they are on the road they carry no provisions with them, yet they want for nothing, but are everywhere treated as if they were at home. If they stay in any place longer than a night, every one follows his proper occupation, and is very well used by those of his own trade; but if any man goes out of the city to which he belongs without leave, and is found rambling without a passport, he is severely treated, he is punished as a fugitive, and sent home disgracefully; and, if he falls again into the like fault, is condemned to slavery.

¶If any man has a mind to travel only over the precinct of his own city, he may freely do it, with his father’s permission and his wife’s consent; but when he comes into any of the country houses, if he expects to be entertained by them, he must labor with them and conform to their rules; and if he does this, he may freely go over the whole precinct, being then as useful to the city to which he belongs as if he were still within it.

¶Thus you see that there are no idle persons among them, nor pretences of excusing any from labor. There are no taverns, no ale-houses, nor stews among them, nor any other occasions of corrupting each other, of getting into corners, or forming themselves into parties; all men live in full view, so that all are obliged both to perform their ordi-nary task and to employ themselves well in their spare hours.

¶And it is certain that a people thus ordered must live in great abundance of all things, and these being equally distributed among them, no man can want or be obliged to beg.

¶In their great council at Amaurot, to which there are three sent from every town once a year, they examine what towns abound in provisions and what are under any scarcity, that so the one may be furnished from the other; and this is done freely, with-out any sort of exchange; for, according to their plenty or scarcity, they supply or are supplied from one another, so that indeed the whole island is, as it were, one family.

¶When they have thus taken care of their whole country, and laid up stores for two years (which they do to prevent the ill consequences of an unfavorable season), they order an exportation of the overplus, both of corn, honey, wool, flax, wood, wax, tal-low, leather, and cattle, which they send out, commonly in great quantities, to other nations. They order a seventh part of all these goods to be freely given to the poor of the countries to which they send them, and sell the rest at moderate rates; and by this exchange they not only bring back those few things that they need at home (for, in-deed, they scarce need anything but iron), but likewise a great deal of gold and silver; and by their driving this trade so long, it is not to be imagined how vast a treasure they have got among them, so that now they do not much care whether they sell off their merchandise for money in hand or upon trust. A great part of their treasure is now in bonds; but in all their contracts no private man stands bound, but the writing runs in the name of the town; and the towns that owe them money raise it from those private hands that owe it to them, lay it up in their public chamber, or enjoy the profit of it till the Utopians call for it; and they choose rather to let the greatest part of it lie in their hands, who make advantage by it, than to call for it themselves; but if they see that any of their other neighbors stand more in need of it, then they call it in and lend it to them. Whenever they are engaged in war, which is the only occasion in which their

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remittitur. toto itinere cum nihil secum efferant, nihil defit tamen, ubique enim domi sunt. si quo in loco diutius uno die commorentur, suam ibi quisque ar-tem exercet, atque ab artis eiusdem opificibus, humanissime tractantur. si semet authore quisquam extra suos fines uagetur, deprehensus sine principis diplomate, contumeliose habitus, pro fugitiuo reducitur, castigatus acriter. idem ausus denuo, seruitute plectitur.

¶quod si quem libido incessat per suae ciuitatis agros palandi, uenia patris et consentiente coniuge, non prohibetur. sed in quodcumque rus peruenerit, nullus ante cibus datur, quam ante meridianum operis pensum,—aut quantum ante cenam ibi laborari solet—absoluerit. hac lege quouis intra suae urbis fines ire licet. erit enim non minus utilis urbi, quam si in urbe esset.

¶iam uidetis quam nulla sit usquam otiandi licentia, nullus inertiae praetex-tus, nulla taberna uinaria, nulla ceruisiaria, nusquam lupanar, nulla corruptelae occasio, nullae latebrae, conciliabulum nullum, sed omnium praesentes oculi necessitatem aut consueti laboris, aut otii non inhonesti faciunt.

¶quem populi morem necesse est omnium rerum copiam sequi. atque ea cum aequabiliter ad omnes perueniat, fit nimirum, ut inops esse nemo aut mendicus possit.

¶in senatu Amaurotico—quem uti dixi terni quotannis omni ex urbe frequen-tant—ubi primum constiterit; quae res quoque loco abundet, rursum cuius alicubi malignior prouentus fuerit, alterius inopiam, alterius protinus ubertas explet, atque id gratuito faciunt, nihil uicissim ab his recipientes quibus donant. sed quae de suis rebus unicuipiam urbi dederint, nihil ab ea repetentes, ab alia cui nihil impenderunt, quibus egent accipiunt. ita tota insula uelut una familia est.

¶at postquam satis prouisum ipsis est,—quod non antea factum censent, quam in biennium propter anni sequentis euentum prospexerint—tum ex his quae supersunt magnam uim frumenti, mellis, lanae, lini, ligni, cocci, et conchyli-orum, uellerum, cerae, seui, corii, ad haec animalium quoque in alias regiones exportant. quarum rerum omnium, septimam partem inopibus eius regionis dono dant, reliquam pretio mediocri uenditant, quo ex commercio, non eas modo merces, quibus domi egent,—nam id fere nihil est praeter ferrum—sed argenti atque auri praeterea, magnam uim in patriam reportant. cuius rei diu-tina consuetudine supra quam credi possit, ubique iam earum rerum copia abundant. itaque nunc parum pensi habent, praesente ne pecunia, an in diem uendant, multoque maximam partem habeant in nominibus, in quibus tamen faciendis non priuatorum umquam, sed confectis ex more instrumentis, publi-cam urbis fidem sequuntur. ciuitas ubi solutionis dies aduenerit, a priuatis de-bitoribus exigit creditum, atque in aerarium redigit, eiusque pecuniae quoad ab Utopiensibus repetatur, usura fruitur. illi maximam partem numquam repetunt. nam quae res apud se nullum habet usum, eam ab his auferre, quibus usui est, haud aecum censent. ceterum si res ita poscat, ut eius aliquam partem alii po-pulo mutuam daturi sint, tum demum poscunt, aut cum bellum gerendum est, quam in rem unam totum illum thesaurum quem habent domi seruant, uti aut extremis in periculis, aut in subitis praesidio sit. potissimum quo milites exter-nos—quos libentius quam suos ciues obiiciunt discrimini—immodico stipendio

de aequatione ubertatis

72 Utopia

treasure can be usefully employed, they make use of it themselves; in great extremities or sudden accidents they employ it in hiring foreign troops, whom they more willingly expose to danger than their own people; they give them great pay, knowing well that this will work even on their enemies; that it will engage them either to betray their own side, or, at least, to desert it; and that it is the best means of raising mutual jealousies among them. For this end they have an incredible treasure; but they do not keep it as a treasure, but in such a manner as I am almost afraid to tell, lest you think it so extrava-gant as to be hardly credible. This I have the more reason to apprehend because, if I had not seen it myself, I could not have been easily persuaded to have believed it upon any man’s report. It is certain that all things appear incredible to us in proportion as they differ from known customs; but one who can judge aright will not wonder to find that, since their constitution differs so much from ours, their value of gold and silver should be measured by a very different standard.

¶Certainly they have no use for money among themselves, but keep it as a provision against events which seldom happen, and between which there are generally long in-tervening intervals, they value it no farther than it deserves—that is, in proportion to its use. So that it is plain they must prefer iron either to gold or silver, for men can no more live without iron than without fire or water; but Nature has marked out no use for the other metals so essential as not easily to be dispensed with. The folly of men has enhanced the value of gold and silver because of their scarcity; whereas, on the contrary, it is their opinion that Nature, as an indulgent parent, has freely given us all the best things in great abundance, such as water and earth, but has laid up and hid from us the things that are vain and useless.

¶If these metals were laid up in any tower in the kingdom it would raise a jealousy of the Prince and Senate, and give birth to that foolish mistrust into which the people are apt to fall—a jealousy of their intending to sacrifice the interest of the public to their own private advantage. If they should work it into vessels, or any sort of plate, they fear that the people might grow too fond of it, and so be unwilling to let the plate be run down, if a war made it necessary, to employ it in paying their soldiers.

¶To prevent all these inconveniences they have fallen upon an expedient which, as it agrees with their other policy, so is it very different from ours, and will scarce gain belief among us who value gold so much, and lay it up so carefully. They eat and drink out of vessels of earth or glass, which make an agreeable appearance, though formed of brittle materials; while they make their chamber-pots and close-stools of gold and silver, and that not only in their public halls but in their private houses. Of the same metals they likewise make chains and fetters for their slaves, to some of which, as a badge of infamy, they hang an earring of gold, and make others wear a chain or a coronet of the same metal; and thus they take care by all possible means to render gold and silver of no esteem; and from hence it is that while other nations part with their gold and silver as unwillingly as if one tore out their bowels, those of Utopia would look on their giving in all they possess of those metals (when there were any use for them) but as the parting with a trifle, or as we would esteem the loss of a penny!

¶They find pearls on their coasts, and diamonds and carbuncles on their rocks; they do not look after them, but, if they find them by chance, they polish them, and with them they adorn their children, who are delighted with them, and glory in them dur-ing their childhood; but when they grow to years, and see that none but children use

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conducant, gnari multitudine pecuniae hostes ipsos plerumque mercabiles, et uel proditione, uel infestis etiam signis inter se committi. hanc ob causam in-aestimabilem thesaurum seruant, at non ut thesaurum tamen, sed ita habent, quomodo me narrare profecto deterret pudor, metuentem ne fidem oratio non sit habitura, quod eo iustius uereor, quo magis mihi sum conscius, nisi uidissem praesens, quam aegre potuissem ipse perduci, ut alteri idem recensenti crederem. necesse est enim fere quam quicque est ab eorum qui audiunt moribus alienum, tam idem procul illis abesse a fide. quamquam prudens rerum aestimator minus fortasse mirabitur, cum reliqua eorum instituta, tam longe ab nostris differant; si argenti quoque atque auri usus ad ipsorum potius, quam ad nostri moris ra-tionem accommodetur.

¶nempe cum pecunia non utantur ipsi, sed in eum seruent euentum, qui ut potest usu uenire, ita fieri potest ut numquam incidat. interim aurum, argen-tumque—unde ea fit—sic apud se habent, ut ab nullo pluris aestimetur, quam rerum ipsarum natura meretur, qua quis non uidet quam longe infra ferrum sunt! ut sine quo non hercule magis quam absque igni atque aqua uiuere mortales queant, cum interim auro, argentoque nullum usum, quo non facile careamus, natura tribuerit, nisi hominum stultitia pretium raritati fecisset. quin contra, uelut parens indulgentissima optima quaeque in propatulo posuerit, ut aerem, aquam, ac tellurem ipsam, longissime uero uana ac nihil profutura semouerit.

¶ergo haec metalla si apud eos in turrim aliquam abstruderentur. princeps ac senatus in suspicionem uenire posset—ut est uulgi stulta solertia—ne deluso per technam populo, ipsi aliquo inde commodo fruerentur. porro si phyalas inde aliaque id genus opera fabre excusa conficerent, si quando incidisset occasio, ut conflanda sint rursus, atque in militum eroganda stipendium, uident nimirum fore, ut aegre patiantur auelli quae semel in delitiis habere coepissent.

¶his rebus uti occurrant, excogitauere quandam rationem, ut reliquis ipsorum institutis consentaneam, ita ab nostris—apud quos aurum tanti fit, ac tam dili-genter conditur—longissime abhorrentem, eoque nisi peritis non credibilem. nam cum in fictilibus e terra uitroque elegantissimis quidem illis, sed uilibus tamen edant bibantque. ex auro, atque argento non in communibus aulis modo, sed in priuatis etiam domibus, matellas passim, ac sordidissima quaeque uasa conficiunt. ad haec catenas et crassas compedes, quibus cohercent seruos; iisdem ex metallis operantur. postremo quoscumque aliquod crimen infames facit, ab horum auribus anuli dependent aurei, digitos aurum cingit, aurea torques ambit collum, et caput denique auro uincitur. ita omnibus curant modis, uti apud se aurum argentumque in ignominia sint, atque hoc pacto fit, ut haec metalla, quae ceterae gentes non minus fere dolenter ac uiscera sua distrahi patiuntur, apud Utopienses, si semel omnia res postularet efferri, nemo sibi iacturam unius fecisse assis uideretur.

¶margaritas praeterea legunt in litoribus, quin in rupibus quibusdam adamantes ac pyropos quoque; neque tamen quaerunt, sed oblatos casu, perpoliunt. his ornant infantulos, qui ut primis pueritiae annis, talibus ornamentis gloriantur, ac super-biunt; sic ubi plusculum accreuit aetatis, cum animaduertunt eiusmodi nugis non nisi pueros uti, nullo parentum monitu, sed suomet ipsorum pudore deponunt. non aliter ac nostri pueri, cum grandescunt nuces, bullas, et pupas abiiciunt.

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such baubles, they of their own accord, without being bid by their parents, lay them aside, and would be as much ashamed to use them afterwards as children among us, when they come to years, are of their puppets and other toys.

¶I never saw a clearer instance of the opposite impressions that different customs make on people than I observed in the ambassadors of the Anemolians, who came to Amaurot when I was there. As they came to treat of affairs of great consequence, the deputies from several towns met together to wait for their coming. The ambassadors of the nations that lie near Utopia, knowing their customs, and that fine clothes are in no esteem among them, that silk is despised, and gold is a badge of infamy, used to come very modestly clothed; but the Anemolians, lying more remote, and having had little commerce with them, understanding that they were coarsely clothed, and all in the same manner, took it for granted that they had none of those fine things among them of which they made no use; and they, being a vainglorious rather than a wise people, resolved to set themselves out with so much pomp that they should look like gods, and strike the eyes of the poor Utopians with their splendor. Thus three ambassadors made their entry with a hundred attendants, all clad in garments of different colors, and the greater part in silk; the ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility of their coun-try, were in cloth-of-gold, and adorned with massy chains, earrings and rings of gold; their caps were covered with bracelets set full of pearls and other gems—in a word, they were set out with all those things that among the Utopians were either the badges of slavery, the marks of infamy, or the playthings of children. It was not unpleasant to see, on the one side, how they looked big, when they compared their rich habits with the plain clothes of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to see them make their entry; and, on the other, to observe how much they were mistaken in the impres-sion which they hoped this pomp would have made on them. It appeared so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred out of their country, and had not seen the customs of other nations, that though they paid some reverence to those that were the most meanly clad, as if they had been the ambassadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors themselves so full of gold and chains, they looked upon them as slaves, and forbore to treat them with reverence. You might have seen the children who were grown big enough to despise their playthings, and who had thrown away their jewels, call to their mothers, push them gently, and cry out, ‘See that great fool, that wears pearls and gems as if he were yet a child!’ while their mothers very innocently replied, ‘Hold your peace! this, I believe, is one of the ambassadors’ fools.’ Others censured the fashion of their chains, and observed, ‘That they were of no use, for they were too slight to bind their slaves, who could easily break them; and, besides, hung so loose about them that they thought it easy to throw their away, and so get from them.”

¶But after the ambassadors had stayed a day among them, and saw so vast a quantity of gold in their houses (which was as much despised by them as it was esteemed in oth-er nations), and beheld more gold and silver in the chains and fetters of one slave than all their ornaments amounted to, their plumes fell, and they were ashamed of all that glory for which they had formed valued themselves, and accordingly laid it aside—a resolution that they immediately took when, on their engaging in some free discourse with the Utopians, they discovered their sense of such things and their other customs. The Utopians wonder how any man should be so much taken with the glaring doubt-ful lustre of a jewel or a stone, that can look up to a star or to the sun himself; or how any should value himself because his cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever

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¶itaque haec tam diuersa ab reliquis gentibus instituta, quam diuer-sas itidem animorum affectiones pariant, numquam aeque mihi atque in Anemoliorum legatis inclaruit. uenerunt hi Amaurotum—dum ego ad-eram—et quoniam magnis de rebus tractatum ueniebant, aduentum eorum terni illi ciues, ex qualibet urbe praeuenerant, sed omnes finitimarum gen-tium legati, qui eo ante appulerant, quibus Utopiensium perspecti mores er-ant, apud quos sumptuoso uestitui nihil honoris haberi intelligebant, sericum contemptui esse, aurum etiam infame sciebant, cultu quam poterant modestis-simo uenire consueuerant. at Anemolii, quod longius aberant, ac minus cum illis commercii habuerant, cum accepissent, eodem omnes, eoque rudi corporis cultu esse, persuasi non habere eos, quo non utebantur, ipsi etiam superbi magis, quam sapientes, decreuerunt apparatus elegantia, deos quosdam repraesentare, et miserorum oculos Utopiensium, ornatus sui splendore praestringere. itaque in-gressi sunt legati tres, cum comitibus centum, omnes uestitu uersicolori, plerique serico, legati ipsi—nam domi nobiles erant—amictu aureo, magnis torquibus, et inauribus aureis, ad haec anulis aureis in manibus, monilibus insuper appen-sis in pileo, quae margaritis ac gemmis affulgebant, omnibus postremo rebus ornati, quae apud Utopienses, aut seruorum supplicia, aut infamium dedecora, aut puerorum nugamenta fuere. itaque operae pretium erat uidere, quo pacto cristas erexerint, ubi suum ornatum cum Utopiensium uestitu—nam in plateis sese populus effuderat—contulere. contraque non minus erat uoluptatis con-siderare quam longe sua eos spes expectatioque fefellerat, quamquam longe ab ea existimatione aberant, quam se consecuturos putauerant. nempe Utopien-sium oculis omnium, exceptis perquam paucis, qui alias gentes aliqua idonea de causa inuiserant, totus ille splendor apparatus pudendus uidebatur, et infimum quemque pro dominis reuerenter salutantes, legatos ipsos ex aurearum usu cate-narum pro seruis habitos, sine ullo prorsus honore praetermiserunt. quin pueros quoque uidisses, qui gemmas ac margaritas abiecerant, ubi in legatorum pileis affixas conspexerunt, compellare matrem ac latus fodere. en mater, quam mag-nus nebulo margaritis adhuc et gemmulis utitur, ac si esset puerulus! at parens serio etiam illa, tace inquit fili, est opinor quispiam e morionibus legatorum. alii catenas illas aureas reprehendere, utpote nullius usus, quippe tam graciles, ut eas facile seruus infringere, tam laxas rursus, uti cum fuerit libitum possit excutere, et solutus ac liber quouis aufugere.

¶uerum legati postquam ibi unum, atque alterum diem uersati tantam auri uim in tanta uilitate conspexerunt, nec in minore contumelia, quam apud se honore habitam uidissent, ad haec in unius fugitiui serui catenas compedesque plus auri, atque argenti congestum, quam totus ipsorum trium apparatus constiterat, subsidentibus pen-nis omnem illum cultum, quo sese tam arroganter extulerant, pudefacti, sepo-suerunt. maxime uero postquam familiarius cum Utopiensibus collocuti, mores eorum atque opiniones didicere, mirantur illi siquidem quemquam esse mor-talium quem exiguae gemmulae, aut lapilli dubius oblectet fulgor, cui quidem stellam aliquam, atque ipsum denique solem liceat intueri, aut quemquam tam insanum esse, ut nobilior ipse sibi ob tenuioris lanae filum uideatur, siquidem hanc ipsam—quantumuis tenui filo sit—ouis olim gestauit, nec aliud tamen interim, quam ouis fuit. mirantur item aurum suapte natura tam inutile, nunc ubique gentium aestimari tanti, ut homo ipse per quem, atque adeo in cuius

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that thread may be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and that sheep, was a sheep still, for all its wearing it. They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed that even man, for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than this metal; that a man of lead, who has no more sense than a log of wood, and is as bad as he is foolish, should have many wise and good men to serve him, only because he has a great heap of that metal; and that if it should happen that by some accident or trick of law (which, sometimes produces as great changes as chance itself) all this wealth should pass from the master to the meanest varlet of his whole family, he himself would very soon become one of his servants, as if he were a thing that belonged to his wealth, and so were bound to follow its fortune! But they much more admire and detest the folly of those who, when they see a rich man, though they neither owe him anything, nor are in any sort dependent on his bounty, yet, merely because he is rich, give him little less than divine honors, even though they know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding all his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as long as he lives!

¶These and such like notions have that people imbibed, partly from their education, being bred in a country whose customs and laws are opposite to all such foolish max-ims, and partly from their learning and studies—for though there are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from labor as to give themselves entirely up to their studies (these being only such persons as discover from their childhood an extraor-dinary capacity and disposition for letters), yet their children and a great part of the nation, both men and women, are taught to spend those hours in which they are not obliged to work in reading; and this they do through the whole progress of life.

¶They have all their learning in their own tongue, which is both a copious and pleas-ant language, and in which a man can fully express his mind; it runs over a great tract of many countries, but it is not equally pure in all places.

¶They had never so much as heard of the names of any of those philosophers that are so famous in these parts of the world, before we went among them; and yet they had made the same discoveries as the Greeks, both in music, logic, arithmetic, and geom-etry. But as they are almost in everything equal to the ancient philosophers, so they far exceed our modern logicians for they have never yet fallen upon the barbarous niceties that our youth are forced to learn in those trifling logical schools that are among us. They are so far from minding chimeras and fantastical images made in the mind that none of them could comprehend what we meant when we talked to them of a man in the abstract as common to all men in particular (so that though we spoke of him as a thing that we could point at with our fingers, yet none of them could perceive him) and yet distinct from every one, as if he were some monstrous Colossus or giant.

¶Yet, for all this ignorance of these empty notions, they knew astronomy, and were perfectly acquainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies; and have many instru-ments, well contrived and divided, by which they very accurately compute the course and positions of the sun, moon, and stars. But for the cheat of divining by the stars, by their oppositions or conjunctions, it has not so much as entered into their thoughts. They have a particular sagacity, founded upon much observation, in judging of the weather, by which they know when they may look for rain, wind, or other alterations in the air; but as to the philosophy of these things, the cause of the saltness of the sea,

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usum id pretii obtinuit, minoris multo quam aurum ipsum aestimetur, usque adeo ut plumbeus quispiam, et cui non plus ingenii sit quam stipiti, nec minus etiam improbus quam stultus, multos tamen et sapientes et bonos uiros in serui-tute habeat, ob id dumtaxat, quod ei magnus contigit aureorum numismatum cumulus, quem si qua fortuna, aut aliqua legum stropha—quae nihil minus ac fortuna ipsa summis ima permiscet—ab hero illo ad abiectissimum totius familiae suae nebulonem transtulerit, fit nimirum paulo post, ut in famuli sui famulicium concedat, uelut appendix additamentumque numismatum. ceterum multo magis eorum mirantur, ac detestantur insaniam qui diuitibus illis, quibus neque debent quicquam, neque sunt obnoxii, nullo alio respectu, quam quod di-uites sunt, honores tantum non diuinos impendunt, idque cum eos tam sordidos atque auaros cognoscunt, ut habeant certo certius ex tanto nummorum cumulo, uiuentibus illis ne unum quidem nummulum umquam ad se uenturum.

¶has atque huiusmodi opiniones partim ex educatione conceperunt. in ea educti republica cuius instituta longissime ab his stultitiae generi-bus absunt, partim ex doctrina et litteris. nam et si haud multi cuiusque urbis sunt, qui ceteris exonerati laboribus soli disciplinae deputantur. ii uidelicet in quibus a pueritia egregiam indolem, eximium ingenium, atque animum ad bonas artes propensum deprehendere, tamen omnes pueri litteris imbuuntur, et populi bona pars, uiri, feminaeque, per totam uitam, horas illas quas ab operibus liberas diximus, in litteris collocant.

¶disciplinas ipsorum lingua perdiscunt. est enim neque uerborum inops, nec insuauis auditu, nec ulla fidelior animi interpres est. eadem fere—nisi quod ubique corruptior, alibi aliter—magnam eius orbis plagam peruagatur.

¶ex omnibus his philosophis, quorum nomina sunt in hoc noto nobis orbe celebria, ante nostrum aduentum ne fama quidem cuiusquam eo peruenerat, et tamen in musica, dialecticaque, ac numerandi et metiendi scientia, eadem fere quae nostri illi ueteres inuenere. ceterum ut antiquos omnibus prope rebus exaequant, ita nuperorum inuentis dialecticorum longe sunt impares. nam ne ullam quidem regulam inuenerunt earum, quas de restrictionibus, amplifica-tionibus, ac suppositionibus acutissime excogitatis in paruis logicalibus passim hic ediscunt pueri. porro secundas intentiones tam longe abest ut inuestigare suffecerint, ut nec hominem ipsum in communi quem uocant, quamquam—ut scitis—plane colosseum et quouis gigante maiorem, tum a nobis praeterea digito demonstratum, nemo tamen eorum uidere potuerit.

¶at sunt in astrorum cursu, et caelestium orbium motu, peritissimi. quin in-strumenta quoque diuersis figuris solerter excogitarunt, quibus solis ac lunae, et ceterorum item astrorum quae in ipsorum horizonte uisuntur, motiones ac situs exactissime comprehensos habent. ceterum amicitias, atque errantium dissidia siderum, ac totam denique illam ex astris diuinandi imposturam, ne somniant quidem. imbres, uentos, ac ceteras tempestatum uicissitudines, signis quibus-dam longo perspectis usu praesentiunt. sed de causis earum rerum omnium, et de fluxu maris eiusque salsitate, et in summa de caeli mundique origine, ac natura partim eadem quae ueteres philosophi nostri disserunt, partim ut illi inter se dissident, ita hi quoque dum nouas rerum rationes afferunt, ab omnibus illis dissentiunt, nec inter se tamen usquequaque conueniunt.

de educatione et artibus

78 Utopiaof its ebbing and flowing, and of the original and nature both of the heavens and the earth, they dispute of them partly as our ancient philosophers have done, and partly upon some new hypothesis, in which, as they differ from them, so they do not in all things agree among themselves.

¶As to moral philosophy, they have the same disputes among them as we have here. They examine what are properly good, both for the body and the mind; and whether any outward thing can be called truly good, or if that term belong only to the endow-ments of the soul. They inquire, likewise, into the nature of virtue and pleasure. But their chief dispute is concerning the happiness of a man, and wherein it consists—whether in some one thing or in a great many. They seem, indeed, more inclinable to that opinion that places, if not the whole, yet the chief part, of a man’s happiness in pleasure; and, what may seem more strange, they make use of arguments even from religion, notwithstanding its severity and roughness, for the support of that opinion so indulgent to pleasure; for they never dispute concerning happiness without fetching some arguments from the principles of religion as well as from natural reason, since without the former they reckon that all our inquiries after happiness must be but con-jectural and defective.

¶These are their religious principles: That the soul of man is immortal, and that God of His goodness has designed that it should be happy; and that He has, therefore, appointed rewards for good and virtuous actions, and punishments for vice, to be dis-tributed after this life. Though these principles of religion are conveyed down among them by tradition, they think that even reason itself determines a man to believe and acknowledge them; and freely confess that if these were taken away, no man would be so insensible as not to seek after pleasure by all possible means, lawful or unlawful, us-ing only this caution: that a lesser pleasure might not stand in the way of a greater, and that no pleasure ought to be pursued that should draw a great deal of pain after it; for they think it the maddest thing in the world to pursue virtue, that is a sour and difficult thing, and not only to renounce the pleasures of life, but willingly to undergo much pain and trouble, if a man has no prospect of a reward. And what reward can there be for one that has passed his whole life, not only without pleasure, but in pain, if there is nothing to be expected after death?

¶Yet they do not place happiness in all sorts of pleasures, but only in those that in themselves are good and honest. There is a party among them who place happiness in bare virtue; others think that our natures are conducted by virtue to happiness, as that which is the chief good of man. They define virtue thus: that it is a living according to Nature, and think that we are made by God for that end; they believe that a man then follows the dictates of Nature when he pursues or avoids things according to the direction of reason. They say that the first dictate of reason is the kindling in us a love and reverence for the Divine Majesty, to whom we owe both all that we have and, all that we can ever hope for. In the next place, reason directs us to keep our minds as free from passion and as cheerful as we can, and that we should consider ourselves as bound by the ties of good-nature and humanity to use our utmost endeavours to help forward the happiness of all other persons; for there never was any man such a morose and severe pursuer of virtue, such an enemy to pleasure, that though he set hard rules for men to undergo, much pain, many watchings, and other rigors, yet did not at the same time advise them to do all they could in order to relieve and ease the miserable, and who did not represent gentleness and good-nature as amiable dispositions. And

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¶in ea philosophiae parte qua de moribus agitur, eadem illis disputantur quae nobis, de bonis animi quaerunt et corporis, et externis, tum utrum boni nomen omnibus his, an solis animi dotibus conueniat. de uirtute disserunt, ac uolup-tate, sed omnium prima est ac princeps controuersia, quanam in re, una pluri-busue sitam hominis felicitatem putent. at hac in re propensiores aequo uidentur in factionem uoluptatis assertricem, ut qua uel totam, uel potissimam felicitatis humanae partem definiant. et quo magis mireris ab religione quoque—quae grauis et seuera est fereque tristis et rigida—petunt tamen sententiae tam deli-catae patrocinium. neque enim de felicitate disceptant umquam, quin principia quaedam ex religione deprompta, tum philosophia quae rationibus utitur coni-ungant, sine quibus ad uerae felicitatis inuestigationem mancam, atque imbecil-lam per se rationem putant.

¶ea principia sunt huiusmodi: animam esse immortalem, ac dei beneficentia ad felicitatem natam, uirtutibus ac bene factis nostris praemia post hanc uitam, fla-gitiis destinata supplicia. haec tametsi religionis sint, ratione tamen censent ad ea credenda, et concedenda perduci, quibus e medio sublatis, sine ulla cunctatione pronunciant neminem esse tam stupidum, qui non sentiat petendam sibi per fas ac nefas uoluptatem. hoc tantum caueret ne minor uoluptas obstet maiori, aut eam persequatur quam inuicem retaliet dolor. nam uirtutem asperam, ac dif-ficilem sequi, ac non abigere modo suauitatem uitae, sed dolorem etiam sponte perpeti, cuius nullum expectes fructum—quis enim potest esse fructus si post mortem nihil assequeris cum hanc uitam totam insuauiter hoc est misere tradux-eris—id uero dementissimum ferunt.

¶nunc uero non in omni uoluptate felicitatem, sed in bona, atque honesta sitam putant. ad eam enim uelut ad summum bonum, naturam nostram ab ipsa uirtute pertrahi, cui sola aduersa factio felicitatem tribuit. nempe uirtu-tem definiunt, secundum naturam uiuere ad id siquidem a deo institutos esse nos. eum uero naturae ductum sequi quisquis in appetendis fugiendisque re-bus obtemperat rationi. rationem porro, mortales primum omnium in amorem, ac uenerationem diuinae maiestatis incendere, cui debemus, et quod sumus, et quod compotes esse felicitatis possumus, secundum id commonet, atque exci-tat nos ut uitam quam licet minime anxiam, ac maxime laetam ducamus ipsi, ceterisque omnibus ad idem obtinendum adiutores nos pro naturae societate praebeamus. neque enim quisquam umquam fuit tam tristis ac rigidus assecla uirtutis, et osor uoluptatis, qui ita labores, uigilias et squalores indicat tibi, ut non idem aliorum inopiam, atque incommoda leuare, te pro tua uirili iubeat, et id laudandum humanitatis nomine censeat, hominem homini saluti ac solatio esse, si humanum est maxime—qua uirtute nulla est homini magis propria—ali-orum mitigare molestiam, et sublata tristitia uitae iucunditati, hoc est uoluptati reddere. quid ni natura quemque instiget ut sibimet idem praestet! nam aut mala est uita iucunda, id est, uoluptaria, quod si est, non solum neminem ad eam debes adiutare, sed omnibus utpote noxiam ac mortiferam, quantum potes adimere, aut si conciliare aliis eam, ut bonam non licet modo, sed etiam debes, cur non tibi in primis ipsi! cui non minus propitium esse te quam aliis decet. neque enim cum te natura moneat uti in alios bonus sis, eadem te rursus iubet, in temet saeuum atque inclementem esse.

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from thence they infer that if a man ought to advance the welfare and comfort of the rest of mankind (there being no virtue more proper and peculiar to our nature than to ease the miseries of others, to free from trouble and anxiety, in furnishing them with the comforts of life, in which pleasure consists) Nature much more vigorously leads them to do all this for himself. A life of pleasure is either a real evil, and in that case we ought not to assist others in their pursuit of it, but, on the contrary, to keep them from it all we can, as from that which is most hurtful and deadly; or if it is a good thing, so that we not only may but ought to help others to it, why, then, ought not a man to begin with himself? since no man can be more bound to look after the good of another than after his own; for Nature cannot direct us to be good and kind to others, and yet at the same time to be unmerciful and cruel to ourselves.

¶Thus as they define virtue to be living according to Nature, so they imagine that Nature prompts all people on to seek after pleasure as the end of all they do. They also observe that in order to our supporting the pleasures of life, Nature inclines us to enter into society; for there is no man so much raised above the rest of mankind as to be the only favorite of Nature, who, on the contrary, seems to have placed on a level all those that belong to the same species. Upon this they infer that no man ought to seek his own conveniences so eagerly as to prejudice others; and therefore they think that not only all agreements between private persons ought to be observed, but likewise that all those laws ought to be kept which either a good prince has published in due form, or to which a people that is neither oppressed with tyranny nor circumvented by fraud has consented, for distributing those conveniences of life which afford us all our pleasures.

¶They think it is an evidence of true wisdom for a man to pursue his own advantage as far as the laws allow it, they account it piety to prefer the public good to one’s private concerns, but they think it unjust for a man to seek for pleasure by snatching another man’s pleasures from him; and, on the contrary, they think it a sign of a gentle and good soul for a man to dispense with his own advantage for the good of others, and that by this means a good man finds as much pleasure one way as he parts with another; for as he may expect the like from others when he may come to need it, so, if that should fail him, yet the sense of a good action, and the reflections that he makes on the love and gratitude of those whom he has so obliged, gives the mind more pleasure than the body could have found in that from which it had restrained itself. They are also persuaded that God will make up the loss of those small pleasures with a vast and endless joy, of which religion easily convinces a good soul.

¶Thus, upon an inquiry into the whole matter, they reckon that all our actions, and even all our virtues, terminate in pleasure, as in our chief end and greatest happiness; and they call every motion or state, either of body or mind, in which Nature teaches us to delight, a pleasure.

¶Thus they cautiously limit pleasure only to those appetites to which Nature leads us; for they say that Nature leads us only to those delights to which reason, as well as sense, carries us, and by which we neither injure any other person nor lose the possession of greater pleasures, and of such as draw no troubles after them. But they look upon those delights which men by a foolish, though common, mistake call pleasure, as if they could change as easily the nature of things as the use of words, as things that greatly obstruct their real happiness, instead of advancing it, because they so entirely possess the minds of those that are once captivated by them with a false notion of pleasure that there is no room left for pleasures of a truer or purer kind.

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¶uitam ergo iucundam inquiunt, id est uoluptatem tamquam operationum omnium finem, ipsa nobis natura praescribit, ex cuius praescripto uiuere, uirtu-tem definiunt. at cum natura mortales inuitet ad hilarioris uitae mutuum sub-sidium—quod certe merito facit. neque enim tam supra generis humani sortem quisquam est, ut solus naturae curae sit, quae uniuersos ex aequo fouet, quos eiusdem formae communione complectitur—eadem te nimirum iubet etiam atque etiam obseruare, ne sic tuis commodis obsecundes; ut aliorum procures incommoda.

¶seruanda igitur censent non inita solum inter priuatos pacta, sed publicas etiam leges, quas aut bonus princeps iuste promulgauit, aut populus, nec op-pressus tyrannide, nec dolo circumscriptus, de partiendis uitae commodis, hoc est materia uoluptatis, communi consensu sanxit. iis inoffensis legibus tuum curare commodum, prudentia est; publicum praeterea, pietatis; sed alienam uo-luptatem praereptum ire, dum consequare tuam; ea uero iniuria est, contra tibi aliquid ipsi demere, quod addas aliis, id demum est humanitatis ac benignitatis officium, quod ipsum numquam tantum aufert commodi, quantum refert. nam et beneficiorum uicissitudine pensatur, et ipsa benefacti conscientia, ac recor-datio caritatis eorum et beneuolentiae quibus benefeceris, plus uoluptatis affert animo, quam fuisset illa corporis qua abstinuisti. postremo—quod facile per-suadet animo libenter assentienti religio—breuis et exiguae uoluptatis uicem, ingenti ac numquam interituro gaudio rependit deus.

¶itaque hoc pacto censent, et excussa sedulo et perpensa re omnes actiones nostras, atque in his uirtutes etiam ipsas, uoluptatem tandem uelut finem, felici-tatemque respicere.

¶uoluptatem appellant omnem corporis animiue motum statumque, in quo uersari natura duce delectet. appetitionem naturae, non temere addunt. nam ut quicquid natura iucundum est, ad quod neque per iniuriam tenditur, nec iucun-dius aliud amittitur, nec labor succedit, non sensus modo, sed recta quoque ratio persequitur, ita quae praeter naturam dulcia sibi mortales uanissima conspiratio-ne confingunt—tamquam in ipsis esset perinde res ac uocabula commutare—ea omnia statuunt adeo nihil ad felicitatem facere, ut plurimum officiant etiam, uel eo quod quibus semel insederunt, ne ueris ac genuinis oblectamentis usquam uacet locus, totum prorsus animum falsa uoluptatis opinione praeoccupant. sunt enim perquam multa, quae cum suapte natura nihil contineant suauitatis, immo bona pars amaritudinis etiam plurimum, peruersa tum improbarum cupidita-tum illecebra, non pro summis tantum uoluptatibus habeantur; uerum etiam inter praecipuas uitae causas numerentur.

¶in hoc adulterinae uoluptatis genere, eos collocant, quos ante memoraui, qui quo meliorem togam habent, eo sibi meliores ipsi uidentur. qua una in re, bis errant. neque enim minus falsi sunt, quod meliorem putant togam suam, quam quod se. cur enim si uestis usum spectes, tenuioris fili lana praestet crassiori! at illi tamen tamquam natura non errore praecellerent, attolunt cristas, et sibimet quoque pretii credunt inde non nihil accedere. eoque honorem, quem uilius uestiti sperare non essent ausi elegantiori togae, uelut suo iure exigunt, et prae-termissi negligentius indignantur.

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¶There are many things that in themselves have nothing that is truly delightful; on the contrary, they have a good deal of bitterness in them; and yet, from our perverse ap-petites after forbidden objects, are not only ranked among the pleasures, but are made even the greatest designs, of life. Among those who pursue these sophisticated pleasures they reckon such as I mentioned before, who think themselves really the better for having fine clothes; in which they think they are doubly mistaken, both in the opinion they have of their clothes, and in that they have of themselves. For if you consider the use of clothes, why should a fine thread be thought better than a coarse one? And yet these men, as if they had some real advantages beyond others, and did not owe them wholly to their mistakes, look big, seem to fancy themselves to be more valuable, and imagine that a respect is due to them for the sake of a rich garment, to which they would not have pretended if they had been more meanly clothed, and even resent it as an affront if that respect is not paid them.

¶It is also a great folly to be taken with outward marks of respect, which signify nothing; for what true or real pleasure can one man find in another’s standing bare or making legs to him? Will the bending another man’s knees give ease to yours? and will the head’s being bare cure the madness of yours? And yet it is wonderful to see how this false notion of pleasure bewitches many who delight themselves with the fancy of their nobility, and are pleased with this conceit—that they are descended from ancestors who have been held for some successions rich, and who have had great possessions; for this is all that makes nobility at present. Yet they do not think themselves a whit the less noble, though their immediate parents have left none of this wealth to them, or though they themselves have squandered it away.

¶The Utopians have no better opinion of those taken with gems and precious stones, and account it a degree of happiness next to a divine one if they can purchase one that is very extraordinary, especially if it be the sort of stone that is then in greatest request, for the same sort is not at all times of the same value, nor will men buy it unless it be dismounted and taken out of the gold. The jeweller is then made to give good security, and required solemnly to swear that the stone is true, that, by such an exact caution, a false one might not be bought instead of a true; though, if you were to examine it, your eye could find no difference between the counterfeit and that which is true; so that they are all one to you, as much as if you were blind.

¶Or can it be thought that they who heap up a useless mass of wealth, not for any use that it is to bring them, but merely to please themselves with the contemplation of it, enjoy any true pleasure in it? The delight they find is only a false shadow of joy. No better is he whose error is somewhat different from the former, and who hide it out of their fear of losing it; for what other name can fit the burying it, or, rather, the restoring it to it again, it being thus cut off from being useful either to its owner or to the rest of mankind? And yet the owner, having hid it carefully, is glad, because he thinks he is now sure of it. If it should be stole, the owner, though he might live perhaps ten years after the theft, of which he knew nothing, would find no difference between his having or losing it, for both ways it was equally useless to him. Among those foolish pursuers of pleasure they reckon all that delight in hunting, fowling, or gaming, of whose mad-ness they have only heard, for they have no such things. They have asked us, ‘What sort of pleasure is it that men can find in throwing the dice?’ (for if there were any pleasure in it, they think the doing it so often should give one a surfeit of it); ‘and what pleasure

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¶at hoc ipsum quoque, uanis et nihil profuturis honoribus affici, an non eius-dem inscitiae est! nam quid naturalis et uerae uoluptatis affert nudatus alterius uertex, aut curuati poplites, hoccine tuorum poplitum dolori medebitur! aut tui capitis phrenesim leuabit! in hac fucatae uoluptatis imagine, mirum quam suauiter insaniunt ii qui nobilitatis opinione sibi blandiuntur ac plaudunt, quod eiusmodi maioribus nasci contigerit, quorum longa series diues—neque enim nunc aliud est nobilitas—habita sit, praesertim in praediis, nec pilo quidem mi-nus sibi nobiles uidentur, etiam si maiores nihil inde reliquerint, aut relictum ipsi obligurierint.

¶his adnumerant eos qui gemmis ac lapillis—ut dixi—capiuntur, ac dii quo-dammodo sibi uidentur facti, si quando eximium aliquem consequantur, eius praesertim generis, quod sua tempestate, maximo apud suos aestimetur; neque enim apud omnes, neque omni tempore, eadem genera sunt in pretio; sed nec nisi exemptum auro ac nudum comparant. immo ne sic quidem, nisi adiurato uenditore, et praestanti cautionem, ueram gemmam ac lapidem uerum esse, tam solliciti sunt; ne oculis eorum, ueri loco adulterinus imponat. at spectaturo tibi, cur minus praebeat oblectamenti factitius, quem tuus oculus non discernit a uero! uterque ex aequo ualere debet, tibi, non minus hercle quam caeco.

¶quid ii qui superfluas opes adseruant, ut nullo acerui usu, sed sola contem-platione delectentur, num ueram percipiunt; an falsa potius uoluptate ludun-tur! aut hi qui diuerso uitio, aurum quo numquam sint usuri, fortasse nec uisuri amplius, abscondunt, et solliciti ne perdant, perdunt. quid enim aliud est, usibus demptum tuis et omnium fortasse mortalium, telluri reddere! et tu tamen abstruso thesauro, uelut animi iam securus laetitia gestis. quem si quis furto sustulerit, cuius tu ignarus furti, decem post annis obieris, toto illo decen-nio, quo subtractae pecuniae superfuisti, quid tua retulit, surreptum an saluum fuisse! utroque certe modo tantumdem usus ad te peruenit, ad has tam ineptas laetitias, aleatores—quorum insaniam auditu, non usu cognouere—uenatores praeterea, atque aucupes, adiungunt. nam quid habet, inquiunt, uoluptatis, talos in alueum proiicere, quod toties fecisti, ut si quid uoluptatis inesset, oriri tamen potuisset ex frequenti usu satietas! aut quae suauitas esse potest, ac non fastidium potius in audiendo latratu, atque ululatu canum! aut qui maior uoluptatis sensus est, cum leporem canis insequitur, quam cum canis canem! nempe idem utrobique agitur, accurritur enim, si te cursus oblectet. at si te cae-dis spes, laniatus expectatio sub oculis peragendi retinet, misericordiam potius mouere debet, spectare, lepusculum a cane, imbecillum a ualidiore, fugacem ac timidum a feroce, innoxium denique a crudeli discerptum.

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can one find in hearing the barking and howling of dogs, which seem rather odious than pleasant sounds?’ Nor can they comprehend the pleasure of seeing dogs run after a hare, more than of seeing one dog run after another; for if the seeing them run is that which gives the pleasure, you have the same entertainment to the eye on both these oc-casions, since that is the same in both cases. If the pleasure lies in seeing the hare killed and torn by the dogs, this ought rather to stir pity, that a weak, harmless, and fearful hare should be devoured by strong, fierce, and cruel dogs.

¶Thus the business of hunting is, among the Utopians, turned over to their butchers, and those, as has been already said, are all slaves, and they look on hunting as one of the basest parts of a butcher’s work, for they account it both more profitable and more decent to kill those beasts that are more necessary and useful to mankind, whereas the killing and tearing of so small and miserable an animal can only attract the huntsman with a false show of pleasure, from which he can reap but small advantage. They look on the desire of bloodshed, even of beasts, as a mark of a mind that is already corrupted with cruelty, or that at least, by too frequent returns of so brutal a pleasure, must de-generate into it.

¶Thus though the rabble of mankind look upon these, and on innumerable other things of the same nature, as pleasures, the Utopians, on the contrary, observing that there is nothing in them truly pleasant, conclude that they are not to be reckoned among pleasures; for though these things may create some tickling in the senses (which seems to be a true notion of pleasure), yet they imagine that this does not arise from the thing itself, but from a depraved custom, which may so vitiate a man’s taste that bitter things may pass for sweet, as women with child think pitch or tallow taste sweeter than honey; but as a man’s sense, when corrupted either by a disease or some ill habit, does not change the nature of other things, so neither can it change the nature of pleasure.

¶They reckon up several sorts of pleasures, which they call true ones; some belong to the body, and others to the mind. The pleasures of the mind lie in knowledge, and in that delight which the contemplation of truth carries with it; to which they add the joyful reflections on a well-spent life, and the assured hopes of a future happiness.

¶They divide the pleasures of the body into two sorts—the one is that gives our senses some real delight, and is performed either by recruiting Nature and supplying those parts which feed the internal heat of life by eating and drinking, or when Nature is eased of any surcharge that oppresses it, when we are relieved from sudden pain, or that which arises from satisfying the appetite which Nature has wisely given to lead us to the propagation of the species. There is another kind of pleasure that arises neither from our receiving what the body requires, nor its being relieved when overcharged, and yet, by a secret unseen virtue, affects the senses, raises the passions, and strikes the mind with generous impressions—this is, the pleasure that arises from music.

¶Another kind of bodily pleasure is that which results from an undisturbed and vig-orous constitution of body, when life and active spirits seem to actuate every part. This lively health, when entirely free from all mixture of pain, of itself gives an inward pleasure, independent of all external objects of delight; and though this pleasure does not so powerfully affect us, nor act so strongly on the senses as some of the others, yet it may be esteemed as the greatest of all pleasures; and almost all the Utopians reckon it the foundation and basis of all the other joys of life, since this alone makes the state of life easy and desirable, and when this is wanting, a man is really capable of no other

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¶itaque Utopienses totum hoc uenandi exercitium, ut rem liberis indignam, in lanios—quam artem per seruos obire eos supra diximus—reiecerunt. infimam enim eius partem esse uenationem statuunt, reliquas eius partes et utiliores et honestiores ut quae et multo magis conferant, et animalia necessitatis dumtaxat gratia perimant, cum uenator ab miseri animalculi caede ac laniatu, nihil nisi uoluptatem petat, quam spectandae necis libidinem in ipsis etiam bestiis, aut ab animi crudelis affectu censent exoriri, aut in crudelitatem denique, assiduo tam efferae uoluptatis usu defluere.

¶haec igitur et quicquid est eiusmodi—sunt enim innumera—quamquam pro uoluptatibus mortalium uulgus habeat, illi tamen cum natura nihil insit suaue, plane statuunt, cum uera uoluptate nihil habere commercii. nam quod uulgo sensum iucunditate perfundunt—quod uoluptatis opus uidetur—nihil de sen-tentia decedunt. non enim ipsius rei natura, sed ipsorum peruersa consuetudo in causa est. cuius uitio fit, ut amara pro dulcibus amplectantur. non aliter ac mu-lieres grauidae picem et seuum, corrupto gustu, melle mellitius arbitrantur. nec cuiusquam tamen aut morbo, aut consuetudine deprauatum iudicium, mutare naturam, ut non aliarum rerum, ita nec uoluptatis potest.

¶uoluptatum quas ueras fatentur, species diuersas faciunt. siquidem alias ani-mo, corpori alias tribuunt. animo dant intellectum, eamque dulcedinem quam ueri contemplatio pepererit. ad haec suauis additur bene actae uitae memoria, et spes non dubia futuri boni.

¶corporis uoluptatem in duas partiuntur formas, quarum prima sit ea, quae sensum perspicua suauitate perfundit, quod alias earum instauratione partium fit, quas insitus nobis calor exhauserit. nam hae cibo potuque redduntur, alias dum egeruntur illa, quorum copia corpus exuberat. haec suggeritur, dum excre-mentis intestina purgamus, aut opera liberis datur, aut ullius prurigo partis frictu scalptuue lenitur. interdum uero uoluptas oritur, nec redditura quicquam quod membra nostra desiderent, nec ademptura quo laborent; ceterum quae sensus nostros tamen ui quadam occulta, sed illustri motu titillet afficiatque, et in se conuertat, qualis ex musica nascitur.

¶alteram corporeae uoluptatis formam, eam uolunt esse, quae in quieto, atque aequabili corporis statu consistat, id est nimirum sua cuiusque nullo interpellata malo sanitas. haec siquidem, si nihil eam doloris oppugnet, per se ipsa delectat, etiam si nulla extrinsecus adhibita uoluptate moueatur. quamquam enim sese minus effert, minusque offert sensui, quam tumida illa edendi bibendique li-bido, nihilo tamen secius multi eam statuunt uoluptatum maximam, omnes fere Utopienses magnam et uelut fundamentum omnium ac basim fatentur, ut quae uel sola placidam et optabilem uitae conditionem reddat, et qua sublata, nullus usquam reliquus sit cuiquam uoluptati locus. nam dolore prorsus uacare, nisi adsit sanitas, stuporem certe non uoluptatem uocant. iamdudum explosum est apud eos decretum illorum, qui stabilem et tranquillam sanitatem—nam haec quoque quaestio gnauiter apud eos agitata est—ideo non habendam pro uolup-tate censebant, quod praesentem non posse dicerent, nisi motu quopiam extrario sentiri. uerum contra nunc in hoc prope uniuersi conspirant, sanitatem uel in primis uoluptati esse. etenim cum in morbo, inquiunt, dolor sit, qui uoluptati implacabilis hostis est, non aliter, ac sanitati morbus, quid ni uicissim insit sani-

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pleasure. They look upon freedom from pain, if it does not rise from perfect health, to be a state of stupidity rather than of pleasure. This subject has been very narrowly canvassed among them, and it has been debated whether a firm and entire health could be called a pleasure or not. Some have thought that there was no pleasure but what was ‘excited’ by some sensible motion in the body. But this opinion has been long ago excluded from among them; so that now they almost universally agree that health is the greatest of all bodily pleasures; and that as there is a pain in sickness which is as op-posite in its nature to pleasure as sickness itself is to health, so they hold that health is accompanied with pleasure. And if any should say that sickness is not really pain, but that it only carries pain along with it, they look upon that as a fetch of subtlety that does not much alter the matter. It is all one, in their opinion, whether it be said that health is in itself a pleasure, or that it begets a pleasure, as fire gives heat, so it be granted that all those whose health is entire have a true pleasure in the enjoyment of it. And they reason thus: ‘What is the pleasure of eating, but that a man’s health, which had been weakened, does, with the assistance of food, drive away hunger, and so recruiting itself, recovers its former vigour? And being thus refreshed it finds a pleasure in that conflict; and if the conflict is pleasure, the victory must yet breed a greater pleasure, except we fancy that it becomes stupid as soon as it has obtained that which it pursued, and so neither knows nor rejoices in its own welfare.’ If it is said that health cannot be felt, they absolutely deny it; for what man is in health, that does not perceive it when he is awake? Is there any man that is so dull and stupid as not to acknowledge that he feels a delight in health? And what is delight but another name for pleasure?

¶Of all pleasures, they esteem those to be most valuable that lie in the mind, the chief of which arise out of true virtue and the witness of a good conscience. They account health the chief pleasure that belongs to the body; for they think that the pleasure of eating and drinking, and all the other delights of sense, are only so far desirable as they give or maintain health; but they are not pleasant in themselves otherwise than as they resist those impressions that our natural infirmities are still making upon us. For as a wise man desires rather to avoid diseases than to take physic, and to be freed from pain rather than to find ease by remedies, so it is more desirable not to need this sort of plea-sure than to be obliged to indulge it. If any man imagines that there is a real happiness in these enjoyments, he must then confess that he would be the happiest of all men if he were to lead his life in perpetual hunger, thirst, and itching, and, by consequence, in perpetual eating, drinking, and scratching himself; which any one may easily see would be not only a base, but a miserable, state of a life. These are, indeed, the lowest of plea-sures, and the least pure, for we can never relish them but when they are mixed with the contrary pains. The pain of hunger must give us the pleasure of eating, and here the pain out-balances the pleasure. And as the pain is more vehement, so it lasts much longer; for as it begins before the pleasure, so it does not cease but with the pleasure that extinguishes it, and both expire together.

¶They think, therefore, none of those pleasures are to be valued any further than as they are necessary; yet they rejoice in them, and with due gratitude acknowledge the tenderness of the great Author of Nature, who has planted in us appetites, by which those things that are necessary for our preservation are likewise made pleasant to us. For how miserable a thing would life be if those daily diseases of hunger and thirst were to be carried off by such bitter drugs as we must use for those diseases that return seldomer upon us!

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tatis tranquillitati uoluptas! nihil enim ad hanc rem referre putant, seu morbus dolor esse, seu morbo dolor inesse dicatur. tantumdem enim utroque modo ef-fici. quippe si sanitas, aut uoluptas ipsa sit, aut necessario uoluptatem pariat, uelut calor igni gignitur, nimirum utrobique efficitur, ut quibus immota sanitas adest his uoluptas abesse non possit. praeterea dum uescimur, inquiunt, quid aliud quam sanitas quae labefactari coeperat, aduersus esuriem—cibo commili-tone—depugnat, in qua dum paulatim inualescit, ille ipse profectus ad solitum uigorem suggerit illam, qua sic reficimur, uoluptatem. sanitas ergo quae in con-flictu laetatur, eadem non gaudebit adepta uictoriam! sed pristinum robur, quod solum toto conflictu petiuerat, tandem feliciter assecuta, protinus obstupescet! nec bona sua cognoscet atque amplexabitur! nam quod non sentiri sanitas dicta est, id uero perquam procul a uero putant. quis enim uigilans, inquiunt, sanum esse se non sentit, nisi qui non est! quemne tantus, aut stupor, aut lethargus adstringit, ut sanitatem non iucundam sibi fateatur ac delectabilem! at delectatio quid aliud quam alio nomine uoluptas est!

¶amplectuntur ergo in primis animi uoluptates,—eas enim primas omnium principesque ducunt—quarum potissimam partem censent ab exercitio uirtu-tum bonaeque uitae conscientia proficisci. earum uoluptatum quas corpus sug-gerit, palmam sanitati deferunt. nam edendi, bibendique suauitatem, et quicquid eandem oblectamenti rationem habet, appetenda quidem, sed non nisi sanitatis gratia statuunt. neque enim per se iucunda esse talia, sed quatenus aduersae uali-tudini clanculum surrepenti resistunt. ideoque sapienti, sicuti magis deprecan-dos morbos, quam optandam medicinam, et dolores profligandos potius, quam adsciscenda solatia, ita hoc quoque uoluptatis genere non egere quam deliniri praestiterit, quo uoluptatis genere si quisquam se beatum putet, is necesse est fateatur, se tum demum fore felicissimum, si ea uita contigerit, quae in perpetua fame, siti, pruritu, esu, potatione, scalptu, frictuque, traducatur; quae quam non foeda solum, sed misera etiam sit, quis non uidet! infimae profecto omnium hae uoluptates sunt, ut minime sincerae, neque enim umquam subeunt, nisi contrariis coniunctae doloribus, nempe cum edendi uoluptate copulatur esuries, idque non satis aequa lege. nam ut uehementior, ita longior quoque dolor est. quippe et ante uoluptatem nascitur, et nisi uoluptate una commoriente, non extinguitur.

¶huiusmodi ergo uoluptates, nisi quatenus expetit necessitas, haud magni ha-bendas putant. gaudent tamen etiam his, gratique agnoscunt naturae parentis indulgentiam, quae foetus suos ad id quod necessitatis causa tam assidue faciun-dum erat, etiam blandissima suauitate pelliceat. quanto enim in tedio uiuendum erat, si ut ceterae aegritudines quae nos infestant rarius, ita ii quoque cotidiani famis ac sitis morbi, uenenis ac pharmacis amaris essent abigendi!

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¶And thus these pleasant, as well as proper, gifts of Nature maintain the strength and the sprightliness of our bodies. They also entertain themselves with the other delights let in at their eyes, their ears, and their nostrils as the pleasant relishes and seasoning of life, which Nature seems to have marked out peculiarly for man, since no other animals contemplate the figure and beauty of the universe, nor are delighted with smells any further than as they distinguish meats by them; nor do they apprehend the concords or discords of sound. Yet, in all pleasures, they take care that a lesser joy does not hinder a greater, and that pleasure may never breed pain, which they think always follows dishonest pleasures. But they think it madness for a man to wear out the beauty of his face or the force of his natural strength, to corrupt the sprightliness of his body by sloth and laziness, or to waste it by fasting; that it is madness to weaken the strength of his constitution and reject the other delights of life, unless by renouncing his own satisfac-tion he can either serve the public or promote the happiness of others, for which he expects a greater recompense. So that they look on such a course of life as the mark of a mind that is both cruel to itself and ungrateful to the Author of Nature, as if we would not be beholden to Him for His favors, and therefore rejects all His blessings; as one who should afflict himself for the empty shadow of virtue, or for no better end than to render himself capable of bearing those misfortunes which possibly will never happen.

¶This is their notion of virtue and of pleasure: they think that no man’s reason can carry him to a truer idea of them unless some discovery from heaven should inspire him with sublimer notions. I have not now the leisure to examine whether they think right or wrong in this matter; nor do I judge it necessary, for I have only undertaken to give you an account of their constitution, but not to defend all their principles. I am sure that whatever may be said of their notions, there is not in the whole world either a better people or a happier government.

¶Their bodies are vigorous and lively; and though they are but of middle stature, and have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet they fortify them-selves so well, by their temperate course of life, against the unhealthiness of their air, and by their industry they so cultivate their soil, that there is nowhere to be seen a greater increase, both of corn and cattle, nor are there anywhere healthier men and freer from diseases; for one may there see reduced to practice not only all the art that the husband-man employs in manuring and improving an ill soil, but whole woods plucked up by the roots, and in other places new ones planted, where there were none before. Their principal motive for this is the convenience of carriage, that their timber may be either near their towns or growing on the banks of the sea, or of some rivers, so as to be floated to them; for it is a harder work to carry wood at any distance over land than corn.

¶The people are industrious, apt to learn, as well as cheerful and pleasant, and none can endure more labor when it is necessary; but, except in that case, they love their ease.

¶They are unwearied pursuers of knowledge; for when we had given them some hints of the learning and discipline of the Greeks, concerning whom we only instructed them (for we know that there was nothing among the Romans, except their historians and their poets, that they would value much), it was strange to see how eagerly they were set on learning that language: we began to read a little of it to them, rather in compliance with their importunity than out of any hopes of their reaping from it any great advantage: but, after a very short trial, we found they made such progress, that we

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¶at formam, uires, agilitatem, haec ut propria, iucundaque naturae dona libenter fouent. quin eas quoque uoluptates, quae per aures, oculos, ac nares admittuntur, quas natura proprias ac peculiares esse homini uoluit—neque enim aliud animantium genus, aut mundi formam pulchritudinemque suspicit, aut odorum; nisi ad cibi discrimen, ulla commouetur gratia; neque consonas in-ter se discordesque sonorum distantias internoscit—et has inquam ut iucunda quaedam uitae condimenta persequuntur. in omnibus autem hunc habent mo-dum ne maiorem minor impediat, neu dolorem aliquando uoluptas pariat, quod necessario sequi censent, si inhonesta sit. at certe formae decus contemnere; uires deterere, agilitatem in pigritiam uertere, corpus exhaurire ieiuniis, sanitati iniu-riam facere; et cetera naturae blandimenta respuere; nisi quis haec sua commoda negligat, dum aliorum publicamue ardentius procurat, cuius laboris uice maio-rem a deo uoluptatem expectet; alioquin ob inanem uirtutis umbram nullius bono, semet affligere; uel quo aduersa ferre minus moleste possit; numquam for-tasse uentura. hoc uero putant esse dementissimum, animique et in se crudelis; et erga naturam ingratissimi; cui tamquam debere quicquam dedignetur; omni-bus eius beneficiis renunciat.

¶haec est eorum de uirtute ac uoluptate sententia; qua nisi sanctius aliquid inspiret homini; caelitus immissa religio; nullam inuestigari credunt humana ratione ueriorem; qua in re rectene an secus sentiant, excutere nos, neque tem-pus patitur, neque necesse est. quippe qui narranda eorum instituta, non etiam tuenda suscepimus. ceterum hoc mihi certe persuadeo, utut sese habeant haec decreta; nusquam neque praestantiorem populum, neque feliciorem esse rem-publicam.

¶corpore sunt agili uegetoque; uirium amplius quam statura promittat nec ea tamen improcera; et cum neque solo sint usquequaque fertili; nec admodum salubri caelo; aduersus aerem ita sese temperantia uictus muniunt; terrae sic me-dentur industria; ut nusquam gentium sit frugis, pecorisque prouentus uberior; aut hominum uiuaciora corpora; paucioribusque morbis obnoxia. itaque non ea modo quae uulgo faciunt agricolae; diligenter ibi administrata conspicias; ut terram natura maligniorem, arte atque opera iuuent; sed populi manibus alibi radicitus euulsam siluam, alibi consitam uideas; qua in re habita est non uber-tatis; sed uecturae ratio; ut essent ligna, aut mari, aut fluuiis, aut urbibus ipsis uiciniora, minore enim cum labore terrestri itinere, fruges quam ligna longius afferuntur.

¶gens facilis ac faceta, sollers, otio gaudens, corporis laborum—cum est usus—satis patiens, ceterum alias haudquaquam sane appetens; animi studiis infati-gata.

¶qui cum a nobis accepissent de litteris et disciplina Graecorum—nam in Latinis praeter historias ac poetas nihil erat quod uidebantur magnopere proba-turi—mirum quanto studio contenderunt, ut eas liceret ipsis, nostra interpreta-tione perdiscere. coepimus ergo legere, magis adeo primum ne recusare laborem uideremur, quam quod fructum eius aliquem speraremus. at ubi paulum proces-simus, ipsorum diligentia fecit, ut nostram haud frustra impendendam animo statim praeciperemus. siquidem litterarum formas, tam facile imitari, uerba tam expedite pronunciare, tam celeriter mandare memoriae, et tanta cum fide red-

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saw our labor was like to be more successful than we could have expected: they learned to write their characters and to pronounce their language so exactly, had so quick an apprehension, they remembered it so faithfully, and became so ready and correct in the use of it, that it would have looked like a miracle if the greater part of those whom we taught had not been men both of extraordinary capacity and of a fit age for instruction: they were, for the greatest part, chosen from among their learned men by their chief council, though some studied it of their own accord. In three years’ time they became masters of the whole language, so that they read the best of the Greek authors very exactly.

¶I am, indeed, apt to think that they learned that language the more easily from its having some relation to their own. I believe that they were a colony of the Greeks; for though their language comes nearer the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their towns and magistrates, that are of Greek derivation. I happened to carry a great many books, instead of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth voyage; for I was so far from thinking of soon coming back, that I rather thought never to have returned at all, and I gave them all my books, among which were many of Plato’s and some of Aristot-le’s works: I had also Theophrastus on Plants, which, to my great regret, was imperfect; for having laid it carelessly by, while we were at sea, a monkey had seized upon it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They have no books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not carry Theodorus with me; nor have they any dictionaries but Hesichius and Dioscerides. They esteem Plutarch highly, and were much taken with Lucian’s wit and with his pleasant way of writing. As for the poets, they have Aristophanes, Homer, Eu-ripides, and Sophocles of Aldus’s edition; and for historians, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Herodian. One of my companions, Thricius Apinatus, happened to carry with him some of Hippocrates’s works and Galen’s Microtechne, which they hold in great estimation; for though there is no nation in the world that needs physic so little as they do, yet there is not any that honors it so much; they reckon the knowledge of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts of philosophy, by which, as they search into the secrets of nature, so they not only find this study highly agreeable, but think that such inquiries are very acceptable to the Author of nature; and imagine, that as He, like the inventors of curious engines amongst mankind, has exposed this great machine of the universe to the view of the only creatures capable of contemplating it, so an exact and curious observer, who admires His workmanship, is much more acceptable to Him than one of the herd, who, like a beast incapable of reason, looks on this glorious scene with the eyes of a dull and unconcerned spectator.

¶The minds of the Utopians, when fenced with a love for learning, are very ingenious in discovering all such arts as are necessary to carry it to perfection. Two things they owe to us, the manufacture of paper and the art of printing; yet they are not so entirely indebted to us for these discoveries but that a great part of the invention was their own. We showed them some books printed by Aldus, we explained to them the way of making paper and the mystery of printing; but, as we had never practised these arts, we described them in a crude and superficial manner. They seized the hints we gave them; and though at first they could not arrive at perfection, yet by making many essays they at last found out and corrected all their errors and conquered every difficulty. Before this they only wrote on parchment, on reeds, or on the barks of trees; but now they have established the manufactures of paper and set up printing presses, so that, if they had but a good number of Greek authors, they would be quickly supplied with many

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dere coeperunt, ut nobis miraculi esset loco, nisi quod pleraque pars eorum, qui non sua solum sponte accensi, uerum senatus quoque decreto iussi, ista sibi discenda sumpserunt; e numero scholasticorum, selectissimis ingeniis, et matura aetate fuerunt. itaque minus quam triennio nihil erat in lingua, quod requirerent bonos authores, nisi obstet libri menda, inoffense perlegerent.

¶eas litteras ut equidem coniicio ob id quoque facilius arripuerunt, quod non-nihil illis essent cognatae. suspicor enim eam gentem a graecis originem duxisse; propterea quod sermo illorum cetera fere Persicus, non nulla graeci sermonis uestigia seruet in urbium ac magistratuum uocabulis. habent ex me,—nam li-brorum sarcinam mediocrem loco mercium quarto nauigaturus in nauem conie-ci quod mecum plane decreueram numquam potius redire quam cito—Platonis opera pleraque, Aristotelis plura, Theophrastum item de plantis, sed pluribus, quod doleo, in locis mutilum. in librum enim dum nauigabamus negligentius habitum, cercopithecus inciderat; qui lasciuiens ac ludibundus, paginas aliquot hinc atque inde euulsas lacerauit. ex iis qui scripsere grammaticam, Lascarem ha-bent tantum, Theodorum enim non aduexi mecum, nec dictionarium aliquem praeter Hesychium, ac Dioscoridem; Plutarchi libellos habent carissimos, et Luciani quoque facetiis ac lepore capiuntur. ex poetis habent Aristophanem, Homerum, atque Euripidem; tum Sophoclem minusculis Aldi formulis. ex his-toricis Thucydidem atque Herodotum; necnon quin Herodianum. in re medica quoque sodalis meus Tricius Apinatus aduexerat secum parua quaedam Hip-pocratis opuscula, ac Microtechnen Galeni, quos libros magno in pretio habent; siquidem et si omnium fere gentium, re medica minime egent, nusquam ta-men in maiore honore est, uel eo ipso quod eius cognitionem numerant inter pulcherrimas atque utilissimas partes philosophiae; cuius ope philosophiae dum naturae secreta scrutantur, uidentur sibi non solum admirabilem inde uolupta-tem percipere; sed apud authorem quoque eius, atque opificem summam inire gratiam; quem ceterorum more artificum arbitrantur; mundi huius uisendam machinam homini—quem solum tantae rei capacem fecit—exposuisse spectan-dam; eoque cariorem habere; curiosum ac sollicitum inspectorem, operisque sui admiratorem; quam eum qui uelut animal expers mentis; tantum ac tam mira-bile spectaculum, stupidus immotusque neglexerit.

¶Utopiensium itaque exercitata litteris ingenia mire ualent ad inuentiones artium, quae faciant aliquid ad commodae uitae compendia. sed duas tamen debent nobis Chalcographorum et faciendae chartae, nec solis tamen nobis sed sibi quoque bonam eius partem. nam cum ostenderemus eis libris chartaceis impressas ab Aldo litteras, et de chartae faciendae materia, ac litteras imprimendi facultate loqueremur; aliquid magis quam explicaremus—neque enim quisquam erat nostrum qui alterutram calleret—ipsi statim acutissime coniecerunt rem; et cum ante pellibus, corticibus, ac papyro tantum scriberent, iam chartam ilico facere, et litteras imprimere tentarunt; quae cum primo non satis procederent, eadem saepius experiendo, breui sunt utrumque consecuti, tantumque effece-runt, ut si essent Graecorum exemplaria librorum; codices deesse non possent. at nunc nihil habent amplius, quam a me commemoratum est, id uero quod habent impressis iam libris in multa exemplariorum milia propagauere.

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copies of them: at present, though they have no more than those I have mentioned, yet, by several impressions, they have multiplied them into many thousands.

¶If any man was to go among them that had some extraordinary talent, or that by much travelling had observed the customs of many nations (which made us to be so well received), he would receive a hearty welcome, for they are very desirous to know the state of the whole world. Very few go among them on the account of traffic; for what can a man carry to them but iron, or gold, or silver? which merchants desire rather to export than import to a strange country: and as for their exportation, they think it better to manage that themselves than to leave it to foreigners, for by this means, as they understand the state of the neighboring countries better, so they keep up the art of navigation which cannot be maintained but by much practice.

¶They do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those that are taken in battle, nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of those of other nations: the slaves among them are only such as are condemned to that state of life for the commission of some crime, or, which is more common, such as their merchants find condemned to die in those parts to which they trade, whom they sometimes redeem at low rates, and in other places have them for nothing.

¶They are kept at perpetual labor, and are always chained, but with this difference, that their own natives are treated much worse than others: they are considered as more profligate than the rest, and since they could not be restrained by the advantages of so excellent an education, are judged worthy of harder usage.

¶Another sort of slaves are the poor of the neighboring countries, who offer of their own accord to come and serve them: they treat these better, and use them in all other respects as well as their own countrymen, except their imposing more labor upon them, which is no hard task to those that have been accustomed to it; and if any of these have a mind to go back to their own country, which, indeed, falls out but seldom, as they do not force them to stay, so they do not send them away empty-handed.

¶I have already told you with what care they look after their sick, so that nothing is left undone that can contribute either to their case or health; and for those who are taken with fixed and incurable diseases, they use all possible ways to cherish them and to make their lives as comfortable as possible. They visit them often and take great pains to make their time pass off easily; but when any is taken with a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope either of recovery or ease, the priests and magistrates come and exhort them, that, since they are now unable to go on with the business of life, are become a burden to themselves and to all about them, and they have really out-lived themselves, they should no longer nourish such a rooted distemper, but choose rather to die since they cannot live but in much misery; being assured that if they thus deliver themselves from torture, or are willing that others should do it, they shall be happy after death: since, by their acting thus, they lose none of the pleasures, but only the troubles of life, they think they behave not only reasonably but in a manner consistent with religion and piety; because they follow the advice given them by their priests, who are the expounders of the will of God. Such as are wrought on by these persuasions either starve themselves of their own accord, or take opium, and by that means die without pain. No man is forced on this way of ending his life; and if they cannot be persuaded to it, this does not induce them to fail in their attendance and care of them: but as they believe that a voluntary death, when it is chosen upon such an authority, is very honor-

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¶quisquis eo spectandi gratia uenerit, quem insignis aliqua dos ingenii aut longa peregrinatione usum; multarum cognitio terrarum commendet—quo nomine gratus fuit noster appulsus—pronis animis excipitur. quippe libenter audiunt, quid ubique terrarum geratur. ceterum mercandi gratia non admodum frequenter appellitur. quid enim ferrent; nisi aut ferrum, aut quod quisque re-ferre mallet, aurum argentumue! tum quae ex ipsis exportanda sint, ea consultius putant ab se efferri quam ab aliis illinc peti, quo et exteras undique gentes explo-ratiores habeant, neque maritimarum rerum usum ac peritiam oblitum eant.

¶pro seruis neque bello captos habent nisi ab ipsis gesto, neque seru-orum filios; neque denique quemquam quem apud alias gentes seruien-tem possent comparare, sed aut si cuius apud se flagitium in seruitium uertitur, aut quos apud exteras urbes—quod genus multo frequentius est—ad-missum facinus destinauit supplicio. eorum enim multos, interdum aestimatos uili, saepius etiam gratis impetratos, auferunt.

¶haec seruorum genera non in opere solum perpetuo; uerum etiam in uincu-lis habent; sed suos durius quos eo deploratiores, ac deteriora meritos exempla censent, quod tam praeclara educatione ad uirtutem egregie instructi; contineri tamen ab scelere non potuerint.

¶aliud seruorum genus est; cum alterius populi mediastinus quispiam laborio-sus ac pauper elegerit apud eos sua sponte seruire. hos honeste tractant ac nisi quod laboris; utpote consuetis, imponitur plusculum non multo minus clem-enter ac ciues habent; uolentem discedere—quod non saepe fit—neque retinent inuitum, neque inanem dimittunt.

¶aegrotantes, ut dixi, magno cum adfectu curant, nihilque prorsus omit-tunt quo sanitati eos, uel medicinae uel uictus obseruatione, restituant. quin insanabili morbo laborantes assidendo, colloquendo, adhibendo demum quae possunt leuamenta solantur. ceterum si non immedicabilis modo morbus sit uerum etiam perpetuo uexet atque discrutiet; tum sacerdotes ac migistratus hor-tantur hominem, quandoquidem omnibus uitae muniis impar aliis molestus ac sibi grauis morti iam suae superuiuat, ne secum statuat pestem diutius ac luem alere, neue cum tormentum ei uita sit mori dubitet, quin bona spe fretus acerba illa uita uelut carcere atque aculeo uel ipse semet eximat; uel ab aliis eripi se sua uoluntate patiatur; hoc illum cum non commoda, sed supplicium abrupturus morte sit prudenter facturum, quoniam uero sacerdotum in ea re consiliis, id est interpretum dei sit obsecuturus, etiam pie sancteque facturum. haec quibus per-suaserint; aut inedia sponte uitam finiunt, aut sopiti sine mortis sensu soluuntur. inuitum uero neminem tollunt nec officii erga eum quicquam imminuunt per-suasos hoc pacto defungi honorificum. alioqui qui mortem sibi consciuerit causa non probata sacerdotibus et senatui; hunc neque terra neque igne dignantur; sed in paludem aliquam turpiter insepultus abiicitur.

de legibus Utopiensium

94 Utopia

able, so if any man takes away his own life without the approbation of the priests and the senate, they give him none of the honors of a decent funeral, but throw his body into a ditch.

¶Their women are not married before eighteen nor their men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage they are severely pun-ished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince. Such disorders cast a great reproach upon the master and mistress of the family in which they happen, for it is supposed that they have failed in their duty. The reason of punishing this so severely is, because they think that if they were not strictly restrained from all vagrant appetites, very few would engage in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole lives, by being confined to one person, and are obliged to endure all the inconveniences with which it is accompanied.

¶In choosing their wives they use a method that would appear to us very absurd and ridiculous, but it is constantly observed among them, and is accounted perfectly consistent with wisdom. Before marriage some grave matron presents the bride, naked, whether she is a virgin or a widow, to the bridegroom, and after that some grave man presents the bridegroom, naked, to the bride.

¶We both laughed at this, and condemned it as very indecent. They, on the other hand, wondered at the folly of the men of all other nations, who, if they are but to buy a horse of a small value, are so cautious that they will see every part of him, and take off both his saddle and all his other tackle, that there may be no secret ulcer hid under any of them, and that yet in the choice of a wife, on which depends the happiness or unhappiness of the rest of his life, a man should venture upon trust, and only see about a handsbreadth of the face, all the rest of the body being covered, under which may lie hid what may be contagious as well as loathsome. All men are not so wise as to choose a woman only for her good qualities, and even wise men consider the body as that which adds not a little to the mind, and it is certain there may be some such deformity covered with clothes as may totally alienate a man from his wife, when it is too late to part with her; if such a thing is discovered after marriage a man has no remedy but patience; they, therefore, think it is reasonable that there should be good provision made against such mischievous frauds.

¶There was so much the more reason for them to make a regulation in this matter, because they are the only people of those parts that neither allow of polygamy nor of divorces, except in the case of adultery or insufferable perverseness, for in these cases the Senate dissolves the marriage and grants the injured person leave to marry again; but the guilty are made infamous and are never allowed the privilege of a second marriage. None are suffered to put away their wives against their wills, from any great calamity that may have fallen on their persons, for they look on it as the height of cruelty and treachery to abandon either of the married persons when they need most the tender care of their consort, and that chiefly in the case of old age, which, as it carries many diseases along with it, so it is a disease of itself.

¶It frequently falls out that when a married couple do not well agree, they, by mutual consent, separate, and find out other persons with whom they hope they may live more happily; yet this is not done without obtaining leave of the Senate, which never admits of a divorce but upon a strict inquiry made, both by the senators and their wives, into the grounds upon which it is desired, and even when they are satisfied with the reasons

St. Sir omas More 95

¶femina non ante annum duodeuicesimum nubit. mas non nisi expletis quat-tuor etiam amplius. ante coniugium, mas aut femina si conuincatur furtiuae li-bidinis, grauiter in eum eamue animaduertitur; coniugioque illis in totum inter-dicitur, nisi uenia principis noxam remiserit, sed et pater et mater familias cuius in domo admissum flagitium est; tamquam suas partes parum diligenter tutati magnae obiacent infamiae; id facinus ideo tam seuere uindicant, quod futurum prospiciunt, ut rari in coniugalem amorem coalescerent; in quo aetatem omnem cum uno uideant exigendam; et perferendas insuper quas ea res affert molestias, nisi a uago concubitu diligenter arceantur.

¶porro in deligendis coniugibus ineptissimum ritum—uti nobis uisum est—adprimeque ridiculum, illi serio ac seuere obseruant. mulierem enim seu uirgo seu uidua sit, grauis et honesta matrona proco nudam exhibet, ac probus aliquis uir uicissim nudum puellae procum sistit.

¶hunc morem cum uelut ineptum ridentes improbaremus, illi contra ceterarum omnium gentium insignem demirari stultitiam, qui cum in equuleo compa-rando, ubi de paucis agitur nummis, tam cauti sint, ut quamuis fere nudum nisi detracta sella tamen, omnibusque reuulsis ephippiis recusent emere, ne sub illis operculis hulcus aliquod delitesceret, in deligenda coniuge, qua ex re aut uolup-tas, aut nausea sit totam per uitam comitatura, tam negligenter agant, ut reliquo corpore uestibus obuoluto, totam mulierem uix ab unius palmae spatio—nihil enim praeter uultum uisitur—aestiment adiungantque sibi non absque mag-no—si quid offendat postea—male cohaerendi periculo. nam neque omnes tam sapientes sunt ut solos mores respiciant, et in ipsorum quoque saepientum co-niugiis, ad animi uirtutes nonnihil additamenti corporis etiam dotes adiiciunt, certe tam foeda deformitas, latere sub illis potest inuolucris ut alienare prorsus animum ab uxore queat, cum corpore iam seiungi non liceat; qualis deformitas si quo casu contingat post contractas nuptias, suam quisque sortem necesse est ferat, ante uero ne quis capiatur insidiis, legibus caueri debet.

¶idque tanto maiore studio fuit curandum quod et soli illarum orbis plagarum singulis sunt contenti coniugibus; et matrimonium ibi haud saepe aliter, quam morte soluitur; nisi adulterium; in causa fuerit, aut morum non ferenda mo-lestia. nempe alterutri sic offenso facta ab senatu coniugis mutandi uenia; alter infamem simul ac caelibem perpetuo uitam ducit. alioquin inuitam coniugem, cuius nulla sit noxa repudiare, quod corporis obtigerit calamitas, id uero nullo pacto ferunt; nam et crudele iudicant, tum quemquam deseri, cum maxime eget solatio, et senectuti, cum et morbos afferat et morbus ipsa sit; incertam atque infirmam fidem fore.

¶ceterum accidit interdum ut cum non satis inter se coniugum conueniant mores repertis utrique aliis quibuscum sperent se suauius esse uicturos amborum sponte separati; noua matrimonia contrahant, haud absque senatus authoritate tamen, qui nisi causa per se atque uxores suas diligenter cognita; diuortia non admittit. immo ne sic quidem, facile. quod rem minime utilem sciunt firmandae coniugum caritati, facilem nouarum nuptiarum spem esse propositam.

96 Utopia

for it they go on slowly, for they imagine that too great easiness in granting leave for new marriages would very much shake the kindness of married people.

¶They punish severely those that defile the marriage bed; if both parties are married they are divorced, and the injured persons may marry one another, or whom they please, but the adulterer and the adulteress are condemned to slavery, yet if either of the injured persons cannot shake off the love of the married person they may live with them still in that state, but they must follow them to that labor to which the slaves are condemned, and sometimes the repentance of the condemned, together with the unshaken kindness of the innocent and injured person, has prevailed so far with the Prince that he has taken off the sentence; but those that relapse after they are once pardoned are punished with death.

¶Their law does not determine punishment for other crimes, but that is left to the Senate, to temper it according to the circumstances of the fact. Husbands have power to correct their wives and parents to chastise their children, unless the fault is so great that a public punishment is thought necessary for striking terror into others. For the most part slavery is the punishment even of the greatest crimes, for as that is no less terrible to the criminals themselves than death, so they think the preserving them in servitude is more in the interest of the commonwealth than killing them, since, as their labor is a greater benefit to the public than their death could be, so the sight of their misery is a more lasting terror to other men than that which would be given by their death. If their slaves rebel, and will not bear their yoke and submit to the labor that is enjoined them, they are treated as wild beasts that cannot be kept in order, neither by a prison nor by their chains, and are at last put to death. But those who bear their punishment patiently, and are so much wrought on by that pressure that lies so hard on them, that it appears they are really more troubled for the crimes they have committed than for the miseries they suffer, are not out of hope, but that, at last, either the Prince will, by his prerogative, or the people, by their intercession, restore them to their liberty, or, at least, very much mitigate their slavery.

¶He that tempts a married woman to adultery is no less severely punished than he that commits it, for they believe that a deliberate design to commit a crime is equal to the fact itself, since its not taking effect does not make the person that miscarried in his attempt at all the less guilty.

¶They take great pleasure in fools, and as it is thought a base and unbecoming thing to use them ill, so they do not think it amiss for people to divert themselves with their folly; and, in their opinion, this is a great advantage to the fools themselves; for if men were so sullen and severe as not at all to please themselves with their ridiculous behav-iour and foolish sayings, which is all that they can do to recommend themselves to others, it could not be expected that they would be so well provided for nor so tenderly used as they must otherwise be.

¶If any man should reproach another for his being misshaped or imperfect in any part of his body, it would not at all be thought a reflection on the person so treated, but it would be accounted scandalous in him that had upbraided another with what he could not help.

¶It is thought a sign of a sluggish and sordid mind not to preserve carefully one’s natural beauty; but it is likewise infamous among them to use paint. They all see that no beauty recommends a wife so much to her husband as the probity of her life and

St. Sir omas More 97

¶temeratores coniugii grauissima seruitute plectuntur, et si neuter erat cae-lebs, iniuriam passi—uelint modo—repudiatis adulteris coniugio inter se ipsi iunguntur alioquin quibus uidebitur. at si laesorum alteruter erga tam male me-rentem coniugem; in amore persistat; tamen uti coniugii lege non prohibetur si uelit in opera damnatum sequi; acciditque interdum ut alterius poenitentia alterius officiosa sedulitas miserationem commouens principi, libertatem rursus impetret. ceterum ad scelus iam relapso nex infligitur.

¶ceteris facinoribus nullam certam poenam lex ulla praestituit; sed ut quodque atrox, aut contra uisum est; ita supplicium senatus decernit. uxores mariti casti-gant, et parentes liberos; nisi quid tam ingens admiserint; ut id publice puniri, morum intersit. sed fere grauissima quaeque scelera seruitutis incommodo pu-niuntur, id siquidem et sceleratis non minus triste; et reipublicae magis commo-dum arbitrantur, quam si mactare noxios et protinus amoliri festinent. nam et labore quam nece magis prosunt, et exemplo diutius alios ab simili flagitio deter-rent. quod si sic habiti rebellent atque recalcitrent, tum demum uelut indomitae beluae. quos cohercere carcer et catena non potest, trucidantur. at patientibus non adimitur omnis omnino spes; quippe longis domiti malis si eam poeniten-tiam prae se ferant, quae peccatum testetur magis eis displicere quam poenam, principis interdum praerogatiua; interdum suffragiis populi, aut mitigatur serui-tus aut remittitur.

¶sollicitasse ad stuprum nihilo minus quam stuprasse periculi est. in omni siquidem flagitio certum destinatumque conatum aequant facto. neque enim id quod defuit ei putant prodesse debere; per quem non stetit; quominus nihil defuerit.

¶moriones in delitiis habentur, quos ut affecisse contumelia magno in pro-bro est, ita uoluptatem ab stultitia capere non uetant. siquidem id morionibus ipsis maximo esse bono censent, cuius qui tam seuerus ac tristis est ut nullum neque factum neque dictum rideat ei tutandum non credunt, ueriti ne non satis indulgenter curetur ab eo, cui non modo nulli usui, sed ne oblectamento qui-dem—qua sola dote ualet—futurus esset.

¶irridere deformem aut mutilum, turpe ac deforme non ei, qui ridetur, hab-etur, sed irrisori qui cuiquam quod in eius potestate non erat ut fugeret, id uitii loco stulte exprobret.

¶ut enim formam naturalem non tueri segnis atque inertis ducunt, sic adi-umentum ab fucis quaerere infamis apud illos insolentia est. usu enim ipso sentiunt, quam non ullum formae decus uxores aeque ac morum probitas et reuerentia commendet maritis. nam ut forma nonnulli sola capiuntur, ita nemo nisi uirtute atque obsequio retinetur.

98 Utopia

her obedience; for as some few are caught and held only by beauty, so all are attracted by the other excellences which charm all the world.

¶As they fright men from committing crimes by punishments, so they invite them to the love of virtue by public honors; therefore they erect statues to the memories of such worthy men as have deserved well of their country, and set these in their market-places, both to perpetuate the remembrance of their actions and to be an incitement to their posterity to follow their example.

¶If any man aspires to any office he is sure never to compass it. They all live easily together, for none of the magistrates are either insolent or cruel to the people; they af-fect rather to be called fathers, and, by being really so, they well deserve the name; and the people pay them all the marks of honor the more freely because none are exacted from them. The Prince himself has no distinction, either of garments or of a crown; but is only distinguished by a sheaf of corn carried before him; as the High Priest is also known by his being preceded by a person carrying a wax light.

¶They have few laws, and such is their constitution that they need not many. They very much condemn other nations whose laws, together with the commentaries on them, swell up to so many volumes; for they think it an unreasonable thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws that are both of such a bulk, and so dark as not to be read and understood by every one of the subjects.

¶They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters and to wrest the laws, and, therefore, they think it is much better that every man should plead his own cause, and trust it to the judge, as in other places the client trusts it to a counsellor; by this means they both cut off many de-lays and find out truth more certainly; for after the parties have laid open the merits of the cause, without those artifices which lawyers are apt to suggest, the judge examines the whole matter, and supports the simplicity of such well-meaning persons, whom otherwise crafty men would be sure to run down; and thus they avoid those evils which appear very remarkably among all those nations that labor under a vast load of laws.

¶Every one of them is skilled in their law; for, as it is a very short study, so the plainest meaning of which words are capable is always the sense of their laws; and they argue thus: all laws are promulgated for this end, that every man may know his duty; and, therefore, the plainest and most obvious sense of the words is that which ought to be put upon them, since a more refined exposition cannot be easily comprehended, and would only serve to make the laws become useless to the greater part of mankind, and especially to those who need most the direction of them; for it is all one not to make a law at all or to couch it in such terms that, without a quick apprehension and much study, a man cannot find out the true meaning of it, since the generality of mankind are both so dull, and so much employed in their several trades, that they have neither the leisure nor the capacity requisite for such an inquiry.

¶Some of their neighbors, who are masters of their own liberties (having long ago, by the assistance of the Utopians, shaken off the yoke of tyranny, and being much taken with those virtues which they observe among them), have come to desire that they would send magistrates to govern them, some changing them every year, and others every five years; at the end of their government they bring them back to Utopia, with great expressions of honor and esteem, and carry away others to govern in their stead. In this they seem to have fallen upon a very good expedient for their own happiness

St. Sir omas More 99

¶non poenis tantum, deterrent a flagitiis, sed propositis quoque honoribus ad uirtutes inuitant, ideoque statuas uiris insignibus et de republica praeclare meritis in foro collocant, in rerum bene gestarum memoriam, simul ut ipsorum posteris maiorum suorum gloria calcar et incitamentum ad uirtutem sit. qui magistratum ullum ambierit exspes omnium redditur.

¶conuiuunt amabiliter, quippe nec magistratus ullus insolens, aut terribilis est; patres appellantur; et exhibent. iisdem defertur; ut debet; ab uolentibus honor; non ab inuitis exigitur. ne principem quidem ipsum, uestis aut diadema, sed gestatus frumenti manipulus discernit, ut pontificis insigne est praelatus cereus.

¶leges habent perquam paucas. sufficiunt enim sic institutis paucissimae. quin hoc in primis apud alios improbant populos, quod legum interpretumque uo-lumina, non infinita sufficiunt. ipsi uero censent iniquissimum; ullos homines his obligari legibus; quae aut numerosiores sint, quam ut perlegi queant; aut obscuriores quam ut a quouis possint intelligi.

¶porro causidicos; qui causas tractent callide; ac leges uafre disputent; pror-sus omnes excludunt. censent enim ex usu esse; ut suam quisque causam agat; eademque referat iudici; quae narraturus patrono fuerat. sic et minus ambagum fore et facilius elici ueritatem. dum eo dicente; quem nullus patronus fucum docuit; iudex solerter expendit singula; et contra uersutorum calumnias simpli-cioribus ingeniis opitulatur. haec apud alias gentes; in tanto perplexissimarum aceruo legum difficile est obseruari.

¶ceterum apud eos unusquisque est legis peritus. nam et sunt—ut dixi—pau-cissimae; et interpretationum praeterea ut quaeque est maxime crassa; ita max-ime aequam censent. nempe cum omnes leges—inquiunt—ea tantum causa promulgentur; ut ab iis quisque sui commonefiat officii; subtilior interpretatio paucissimos admonet—pauci enim sunt qui assequantur—cum interim simpli-cior ac magis obuius legum sensus; omnibus in aperto sit; alioquin quod ad uulgus attinet; cuius et maximus est numerus et maxime eget admonitu; quid referat utrum legem omnino non condas; an conditam in talem interpreteris sententiam; quam nisi magno ingenio et longa disputatione nemo possit eruere; ad quam inuestigandam neque crassum uulgi iudicium queat attingere; neque uita in comparando uictu occupata sufficere.

¶iis eorum uirtutibus incitati finitimi; qui quidem liberi sunt et suae spon-tis—multos enim ipsi iam olim tyrannide liberauerunt—magistratus sibi; ab illis alii quotannis; alii in lustrum impetrant; quos defunctos imperio, cum honore ac laude reducunt; nouosque secum rursus in patriam reuehunt. atque hi qui-dem populi optime profecto ac saluberrime reipublicae suae consulunt; cuius et salus et pernicies, cum ab moribus magistratuum pendeat; quos nam potuissent elegisse prudentius, quam qui neque ullo pretio queant ab honesto deduci—ut-pote quod breui sit remigraturis inutile—ignoti ciuibus, aut prauo cuiusquam studio aut simultate flecti! quae duo mala, affectus atque auaritiae, sicubi in-cubuere iudiciis, illico iustitiam omnem, fortissimum reipublicae neruum dis-soluunt. hos Utopiani populos, quibus qui imperent ab ipsis petuntur, appellant socios, ceteros quos beneficiis auxerunt amicos uocant.

100 Utopia

and safety; for since the good or ill condition of a nation depends so much upon their magistrates, they could not have made a better choice than by pitching on men whom no advantages can bias; for wealth is of no use to them, since they must go back to their own country, and they, being strangers among them, are not engaged in any of their heats or animosities; and it is certain that when public judicatories are swayed, either by avarice or partial affections, there must follow a dissolution of justice, the chief sinew of society.

¶The Utopians call those nations that come and ask magistrates from them Neigh-bors; but those to whom they have been of more particular service, Friends; and as all other nations are perpetually either making leagues or breaking them, they never enter into an alliance with any state. They think leagues are useless things, and believe that if the common ties of humanity do not knit men together, the faith of promises will have no great effect; and they are the more confirmed in this by what they see among the nations round about them, who are no strict observers of leagues and treaties.

¶We know how religiously they are observed in Europe, more particularly where the Christian doctrine is received, among whom they are sacred and inviolable! which is partly owing to the justice and goodness of the princes themselves, and partly to the reverence they pay to the popes, who, as they are the most religious observers of their own promises, so they exhort all other princes to perform theirs, and, when fainter methods do not prevail, they compel them to it by the severity of pastoral censure, and think it would be the most indecent thing possible if men who are particularly distinguished by the title of ‘The Faithful’ should not religiously keep the faith of their treaties.

¶But in that new-found world, which is not more distant from us in situation than the people are in their manners and course of life, there is no trusting to leagues, even though they were made with all the pomp of the most sacred ceremonies; on the con-trary, they are on this account the sooner broken, some slight pretence being found in the words of the treaties, which are purposely couched in such ambiguous terms that they can never be so strictly bound but they will always find some loophole to escape at, and thus they break both their leagues and their faith; and this is done with such impudence, that those very men who value themselves on having suggested these ex-pedients to their princes would, with a haughty scorn, declaim against such craft; or, to speak plainer, such fraud and deceit, if they found private men make use of it in their bargains, and would readily say that they deserved to be hanged. By this means it is that all sort of justice passes in the world for a low-spirited and vulgar virtue, far below the dignity of royal greatness—or at least there are set up two sorts of justice; the one is mean and creeps on the ground, and, therefore, becomes none but the lower part of mankind, and so must be kept in severely by many restraints, that it may not break out beyond the bounds that are set to it; the other is the peculiar virtue of princes, which, as it is more majestic than that which becomes the rabble, so takes a freer compass, and thus lawful and unlawful are only measured by pleasure and interest.

¶These practices of the princes that lie about Utopia, who make so little account of their faith, seem to be the reasons that determine them to engage in no confederacy.

¶Perhaps they would change their mind if they lived among us; but yet, though treaties were more religiously observed, they would still dislike the custom of mak-ing them, since the world has taken up a false maxim upon it, as if there were no tie

St. Sir omas More 101

¶foedera quae reliquae inter se gentes toties ineunt; frangunt ac renouant, ipsi nulla cum gente feriunt. quorsum enim foedus inquiunt; quasi non hominem homini satis natura conciliet quam qui contempserit, hunc uerba scilicet putes curaturum! in hanc sententiam eo uel maxime trahuntur, quod in illis terrarum plagis, foedera pactaque principum solent parum bona fide seruari.

¶etenim in Europa idque his potissimum partibus quas Christi fides et religio possidet, sancta est et inuiolabilis ubique maiestas foederum, partim ipsa iustitia et bonitate principum, partim summorum reuerentia metuque pontificum, qui ut nihil in se recipiunt ipsi; quod non religiosissime praestant. ita ceteros omnes principes iubent, ut pollicitis omnibus modis immorentur, tergiuersantes uero pastorali censura et seueritate compellunt. merito sane censent turpissimam rem uideri si illorum foederibus absit fides; qui peculiari nomine fideles appellantur.

¶at in illo nouo orbe terrarum, quem circulus aequator uix tam longe ab hoc nostro orbe semouet; quam uita moresque dissident; foederum nulla fiducia est; quorum ut quodque plurimis ac sanctissimis ceremoniis innodatum fuerit; ita citissime soluitur inuenta facile in uerbis calumnia, quae sic interim de industria dictant callide; ut numquam tam firmis adstringi uinculis queant; quin elabantur aliqua, foedusque et fidem pariter eludant. quam uafriciem, immo quam frau-dem dolumque; si priuatorum deprehenderent interuenisse contractui; magno supercilio rem sacrilegam; et furca dignam clamitarent, hi nimirum ipsi; qui eius consilii principibus dati; semet gloriantur quo authores. fit ut iustitia tota uidea-tur, aut non nisi plebea uirtus et humilis, quaeque longo interuallo subsidat infra regale fastigium; aut uti saltem duae sint quarum altera uulgus deceat, pedestris et humirepa; neue usquam septa transilire queat, multis undique restricta uincu-lis, altera principum uirtus, quae sicuti sit quam illa popularis augustior; sic est etiam longo interuallo liberior, ut cui nihil non liceat nisi quod non libeat.

¶hos mores ut dixi principum; illic foedera tam male seruantium puto in causa esse; ne ulla feriant Utopienses; mutaturi fortasse sententiam si hic uiuerent.

¶quamquam illis uidetur ut optime seruentur; male tamen inoleuisse foederis omnino sanciendi consuetudinem qua fit, ut—perinde ac si populum populo; quos exiguo spacio, collis tantum aut riuus discriminat; nulla naturae societas copularet—hostes atque inimicos inuicem sese natos putent, meritoque in mu-tuam grassari perniciem, nisi foedera prohibeant, quin his ipsis quoque initis, non amicitiam coalescere, sed manere praedandi licentiam, quatenus per im-prudentiam dictandi foederis, nihil quod prohibeat satis caute comprehensum in pactis est. at illi contra censent, neminem pro inimico habendum, a quo nihil iniuriae profectum est. naturae consortium, foederis uice esse, et satius, ualentiusque homines inuicem beneuolentia, quam pactis, animo quam uerbis connecti.

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of nature uniting nations, only separated perhaps by a mountain or a river, and that all were born in a state of hostility, and so might lawfully do all that mischief to their neighbors against which there is no provision made by treaties; and that when treaties are made they do not cut off the enmity or restrain the licence of preying upon each other, if, by unskillfully wording them, there are not effectual provisoes made against them; they, on the other hand, judge that no man is to be esteemed our enemy that has never injured us, and that the partnership of human nature is instead of a league; and that kindness and good nature unite men more effectually and with greater strength than any agreements, since thereby the engagements of men’s hearts become stronger than the bond and obligation of words.

¶They detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach of human nature, is more practised by men than any sort of beasts. They, in opposition to the senti-ments of almost all other nations, think there is nothing more inglorious than that glory gained by war; and therefore, though they accustom themselves daily to military exercises and the discipline of war, in which not only their men, but their women, are trained, that, in cases of necessity, they may not be quite useless, yet they do not rashly engage in war, unless either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust ag-gressors, or, out of good nature or compassion, assist an oppressed nation in shaking off the yoke of tyranny. They, indeed, help their friends not only in defensive but also in offensive wars; but they never do that unless they had been consulted before the breach was made, and, being satisfied with the grounds on which they went, they had found that all demands of reparation were rejected, so that a war was unavoidable. This they think to be not only just when one neighbor makes an inroad on another by public or-der, and carries away the spoils, but when the merchants of one country are oppressed in another, either under pretence of some unjust laws, or by the perverse wresting of good ones. This they count a juster cause of war than the other, because those injuries are done under some color of laws.

¶This was the only ground of that war in which they aided the Nephelogetes against the Aleopolitanes, a little before our time; for the merchants of the former having, as they thought, met with injustice among the latter, which (whether right or wrong) drew on a terrible war, in which many of their neighbors were engaged; and their keenness in carrying it on being supported by their strength in maintaining it, it not only shook some very flourishing states and very much afflicted others, but, after much mischief ended in the conquest and slavery of the Aleopolitanes, who, though before the war they were in all respects much superior to the Nephelogetes, were yet subdued; but, though the Utopians had assisted them in the war, yet they pretended to no share of the spoil.

¶Though they so vigorously assist their friends in obtaining reparation for injuries they have received in affairs of this nature, yet, if any such frauds were committed against themselves, provided no violence was done to their persons, they would only, on their being refused satisfaction, forbear trading with such people. This is not because they consider their neighbors more than their own citizens; but, since their neighbors trade every one upon his own stock, fraud is a more sensible injury to them than to the Utopians, among whom the public, in such a case, only suffers, as they expect nothing in return for the merchandise they export but that in which they so much abound, and is of little use to them, the loss does not much affect them. They think, therefore,

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¶bellum utpote rem plane beluinam, nec ulli tamen beluarum formae in tam assiduo, atque homini est usu, summopere abominantur, con-traque morem gentium ferme omnium nihil aeque ducunt inglorium, atque pe-titam e bello gloriam. eoque licet assidue militari sese disciplina exerceant, neque id uiri modo, sed feminae quoque, statis diebus, ne ad bellum sint, cum exigat usus, inhabiles; non temere capessunt tamen, nisi quo aut suos fines tueantur, aut amicorum terris, infusos hostes propulsent, aut populum quempiam tyrannide pressum, miserati,—quod humanitatis gratia faciunt—suis uiribus tyranni iugo, et seruitute liberent. quamquam auxilium gratificantur amicis non semper qui-dem, quo se defendant, sed interdum quoque illatas retalient, atque ulciscantur iniurias. uerum id ita demum faciunt, si re adhuc integra consulantur ipsi, et pro-bata causa, repetitis ac non redditis rebus belli authores inferendi sint, quod non tunc solum decernunt, quoties hostili incursu abacta est praeda, uerum tum quo-que multo infestius, cum eorum negotiatores usquam gentium, uel iniquarum praetextu legum, uel sinistra deriuatione bonarum, iniustam subeunt, iustitiae colore, calumniam.

¶nec alia fuit eius origo belli, quod pro Nephelogetis aduersus Alaopolitas, paulo ante nostram memoriam, Utopienses gessere, quam apud Alaopolitas Nephelogetarum mercatoribus illata praetextu iuris—ut uisum est ipsis—iniu-ria certe, siue illud ius, siue ea iniuria fuit, bello tam atroci est uindicata, cum ad proprias utriusque partis uires, odiaque circumiectarum etiam gentium stu-dia atque opes adiungerentur, ut florentissimis populorum aliis concussis, aliis uehementer afflictis, orientia ex malis mala, Alaopolitarum seruitus demum, ac deditio finierit, qua in Nephelogetarum—neque enim sibi certabant Uto-pienses—potestatem concessere, gentis, florentibus Alaopolitarum rebus, haud quaquam cum illis conferendae.

¶tam acriter Utopienses amicorum, etiam in pecuniis, iniuriam persequuntur, suas ipsorum, non item, qui sicubi circumscripti bonis excidant, modo corpori-bus absit uis hactenus irascuntur, uti quoad satisfactio fiat, eius commercio gen-tis abstineant. non quod minoris sibi curae ciues, quam socii sint, sed horum ta-men pecuniam intercipi, aegrius quam suam ferunt, propterea quod amicorum negotiatores, quoniam de suo perdunt priuato, graue uulnus ex iactura sentiunt. at ipsorum ciuibus nihil nisi de publica perit. praeterea quod abundabat domi, ac ueluti supererat, alioqui non emittendum foras. quo fit uti intertrimentum citra cuiusquam sensum accidat. quo circa nimis crudele censent id damnum multorum ulcisci mortibus, cuius damni incommodum nemo ipsorum, aut uita, aut uictu persentiscat. ceterum si quis suorum usquam per iniuriam debilitetur, aut occidat, siue id publico factum consilio, siue priuato sit, per legatos re comp-erta, nisi deditis noxiis placari non possunt, quin ilico bellum denuncient. noxae deditos, aut morte, aut seruitio puniunt.

de re militari

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it would be too severe to revenge a loss attended with so little inconvenience, either to their lives or their subsistence, with the death of many persons; but if any of their people are killed or wounded wrongfully, whether it be done by public authority, or only by private men, as soon as they hear of it they send ambassadors, and demand that the guilty persons may be delivered up to them, and if that is denied, they declare war; but if it be complied with, the offenders are condemned either to death or slavery.

¶They would be troubled and ashamed of a bloody victory over their enemies; and think it would be as foolish a purchase as to buy the most valuable goods at too high a rate. And in no victory do they glory so much as that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without bloodshed. In such cases they appoint public triumphs, and erect trophies to the honor of those who have succeeded; for then do they reckon that a man acts suitably to his nature, when he conquers an enemy in such a way as that no other creature but man could be capable of, and that is by the strength of his un-derstanding. Bears, lions, boars, wolves, and dogs, and all other animals, employ their bodily force one against another, in which, as many of them are superior to men, both in strength and fierceness, so they are all subdued by his reason and understanding.

¶The only design of the Utopians in war is to obtain that by force which, if it had been granted them in time, would have prevented the war; or, if that cannot be done, to take so severe a revenge on those that have injured them that they may be terrified from doing the like for the time to come. By these ends they measure all their designs, and manage them so, that it is visible that the appetite of fame or vainglory does not work so much on there as a just care of their own security. As soon as they declare war, they take care to have a great many schedules, that are sealed with their common seal, affixed in the most conspicuous places of their enemies’ country. This is carried secretly, and done in many places all at once. In these they promise great rewards to such as shall kill the prince, and lesser in proportion to such as shall kill any other persons who are those on whom, next to the prince himself, they cast the chief balance of the war. And they double the sum to him that, instead of killing the person so marked out, shall take him alive, and put him in their hands. They offer not only indemnity, but rewards, to such of the persons themselves that are so marked, if they will act against their country-men. By this means those that are named in their schedules become not only distrustful of their fellow-citizens, but are jealous of one another, and are much distracted by fear and danger; for it has often fallen out that many of them, and even the prince himself, have been betrayed, by those whom they trusted most.

¶For the rewards the Utopians offer are so immeasurably great, that there is no sort of crime to which men cannot be drawn by them. They consider the risk that those run who undertake such services, and offer recompense proportioned to the danger—not only a vast deal of gold, but great revenues in lands, that lie among other nations that are their friends, where they may go and enjoy them very securely; and they observe the promises they make of their kind most religiously.

¶They very much approve of this way of corrupting their enemies, though it appears to others to be base and cruel; but they look on it as a wise course, to make an end of what would be otherwise a long war, without so much as hazarding one battle to decide it. They think it likewise an act of mercy and love to mankind to prevent the slaughter of those that must otherwise be killed in the progress of the war, both on their own side and on that of their enemies, by the death of a few that are most guilty; and that in so

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¶cruentae uictoriae non piget modo eos, sed pudet quoque, reputantes insci-tiam esse quamlibet pretiosas merces nimio emisse, arte doloque uictos, oppres-sos hostes impendio gloriantur, triumphumque ob eam rem publicitus agunt, et uelut re strenue gesta, tropheum erigunt. tunc enim demum uiriliter sese iactant, et cum uirtute gessisse, quoties ita uicerint, quomodo nullum animal praeter hominem potuit, id est ingenii uiribus. nam corporis inquiunt ursi, leones, apri, lupi, canes, ceteraeque beluae dimicant, quarum ut pleraeque nos robore ac fe-rocia uincunt, ita cunctae ingenio, et ratione superantur.

¶hoc unum illi in bello spectant, uti id obtineant, quod si fuissent ante con-secuti, bellum non fuerant illaturi. aut si id res uetet, tam seueram ab his uin-dictam expetunt, quibus factum imputant, ut idem ausuros in posterum terror absterreat. hos propositi sui scopos destinant, quos mature petunt, at ita tamen, uti prior uitandi periculi cura, quam laudis aut famae consequendae sit. itaque protinus indicto bello, schedulas ipsorum publico signo roboratas, locis max-ime conspicuis hosticae terrae, clam uno tempore multas appendi procurant, quibus ingentia pollicentur praemia, si quis principem aduersarium sustulerit, deinde minora quamquam illa quoque egregia decernunt, pro singulis eorum capitibus, quorum nomina in iisdem litteris proscribunt, ii sunt quos secundum principem ipsum, authores initi aduersus se consilii ducunt. quicquid percussori praefiniunt, hoc geminant ei, qui uiuum e proscriptis aliquem ad se perduxerit, cum ipsos quoque proscriptos, praemiis iisdem, addita etiam impunitate, contra socios inuitant. itaque fit celeriter, ut et ceteros mortales suspectos habeant, et sibi inuicem ipsi, neque fidentes satis, neque fidi sint, maximoque in metu et non minore periculo uersentur. nam saepenumero constat euenisse, uti bona pars eorum et princeps in primis ipse ab his proderentur, in quibus maximam spem reposuerunt.

¶tam facile quoduis in facinus impellunt munera, quibus illi nullum exhibent modum. sed memores in quantum discrimen hortantur, operam dant, uti peri-culi magnitudo beneficiorum mole compensetur. eoque non immensam modo auri uim, sed praedia quoque magni reditus in locis apud amicos tutissimis, propria ac perpetua pollicitantur, et summa cum fide praestant.

¶hunc licitandi mercandique hostis morem, apud alios improbatum, uelut an-imi degeneris crudele facinus illi magnae sibi laudi ducunt, tamquam prudentes, qui maximis hoc pacto bellis, sine ullo prorsus proelio defungantur, humanique ac misericordes etiam, qui paucorum nece noxiorum, numerosas innocentium uitas redimant, qui pugnando fuerint occubituri. partim e suis, partim ex hosti-bus, quorum turbam, uulgusque non minus ferme quam suos miserantur, gnari non sua sponte eos bellum capessere, sed principum ad id furiis agi.

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doing they are kind even to their enemies, and pity them no less than their own people, as knowing that the greater part of them do not engage in the war of their own accord, but are driven into it by the passions of their prince.

¶If this method does not succeed with them, then they sow seeds of contention among their enemies, and animate the prince’s brother, or some of the nobility, to aspire to the crown. If they cannot disunite them by domestic broils, then they engage their neighbors against them, and make them set on foot some old pretensions, which are never wanting to princes when they have occasion for them. These they plentifully supply with money, though but very sparingly with any auxiliary troops; for they are so tender of their own people that they would not willingly exchange one of them, even with the prince of their enemies’ country.

¶But as they keep their gold and silver only for such an occasion, so, when that offers itself, they easily part with it; since it would be no convenience to them, though they should reserve nothing of it to themselves. For besides the wealth that they have among them at home, they have a vast treasure abroad; many nations round about them being deep in their debt: so that they hire soldiers from all places for carrying on their wars; but chiefly from the Zapolets.

¶Living five hundred miles east of Utopia, they are a rude, wild, and fierce nation, who delight in the woods and rocks, among which they were born and bred up. They are hardened both against heat, cold, and labor, and know nothing of the delicacies of life. They do not apply themselves to agriculture, nor do they care either for their houses or their clothes: cattle is all that they look after; and for the greatest part they live either by hunting or upon rapine; and are made, as it were, only for war. They watch all opportunities of engaging in it, and very readily embrace such as are offered them. Great numbers of them will frequently go out, and offer themselves for a very low pay, to serve any that will employ them: they know none of the arts of life, but those that lead to the taking it away; they serve those that hire them, both with much courage and great fidelity.

¶They do not engage to serve for any determined time, and agree upon such terms, that the next day they may go over to the enemies of those they serve if they offer them greater encouragement; and will, perhaps, return to them the day after that upon a higher advance of their pay. There are few wars in which they make not a considerable part of the armies of both sides: so it often falls out that they who are related, and were hired in the same country, and so have lived long and familiarly together, forgetting both their relations and former friendship, kill one another upon no other consider-ation than that of being hired to it for a little money by princes of different interests; and such a regard have they for money that they are easily wrought on by the difference of one penny a day to change sides. So entirely does avarice influence them; and yet this money, which they value so highly, is of little use to them; for what they purchase with their blood they quickly waste on luxury, which among them is but of a poor and miserable form.

¶This nation serves the Utopians against all people, for they pay higher than any other. The Utopians hold this for a maxim, that as they seek out the best sort of men for their own use at home, so they make use of this worst sort of men for the consumption of war; and therefore they hire them with the offers of vast rewards to expose them-selves to all sorts of hazards, out of which the greater part never returns to claim their

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¶si res hoc pacto non procedat, dissidiorum semina iaciunt, aluntque fratre principis, aut aliquo e nobilibus in spem potiundi regni perducto. si factiones internae languerint, finitimas hostibus gentes excitant, committuntque, eruto uetusto quopiam titulo, quales numquam regibus desunt, suas ad bellum opes polliciti, pecuniam affluenter suggerunt. ciues parcissime, quos tam unice ha-bent caros, tantique sese mutuo faciunt, ut neminem sint e suis cum aduerso principe libenter commutaturi. at aurum, argentumque quoniam unum hunc in usum omne seruant, haud grauatim erogant, utpote non minus commode uicturi, etiam si uniuersum impenderent.

¶quin praeter domesticas diuitias est illis foris quoque infinitus thesaurus, quo plurimae gentes, uti ante dixi, in ipsorum aere sunt. ita milites undique conduc-tos ad bellum mittunt, praesertim ex Zapoletis.

¶hic populus quingentis passuum milibus ab Utopia distat, orientem solem uersus, horridus, agrestis, ferox, siluas montesque asperos, quibus sunt innutriti, praeferunt. dura gens, aestus, frigoris, et laboris patiens, delitiarum expers om-nium, neque agriculturae studens, et cum aedificiorum tum uestitus indiligens, pecorum dumtaxat curam habent. magna ex parte uenatu et raptu uiuunt. ad solum bellum nati, cuius gerendi facultatem studiose quaerunt, repertam cupide amplectuntur, et magno numero egressi, cuiuis requirenti milites uili semet of-ferunt. hanc unam uitae artem nouerunt, qua mors quaeritur, sub quibus me-rent, acriter pro iis et incorrupta fide dimicant.

¶uerum in nullum certum diem sese obstringunt, sed ea lege in partes ueniunt, ut postero die, uel ab hostibus, oblato maiore stipendio sint staturi, iisdem per-endie rursus inuitati plusculo remigrant. rarum oritur bellum, in quo non bona pars illorum in utroque sint exercitu. itaque accidit quotidie, ut sanguinis neces-situdine coniuncti, qui et iisdem in partibus conducti familiarissime semet inu-icem utebantur, paulo post in contrarias distracti copias, hostiliter concurrant. et infestis animis, obliti generis, immemores amicitiae, mutuo sese confodiant, nulla alia causa in mutuam incitati perniciem, quam quod a diuersis principibus exigua pecuniola conducti, cuius tam exactam habent rationem, ut ad diurnum stipendium unius accessione assis facile ad commutandas partes impellantur. ita celeriter imbiberunt auaritiam, quae tamen nulli est eis usui. nam quae sanguine quaerunt, protinus per luxum, et eum tamen miserum consumunt.

¶hic populus Utopiensibus aduersus quosuis mortales militat, quod tanti ab iis eorum conducatur opera quanti nusquam alibi. Utopienses siquidem ut bonos quaerunt quibus utantur ita hos quoque homines pessimos quibus abutantur. quos cum usus postulat, magnis impulsos pollicitationibus, maximis obiiciunt periculis, unde plerumque magna pars numquam ad exigenda promissa reuerti-tur, superstitibus, quae sunt polliciti bona fide, persoluunt, quo ad similes ausus incendantur. neque enim pensi quicquam habent, quam multos ex eis perdant. rati de genere humano maximam merituros gratiam se, si tota illa colluuie po-puli tam tetri, ac nepharii orbem terrarum purgare possent.

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promises; yet they make them good most religiously to such as escape. This animates them to adventure again, whenever there is occasion for it; for the Utopians are not at all troubled how many of these happen to be killed, and reckon it a service done to mankind if they could be a means to deliver the world from such a lewd and vicious sort of people, that seem to have run together, as to the drain of human nature.

¶Next to these, they are served in their wars with those upon whose account they undertake them, and with the auxiliary troops of their other friends, to whom they join a few of their own people, and send some man of eminent and approved virtue to com-mand. There are two sent with him, who, during his command, are private men, but the first is to succeed him if he should happen to be killed or taken; and, in case of the like misfortune to him, the third comes in his place; and thus they provide against all events, that such accidents as may befall their generals may not endanger their armies. When they draw out troops of their people, they take such out of every city as freely offer themselves, for none are forced to go against their wills, since they think that if any man is pressed that wants courage, he will not only act faintly, but by his cowardice dishearten others. If an invasion is made on their country, they make use of such men, if they have good bodies, though they are not brave; and either put them aboard their ships, or place them on the walls of their towns, that being so posted, they may find no opportunity of flight; and thus shame, the heat of action, or the impossibility of flying, bears down their cowardice; they often make a virtue of necessity, and behave well, because nothing else is left them.

¶But as they force no man into any foreign war against his will, so they do not hin-der women who are willing to go along with their husbands; on the contrary, they encourage and praise them, and they stand often next their husbands in the front of the army. They also place together those who are related, parents, and children, kin-dred, and those that are mutually allied, near one another; that those whom nature has inspired with the greatest zeal for assisting one another may be the nearest and readiest to do it; and it is matter of great reproach if husband or wife survive one another, or if a child survives his parent, and therefore when they come to be engaged in action, they continue to fight to the last man, if their enemies stand before them: and as they use all prudent methods to avoid the endangering their own men, and if it is possible let all the action and danger fall upon the troops that they hire, so if it becomes neces-sary for themselves to engage, they then charge with as much courage as they avoided it before with prudence: nor is it a fierce charge at first, but it increases by degrees; and as they continue in action, they grow more obstinate, and press harder upon the enemy, insomuch that they will much sooner die than give ground; for the certainty that their children will be well looked after when they are dead frees them from all that anxiety concerning them which often masters men of great courage; and thus they are animated by a noble and invincible resolution. Their skill in military affairs increases their courage: and the wise sentiments which, according to the laws of their country, are instilled into them in their education, give additional vigour to their minds: for as they do not undervalue life so as prodigally to throw it away, they are not so indecently fond of it as to preserve it by base and unbecoming methods.

¶In the greatest heat of action the bravest of their youth, who have devoted them-selves to that service, single out the general of their enemies, set on him either openly or by ambuscade; pursue him everywhere, and when spent and wearied out, are relieved

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¶secundum hos eorum copiis utuntur, pro quibus arma capiunt, deinde aux-iliaribus ceterorum amicorum turmis. postremo suos ciues adiungunt, e quibus aliquem uirtutis probatae uirum, totius exercitus summae praeficiunt. huic duos ita substituunt, uti eo incolumi, ambo priuati sint, capto aut interempto, alter e duobus uelut haereditate succedat, eique ex euentu tertius. ne—ut sunt bello-rum sortes uariae—periclitante duce totus perturbetur exercitus. e quaque ciui-tate delectus exercetur ex his, qui sponte nomen profitentur. neque enim inuitus quisquam foras in militiam truditur, quod persuasum habeant, si quis sit natura timidior, non ipsum modo nihil facturum strenue, sed metum etiam comitibus incussurum. ceterum si quod bellum ingruat in patriam, ignauos huiusmodi, modo ualeant corpore, in naues mixtos melioribus collocant; aut in moenibus sparsim disponunt. unde non sit refugiendi locus. ita suorum pudor, hostis in manibus, atque adempta fugae spes, timorem obruunt, et saepe extrema neces-sitas in uirtutem uertitur.

¶at sicuti ad externum bellum ex ipsis nemo protrahitur nolens, ita feminas uo-lentes in militiam comitari maritos, adeo non prohibent, ut exhortentur etiam, et laudibus incitent, profectas cum suo quamque uiro, pariter in acie constitu-unt. tum sui quemque liberi affines cognati circumsistunt, ut hi de proximo sint mutuo sibi subsidio, quos maxime ad ferendas inuicem suppetias natura stimulat. in maximo probro est coniunx absque coniuge redux, aut amisso par-ente reuersus filius. quo fit, uti si ad ipsorum manus uentum sit modo perstent hostes, longo et lugubri proelio ad internitionem usque decernatur. nempe ut omnibus curant modis ne ipsis dimicare necesse sit, modo bello possint uicaria conductitiorum manu defungi, ita cum uitari non potest quin ipsi ineant pug-nam, tam intrepide capessunt, quam quoad licuit prudenter detrectabant, nec tam primo ferociunt impetu quam mora sensim et duratione inualescunt, tam offirmatis animis ut interimi citius quam auerti queant. quippe uictus illa secu-ritas quae cuique domi est, ademptaque de posteris anxia cogitandi cura—nam haec solicitudo generosos ubique spiritus frangit—sublimem illis animum et uinci dedignantem facit. ad haec militaris disciplinae peritia fiduciam praebet, postremo rectae opiniones—quibus et doctrina et bonis reipublicae institutis imbuti a pueris sunt—uirtutem addunt. qua neque tam uilem habent uitam, ut temere prodigant, neque tam improbe caram, ut cum honestas ponendam suadeat, auare turpiterque retineant.

¶dum ubique pugna maxima feruet, lectissimi iuuenes coniurati, deuotique, ducem sibi deposcunt aduersum, hunc aperte inuadunt, hunc ex insidiis adori-untur, idem eminus idem cominus petitur, longoque ac perpetuo cuneo, sum-missis assidue in fatigatorum locum recentibus, oppugnatur. raroque accidit—ni sibi fuga prospiciat—ut non intereat aut uiuus in hostium potestatem ueniat.

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by others, who never give over the pursuit, either attacking him with close weapons when they can get near, or with those which wound at a distance, when others get in between them. So that, unless he secures himself by flight, they seldom fail at last to kill or to take him prisoner.

¶When they have obtained a victory, they kill as few as possible, and are more bent on taking prisoners than on killing those that fly before them. Nor do they let their men so loose in the pursuit of their enemies as not to retain an entire body still in order; so that if they have been forced to engage the last of their battalions before they could gain the day, they will rather let their enemies all escape than pursue them when their own army is in disorder; remembering well what has often fallen out to themselves, that when the main body of their army has been quite defeated and broken, when their enemies, imagining the victory obtained, have let themselves loose into an irregular pursuit, a few of them that lay for a reserve, waiting a fit opportunity, have fallen on them in their chase, and when straggling in disorder, and apprehensive of no danger, but counting the day their own, have turned the whole action, and, wresting out of their hands a victory that seemed certain and undoubted, while the vanquished have suddenly become victorious.

¶It is hard to tell whether they are more dexterous in laying or avoiding ambushes. They sometimes seem to fly when it is far from their thoughts; and when they intend to give ground, they do it so that it is very hard to find out their design. If they see they are ill posted, or are like to be overpowered by numbers, they then either march off in the night with great silence, or by some stratagem delude their enemies. If they retire in the day-time, they do it in such order that it is no less dangerous to fall upon them in a retreat than in a march.

¶They fortify their camps with a deep and large trench; and throw up the earth that is dug out of it for a wall; nor do they employ only their slaves in this, but the whole army works at it, except those that are then upon the guard; so that when so many hands are at work, a great line and a strong fortification is finished in so short a time that it is scarce credible.

¶Their armour is very strong for defence, and yet is not so heavy as to make them un-easy in their marches; they can even swim with it. All that are trained up to war practise swimming. Both horse and foot make great use of arrows, and are very expert. They have no swords, but fight with a pole-axe that is both sharp and heavy, by which they thrust or strike down an enemy. They are very good at finding out warlike machines, and disguise them so well that the enemy does not perceive them till he feels their use; so that he cannot prepare such a defence as would render them useless; the chief consid-eration had in the making them is that they may be easily carried and managed.

¶If they agree to a truce, they observe it so religiously that no provocations will make them break it. They never lay their enemies’ country waste nor burn their corn, and even in their marches they take all care that neither horse nor foot may tread it down, for they do not know but that they may have use for it themselves. They hurt no man found disarmed, unless he is a spy. When a town is surrendered to them, they take it into their protection; and when they carry a place by storm they never plunder it, but put those only to the sword that oppose the rendering of it, and make the rest of the garrison slaves, but for the other inhabitants, they do them no hurt; and if any of them had advised a surrender, they give them good rewards out of the estates of the

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¶si ab ipsis uictoria sit, haudquaquam caede grassantur, fugatos enim compre-hendunt, quam occidunt libentius. neque umquam ita persequuntur fugientes, ut non unam interim sub signis instructam aciem retineant, adeo nisi ceteris superati partibus, postrema acie sua uictoriam adepti sint, elabi potius hostes uniuersos sinant, quam insequi fugientes perturbatis suorum ordinibus insu-escant. memores sibimet haud semel usu uenisse, ut mole totius exercitus uicta profligataque, cum hostes uictoria gestientes, hac atque illac abeuntes perse-querentur, pauci ipsorum in subsidiis collocati ad occasiones intenti, dispersos ac palantes illos et praesumpta securitate negligentes derepente adorti, totius euentum proelii mutauerunt. extortaque e manibus tam certa et indubitata uic-toria, uicti uictores inuicem uicerunt.

¶haud facile dictu est, astutiores instruendis insidiis, an cautiores ad uitandas sient. fugam parare credas, cum nihil minus in animo habent, contra cum id consilii capiunt, nihil minus cogitare putes. nam si nimium sese sentiunt, aut numero, aut loco premi, tunc aut noctu, agmine silente, castra mouent, aut aliquo stratagemate eludunt, aut interdiu ita sensim sese referunt, tali seruato ordine, ut non minus periculi sit cedentes quam instantes adoriri.

¶castra diligentissime communiunt fossa praealta lataque, terra quae egeritur introrsum reiecta, nec in eam rem opera mediastinorum utuntur, ipsorum mani-bus militum res agitur, totusque exercitus in opere est, exceptis qui pro uallo in armis ad subitos casus excubant. itaque tam multis adnitentibus, magna mul-tumque amplexa loci munimenta, omni fide citius perficiunt.

¶armis utuntur ad excipiendos ictus, firmis, nec ad motum gestumue quem-libet ineptis, adeo ut ne natando quidem molesta sentiant. nam armati natare inter militaris disciplinae rudimenta consuescunt. tela sunt eminus sagittae, quas acerrime simul et certissime iaculantur non pedites modo, sed ex equis etiam, cominus uero non gladii, sed secures uel acie letales uel pondere seu caesim seu punctim feriant. machinas excogitant solertissime, factas accuratissime caelant ne ante proditae quam res postulet, ludibrio magis quam usui sint, in quibus fabricandis hoc in primis respiciunt, uti uectu faciles et habiles circumactu sint.

¶initas cum hostibus inducias tam sancte obseruant, ut ne lacessiti quidem uio-lent. hostilem terram non depopulantur, neque segetes exurunt, immo ne ho-minum equorumue pedibus, conterantur, quantum fieri potest prouident, rati in ipsorum usus crescere. inermem neminem laedunt, nisi idem speculator sit. dedi-tas urbes tuentur, at nec expugnatas, diripiunt, sed per quos deditio est impedita eos enecant, ceteris defensoribus in seruitutem addictis. imbellem turbam omnem relinquunt intactam. si quos deditionem suasisse compererint, his e damnatorum bonis aliquam partem impartiunt, reliqua sectione auxiliares donant. nam ipso-rum nemo quicquam de praeda capit.

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condemned, and distribute the rest among their auxiliary troops, but they themselves take no share of the spoil.

¶When a war is ended, they do not oblige their friends to reimburse their expenses; but they obtain them of the conquered, either in money, which they keep for the next occasion, or in lands, out of which a constant revenue is to be paid them; by many increases the revenue which they draw out from several countries on such occasions is now risen to above 700,000 ducats a year. They send some of their own people to receive these revenues, who have orders to live magnificently and like princes, by which means they consume much of it upon the place; and either bring over the rest to Uto-pia or lend it to that nation in which it lies. This they most commonly do, unless some great occasion, which falls out but very seldom, should oblige them to call for it all. It is out of these lands that they assign rewards to such as they encourage to adventure on desperate attempts.

¶If any prince that engages in war with them is making preparations for invading their country, they prevent him, and make his country the seat of the war; for they do not willingly suffer war to break in upon their island; and should it happen, they only defend themselves by their own people; but would not call for auxiliary troops.

¶There are several sorts of religions, not only in different parts of the island, but even in every town; some worshipping the sun, others the moon or one of the planets. Some worship such men as have been eminent in former times for virtue or glory, not only as ordinary deities, but as the supreme god.

¶Yet the greater and wiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore one eternal, invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible deity; as a being far above all our apprehen-sions, that is spread over the whole universe, not by his bulk, but by his power and vir-tue; him they call the father of all, and acknowledge that the beginnings, the increase, the progress, the vicissitudes, and the end of all things come only from him; nor do they offer divine honors to any but to him.

¶Indeed, though they differ concerning other things, all agree in this: they think there is one supreme being that made and governs the world, whom they call, in their own language, Mithras. They differ in this: that one thinks the god whom he worships is this supreme being, and another thinks that his idol is that god; but they all agree in one principle, that whoever is this supreme being, he is also that great essence to whose glory and majesty all honors are ascribed by the consent of all nations.

¶By degrees they fall off from the various superstitions that are among them, and grow up to that one religion that is the best and most in request; and there is no doubt to be made, but that all the others had vanished long ago, if some of those who advised them to lay aside their superstitions had not met with some unhappy accidents, which, being considered as inflicted by heaven, made them afraid that the god whose worship had like to have been abandoned had interposed and revenged themselves on those who despised their authority.

¶After they had heard from us an account of the doctrine, the course of life, and the miracles of Christ, and of the wonderful constancy of so many martyrs, whose blood, so willingly offered up, was the chief occasion of spreading their religion over a vast number of nations, it is not to be imagined how inclined they were to receive it. I shall not determine whether this proceeded from any secret inspiration of God, or whether

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¶ceterum confecto bello, non amicis impensas in quos insumpsere, sed uictis imputant, exiguntque eo nomine, partim pecuniam quam in similes bellorum usus reseruant, partim praedia quae sint ipsis apud eos perpetua non exigui cen-sus. huiusmodi reditus nunc apud multas gentes habent, qui uariis ex causis paulatim nati, supra septingenta ducatorum milia in singulos annos excreuere, in quos e suis ciuibus aliquos emittunt quaestorum nomine, qui magnifice ui-uant, personamque magnatum illic prae se ferant, at multum tamen superest quod inferatur aerario, nisi malint eidem genti credere, quod saepe tantisper faciunt, quoad uti necesse sit uixque accidit umquam, ut totam reposcant. ex his praediis partem assignant illis, qui ipsorum hortatu tale discrimen adeunt quale ante monstraui.

¶si quis princeps armis aduersus eos sumptis, eorum ditionem paret inuadere, magnis illico uiribus extra suos fines occurrunt; nam neque temere in suis ter-ris bellum gerunt, neque ulla necessitas tanta est, ut eos cogat aliena auxilia in insulam suam admittere.

¶religiones sunt non per insulam modo; uerum singulas etiam urbes uariae, aliis Solem, Lunam aliis, aliis aliud errantium siderum dei uice uenerantibus, sunt quibus homo quispiam, cuius olim aut uirtus aut gloria enituit, non pro deo tantum, sed pro summo etiam deo suspicitur.

¶at multo maxima pars, eademque longe prudentior, nihil horum, sed unum quoddam numen putant, incognitum, aeternum, immensum, inexplicabile, quod supra mentis humanae captum sit, per mundum hunc uniuersum, uirtute non mole diffusum. hunc parentem uocant. origines, auctus, progressus, uices, finesque rerum omnium, huic acceptos uni referunt, nec diuinos honores alii praeterea ulli, applicant.

¶quin ceteris quoque omnibus, quamquam diuersa credentibus, hoc tamen cum istis conuenit, quod esse quidem unum censent summum, cui et uniuersi-tatis opificium, et prouidentia debeatur, eumque communiter omnes patria lin-gua Mythram appellant, sed eo dissentiunt, quod idem alius apud alios habetur. Autumante quoque quicquid id sit, quod ipse summum ducit, eandem illam prorsus esse naturam, cuius unius numini ac maiestati, rerum omnium summa, omnium consensu gentium tribuitur.

¶ceterum paulatim omnes ab ea superstitionum uarietate desciscunt, atque in unam illam coalescunt religionem, quae reliquas ratione uidetur antecellere. neque dubium est quin ceterae iam pridem euanuissent, nisi quicquid improspe-rum cuiquam inter mutandae religionis consilia fors obiecisset, non id accidisse casu, sed caelitus immissum interpretaretur timor, tamquam numine, cuius re-linquebatur cultus, impium contra se propositum uindicante.

¶at posteaquam acceperunt a nobis Christi nomen, doctrinam, mores, mirac-ula, nec minus mirandam tot martyrum constantiam, quorum sponte fusus san-guis, tam numerosas gentes in suam sectam longe lateque traduxit, non credas quam pronis in eam affectibus etiam ipsi concesserint, siue hoc secretius inspi-rante deo, siue quod eadem ei uisa est haeresi proxima, quae est apud ipsos po-tissima, quamquam hoc quoque fuisse non paulum momenti crediderim, quod Christo communem suorum uictum audierant placuisse, et apud germanissimos Christianorum conuentus adhuc in usu esse. certe quoquo id momento accidit,

de religionibus Utopiensium

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it was because it seemed so favorable to that community of goods, which is an opinion so particular as well as so dear to them; since they perceived Christ and His followers lived by that rule, and that it was still kept up in some communities among the sincerest sort of Christians. From whichsoever of these motives it might be, that many of them came over to our religion, and were initiated by baptism. As two of our number were dead, so none of the four that survived were in priests’ orders, we, therefore, could only baptise them, so that, to our great regret, they could not partake of the sacraments that can only be administered by priests, but they are instructed concerning them and long most vehemently for them. They had great disputes among themselves, whether one chosen by them to be a priest would not be qualified to do all the things that belong to that character, even though he had no papal authority, and they seemed to be resolved to choose some for that employment, but they had not done it when I left them.

¶Those among them that have not received our religion do not fright any from it, and use none ill that goes over to it, so that all the while I was there one man was only punished on this occasion. He being newly baptised did, despite all that we could say to the contrary, dispute publicly concerning the Christian religion, with more zeal than discretion, and with so much heat, that he not only preferred our worship to theirs, but condemned their rites as profane, and cried out against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned. Upon his having frequently preached in this manner he was seized, and after trial he was condemned to banishment, not for having disparaged their religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition; for this is one of their most ancient laws, that no man ought to be punished for his religion.

¶At the first constitution of their government, Utopus understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in great religous quarrels, by which they were so divided, that he found it easy to conquer them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued them he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument and by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of other opinions; but that he ought to use no other force but that of persuasion, and was neither to mix with it reproaches nor violence; and such as did otherwise were to be condemned to banishment or slavery.

¶This law was made by Utopus, not only for preserving public peace, which he saw suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, but because he thought the interest of religion itself required it. He judged it not fit to determine anything rashly; and seemed to doubt whether those different forms of religion might not all come from God, who might inspire man in a different manner, and be pleased with this variety; he therefore thought it indecent and foolish for any man to threaten and terrify another to make him believe what did not appear to him to be true. Supposing that only one religion was really true, and the rest false, he imagined that the native force of truth would break forth and shine bright, if supported only by the strength of argument, and attended to with a gentle and unprejudiced mind; while, on the other hand, if such debates were carried on with violence and tumults, as the most wicked are always the most obstinate, so the best and most holy religion might be choked with su-perstition, as corn is with briars and thorns; he therefore left men wholly to their liberty,

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haud pauci nostram in religionem coierunt Lymphaque sacra sunt abluti. uerum quoniam in nobis quattuor—totidem enim dumtaxat supereramus, nam duo fatis concesserant—nemo id quod doleo, sacerdos erat. ceteris initiati, ea ta-men adhuc sacramenta desiderant, quae apud nos non nisi sacerdotes conferunt, intelligunt tamen, optantque ita ut nihil uehementius. quin hoc quoque sedulo iam inter se disputant an sine Christiani pontificis missu quisquam e suo nu-mero delectus sacerdotii consequatur characterem. et electuri, sane uidebantur. uerum cum ego discederem, nondum elegerant.

¶quin hi quoque religioni Christianae, qui non assentiunt, neminem tamen absterrent, nullum oppugnant imbutum. nisi quod unus e nostro coetu me prae-sente cohercitus est. is cum recens ablutus, nobis contra suadentibus, de Christi cultu publice maiore studio, quam prudentia dissereret, usque adeo coepit in-calescere, ut iam non nostra modo sacra ceteris anteferret, sed reliqua protenus uniuersa damnaret. prophana ipsa, cultores impios ac sacrilegos, aeterno plec-tendos igni uociferaretur. talia diu concionantem comprehendunt, ac reum non spretae religionis, sed excitati in populo tumultus agunt, peraguntque, damna-tum, exilio mulctant, siquidem hoc inter antiquissima instituta numerant, ne sua cuiquam religio fraudi sit.

¶Utopus enim iam inde ab initio, cum accepisset incolas ante suum aduen-tum de religionibus inter se assidue dimicasse, atque animaduertisset eam rem, quod in commune dissidentes, singulae pro patria sectae pugnabant, occasionem praestitisse sibi uincendarum omnium, adeptus uictoriam in primis sanxit, uti quam cuique religionem libeat sequi liceat, ut uero alios quoque in suam tradu-cat, hactenus niti possit, uti placide, ac modeste suam rationibus astruat, non ut acerbe ceteras destruat, si suadendo non persuadeat, neque uim ullam adhibeat, et conuiciis temperet, petulantius hac de re contendentem exilio, aut seruitute mulctant.

¶haec Utopus instituit non respectu pacis modo quam assiduo certamine, atque inexpiabili odio funditus uidit euerti, sed quod arbitratus est, uti sic decer-neretur, ipsius etiam religionis interesse, de qua nihil est ausus temere definire, uelut incertum habens, an uarium ac multiplicem expetens cultum deus, aliud inspiret alii, certe ui ac minis exigere, ut quod tu uerum credis idem omnibus uideatur, hoc uero et insolens et ineptum censuit. tum si maxime una uera sit, ceterae omnes uanae, facile tamen praeuidit—modo cum ratione ac modestia res agatur—futurum denique; ut ipsa per se ueri uis emergat aliquando atque em-ineat. sin armis et tumultu certetur, ut sint pessimi quique maxime peruicaces, optimam ac sanctissimam religionem ob uanissimas inter se superstitiones, ut segetes inter spinas ac frutices obrutum iri. itaque hanc totam rem in medio posuit, et quid credendum putaret liberum cuique reliquit. nisi quod sancte ac seuere uetuit, ne quis usque adeo ab humanae naturae dignitate degeneret, ut animas quoque interire cum corpore, aut mundum temere ferri, sublata proui-dentia putet.

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that they might be free to believe as they should see cause; only he made a solemn and severe law against such as should so far degenerate from the dignity of human nature, as to think that our souls died with our bodies, or that the world was governed by chance, without a wise overruling providence.

¶For they formerly believed that there was a state of rewards and punishments to the good and bad after this life; and they now look on those that think otherwise as scarce fit to be counted men, since they degrade so noble a being as the soul, and reckon it no better than a beast’s: thus they are far from looking on such men as fit for human soci-ety, or to be citizens of a well-ordered commonwealth; since a man of such principles must needs, as oft as he dares do it, despise all their laws and customs: for there is no doubt to be made, that a man who is afraid of nothing but the law, and apprehends nothing after death, will not scruple to break through all the laws of his country, either by fraud or force, when by this means he may satisfy his appetites. They never raise any that hold these maxims, either to honors or offices, nor employ them in any public trust, but despise them, as men of base and sordid minds. Yet they do not punish them, because they lay this down as a maxim, that a man cannot make himself believe anything he pleases; nor do they drive any to dissemble their thoughts by threatenings, so that men are not tempted to lie or disguise their opinions; which being a sort of fraud, is abhorred by the Utopians: they take care indeed to prevent their disputing in defence of these opinions, especially before the common people: but they suffer, and even encourage them to dispute concerning them in private with their priest, and other grave men, being confident that they will be cured of those mad opinions by having reason laid before them.

¶There are many among them that run far to the other extreme, though it is neither thought an ill nor unreasonable opinion, and therefore is not at all discouraged. They think the souls of beasts are immortal, though far inferior to the dignity of the human soul, and not capable of so great a happiness. Nearly all of them very firmly persuaded that good men will be infinitely happy in another state: so that though they are com-passionate to the sick, yet they lament no man’s death, except they see him loath to part with life; for they look on this as an ill presage, as if the soul, conscious to itself of guilt, and quite hopeless, was afraid to leave the body, from some secret hints of approaching misery. They think that such a man’s appearance before God cannot be acceptable to Him, who being called on, does not go out cheerfully, but is backward and unwilling, and is as it were dragged to it. They are struck with horror when they see any die in this manner, and carry them out in silence and with sorrow, and praying God that He would be merciful to the errors of the departed soul, they lay the body in the ground.

¶When any die cheerfully, and full of hope, they do not mourn for them, but sing hymns when they carry out their bodies, and commending their souls very earnestly to God: their whole behaviour is then rather grave than sad, they burn the body, and set up a pillar where the pile was made, with an inscription to the honor of the deceased. When they come from the funeral, they discourse of his good life, and worthy actions, but speak of nothing with more pleasure than of his serenity at the hour of death. They think such respect paid to the memory of good men is both the greatest incitement for others to follow their example, and the most acceptable worship that can be offered them; for they believe that though by the imperfection of human sight they are invis-ible to us, yet they are present among us, and hear those discourses that pass concerning

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¶atque ideo post hanc uitam supplicia uitiis decreta, uirtuti praemia consti-tuta credunt. contra sentientem, ne in hominum quidem ducunt numero, ut qui sublimem animae suae naturam, ad pecuini corpusculi uilitatem deiecerit, tantum abest ut inter ciues ponant, quorum instituta, moresque—si per metum liceat—omnes, floccifacturus sit. cui enim dubium esse potest, quin is publicas patriae leges, aut arte clam eludere, aut ui nitatur infringere, dum suae priuatim cupiditati seruiat, cui nullus ultra leges metus, nihil ultra corpus spei superest amplius. quamobrem sic animato nullus communicatur honos, nullus magis-tratus committitur, nulli publico muneri praeficitur. ita passim uelut inertis, ac iacentis naturae despicitur. ceterum nullo afficiunt supplicio, quod persuasum habeant, nulli hoc in manu esse, ut quicquid libet, sentiat; sed nec minis adigunt ullis, animum ut dissimulet suum, nec fucos admittunt, et mendacia, quae uelut proxima fraudi, mirum quam habent inuisa. uerum ne pro sua disputet sententia prohibent, atque id dumtaxat apud uulgus. nam alioquin apud sacerdotes, grau-esque uiros seorsum, non sinunt modo, sed hortantur quoque, confisi fore, ut ea tandem uesania rationi cedat.

¶sunt et alii, nec ii sane pauci, nempe improhibiti, ueluti neque ratione penitus pro se carentes, neque mali, qui uitio longe diuerso, brutorum quoque aeternas esse animas opinantur. at nostris tamen neque dignitate comparandas, neque ad aequam natas felicitatem. hominum enim cuncti fere tam immensam fore beatitudinem pro certo atque explorato habent, ut morbum lamententur om-nium, mortem uero nullius, nisi quem uident anxie e uita, inuitumque diuelli. nempe hoc pro pessimo habent augurio, tamquam anima exspes ac male con-scia, occulto quopiam imminentis poenae praesagio, reformidet exitum. ad hoc haudquaquam gratum deo, eius putant aduentum fore, qui cum sit accersitus, non accurrit libens, sed inuitus ac detrectans pertrahitur. hoc igitur mortis ge-nus, qui intuentur horrent, itaque defunctos, moesti ac silentes efferunt, preca-tique propitium manibus deum, uti eorum clementer infirmitatibus ignoscat, terra cadauer obruunt.

¶contra, quicumque alacriter ac pleni bona spe decesserint, hos nemo luget, sed cantu prosecuti funus, animas deo, magno commendantes affectu, corpora tandem reuerenter magis quam dolenter concremant, columnamque loco ins-culptis defuncti titulis erigunt. domum reuersi, mores, actaque eius recensent, nec ulla uitae pars, aut saepius, aut libentius, quam laetus tractatur interitus. hanc probitatis memoriam, et uiuis efficacissima rentur incitamenta uirtutum, et gratissimum defunctis cultum putant, quos interesse quoque de se sermonibus opinantur, quamquam—ut est hebes mortalium acies—inuisibiles. nam neque felicium sorti conueniat, libertate carere migrandi quo uelint, et ingratorum fue-rit prorsus abiecisse desiderium amicos inuisendi suos, quibus eos dum uiuerent, mutuus amor, caritasque deuinxerat, quam bonis uiris, ut cetera bona, auctam post fata potius, quam imminutam coniectant. mortuos ergo uersari inter ui-uentes credunt, dictorum factorumque spectatores, eoque res agendas fidentius aggrediuntur, talibus uelut freti praesidibus, et ab inhonesto secreto deterret eos, credita maiorum praesentia.

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themselves. They believe it inconsistent with the happiness of departed souls not to be at liberty to be where they will: and do not imagine them capable of the ingratitude of not desiring to see those friends with whom they lived on earth in the strictest bonds of love and kindness: besides, they are persuaded that good men, after death, have these affections; and all other good dispositions increased rather than diminished, and there-fore conclude that they are still among the living, and observe all they say or do. From hence they engage in all their affairs with the greater confidence of success, as trusting to their protection; while this opinion of the presence of their ancestors is a restraint that prevents their engaging in ill designs.

¶They despise and laugh at auguries, and the other vain and superstitious ways of divination, so much observed among other nations; but have great reverence for such miracles as cannot flow from any of the powers of nature, and look on them as ef-fects and indications of the presence of the Supreme Being, of which they say many instances have occurred among them; and that sometimes their public prayers, which upon great and dangerous occasions they have solemnly put up to God, with assured confidence of being heard, have been answered in a miraculous manner.

¶They think the contemplating God in His works, and the adoring Him for them, is a very acceptable piece of worship to Him. There are many among them that upon a motive of religion neglect learning, and apply themselves to no sort of study; nor do they allow themselves any leisure time, but are perpetually employed, believing that by the good things that a man does he secures to himself that happiness that comes after death. Some of these visit the sick; others mend highways, cleanse ditches, repair bridges, or dig turf, gravel, or stone. Others fell and cleave timber, and bring wood, corn, and other necessaries, on carts, into their towns; nor do these only serve the public, but they serve even private men, more than the slaves themselves do: for if there is anywhere a rough, hard, and sordid piece of work to be done, from which many are frightened by the labor and loathsomeness of it, if not the despair of accomplishing it, they cheerfully, and of their own accord, take that to their share; and by that means, as they ease others very much, so they afflict themselves, and spend their whole life in hard labor: and yet they do not value themselves upon this, nor lessen other people’s credit to raise their own; but by their stooping to such servile employments they are so far from being despised, that they are so much the more esteemed by the whole nation.

¶Of these there are two sorts: some live unmarried and chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh; and thus weaning themselves from all the pleasures of the pres-ent life, which they account hurtful, they pursue, even by the hardest and painfullest methods possible, that blessedness which they hope for hereafter; and the nearer they approach to it, they are the more cheerful and earnest in their endeavours after it. An-other sort of them is less willing to put themselves to much toil, and therefore prefer a married state to a single one; and as they do not deny themselves the pleasure of it, so they think the begetting of children is a debt which they owe to human nature, and to their country; nor do they avoid any pleasure that does not hinder labor; and therefore eat flesh so much the more willingly, as they find that by this means they are the more able to work: the Utopians look upon these as the wiser sect, but they esteem the others as the most holy. They would indeed laugh at any man who, from the principles of rea-son, would prefer an unmarried state to a married, or a life of labor to an easy life: but they reverence and admire such as do it from the motives of religion. There is nothing

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¶auguria, ceterasque superstitionis uanae diuinationes, quarum apud alias gen-tes magna est obseruatio, negligunt prorsus, atque irrident. miracula uero, quae nullo naturae proueniunt adminiculo, uelut praesentis opera, testesque numinis uenerantur. qualia et ibi frequenter extare ferunt, et magnis interdum ac dubiis in rebus publica supplicatione, certa cum fiducia procurant, impetrantque.

¶gratum deo cultum putant naturae contemplationem, laudemque ab ea. sunt tamen, iique haud sane pauci, qui religione ducti, litteras negligunt, nulli rerum cognitioni student, neque otio prorsus ulli uacant, negotiis tantum, bonisque in ceteris officiis statuunt, futuram post fata felicitatem promereri. itaque alii aegrotis inseruiunt, alii uias reficiunt, purgant fossas, pontes reparant, cespites, arenam, lapides effodiunt, arbores demoliuntur ac dissecant, bigisque ligna, fru-ges, item alia in urbes important, nec in publicum modo, sed priuatim quoque ministros, ac plus quam seruos agunt. nam quicquid usquam operis est asperum, difficile, sordidum, a quo plerosque labor, fastidium, desperatio deterreat, hoc illi sibi totum libentes, hilaresque desumunt, ceteris otium procurant, ipsi per-petuo in opere ac labore uersantur, nec imputant tamen, nec aliorum sugillant uitam, nec suam efferunt. ii quo magis sese seruos exhibent, eo maiore apud omnes in honore sunt.

¶eorum tamen haereses duae sunt, altera caelibum, qui non Venere modo in totum abstinent, sed carnium esu quoque. quidam animalium etiam omnium, reiectisque penitus tamquam noxiis uitae praesentis uoluptatibus, futurae dum-taxat, per uigilias ac sudores inhiant, eius propediem obtinendae spe. alacres interim, uegetique. altera laboris haud minus appetens, coniugium praefert, ut cuius nec aspernantur solatium, et opus, naturae debere se, et patriae libe-ros putant. nullam uoluptatem refugiunt, quae nihil eos ab labore demoretur. carnes quadrupedum uel eo nomine diligunt, quod tali cibo se ualidiores ad opus quodque censeant. hos Utopiani prudentiores, at illos sanctiores reputant. quos quod caelibatum anteferunt matrimonio, asperamque uitam placidae ante-ponunt, si rationibus niterentur irriderent, nunc uero cum se fateantur religione duci suspiciunt ac reuerentur. nihil enim sollicitius obseruant, quam ne temere quicquam ulla de religione pronuncient. huiusmodi ergo sunt, quos illi pecu-liari nomine sua lingua Buthrescas uocant, quod uerbum latine religiosos licet interpretari.

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in which they are more cautious than in giving their opinion positively concerning any sort of religion. The men that lead those severe lives are called in the language of their country Brutheskas, which answers to those we call Religious Orders.

¶Their priests are men of eminent piety, and therefore they are but few, for there are only thirteen in every town, one for every temple; but when they go to war, seven of these go out with their forces, and seven others are chosen to supply their room in their absence; but these enter again upon their employments when they return; and those who served in their absence, attend upon the high priest, till vacancies fall by death; for there is one set over the rest.

¶They are chosen by the people as the other magistrates are, by suffrages given in secret, for preventing of factions: and when they are chosen, they are consecrated by the college of priests. The care of all sacred things, the worship of God, and an inspection into the manners of the people, are committed to them. It is a reproach to a man to be sent for by any of them, or for them to speak to him in secret, for that always gives some suspicion: all that is incumbent on them is only to exhort and admonish the people; for the power of correcting and punishing ill men belongs wholly to the Prince, and to the other magistrates: the severest thing that the priest does is the excluding those that are desperately wicked from joining in their worship: there is not any sort of punishment more dreaded by them than this, for as it loads them with infamy, so it fills them with secret horrors, such is their reverence to their religion; nor will their bodies be long exempted from their share of trouble; for if they do not very quickly satisfy the priests of the truth of their repentance, they are seized on by the Senate, and punished for their impiety.

¶The education of youth belongs to the priests, yet they do not take so much care of instructing them in letters, as in forming their minds and manners aright; they use all possible methods to infuse, very early, into the tender and flexible minds of children, such opinions as are both good in themselves and will be useful to their country, for when deep impressions of these things are made at that age, they follow men through the whole course of their lives, and conduce much to preserve the peace of the govern-ment, which suffers by nothing more than by vices that rise out of ill opinions.

¶The wives of their priests are the most extraordinary women of the whole country; sometimes the women themselves are made priests, though that falls out but seldom, nor are any but ancient widows chosen into that order. None of the magistrates have greater honor paid them than is paid the priests; and if they should happen to commit any crime, they would not be questioned for it; their punishment is left to God, and to their own consciences; for they do not think it lawful to lay hands on any man, how wicked soever he is, that has been in a peculiar manner dedicated to God; nor do they find any great inconvenience in this, both because they have so few priests, and because these are chosen with much caution, so that it must be a very unusual thing to find one who, merely out of regard to his virtue, and for his being esteemed a singularly good man, was raised up to so great a dignity, degenerate into corruption and vice; and if such a thing should fall out, for man is a changeable creature, yet, there being few priests, and these having no authority but what rises out of the respect that is paid them, nothing of great consequence to the public can proceed from the indemnity that the priests enjoy. They have, indeed, very few of them, lest greater numbers sharing in the same honor might make the dignity of that order, which they esteem so highly, to

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¶sacerdotes habent eximia sanctitate, eoque admodum paucos. neque enim plus quam tredecim in singulis habent urbibus pari templorum numero, nisi cum itur ad bellum. tunc enim septem ex illis cum exercitu profectis totidem sufficiuntur interim, sed illi reuersi, suum quisque locum recuperat, qui super-sunt, ii quoad decedentibus illis ordine succedant, comites interea sunt nam Pontificis. unus reliquis praeficitur.

¶eliguntur a populo, idque ceterorum ritu magistratuum, occultis, ad studia uitanda, suffragiis. electi a suo collegio consecrantur. ii rebus diuinis praesunt, religiones curant, ac morum ueluti censores sunt, magnoque pudori ducitur ab iis quemquam tamquam uitae parum probatae accersi, compellariue. ceterum ut hortari atque admonere illorum est, ita coercere atque in facinorosos animadu-ertere principis, atque aliorum est magistratuum, nisi quod sacris interdicunt, quos improbe malos comperiunt. nec ullum fere supplicium est quod horreant magis. nam et summa percelluntur infamia, et occulto religionis metu laceran-tur, ne corporibus quidem diu futuris in tuto. quippe ni properam poenitentiam sacerdotibus approbent, comprehensi impietatis poenam Senatui persoluunt.

¶pueritia iuuentusque ab illis eruditur, nec prior litterarum cura, quam morum ac uirtutis habetur, namque summam adhibent industriam, ut bonas protenus opiniones, et conseruandae ipsorum reipublicae utiles, teneris adhuc, et sequaci-bus puerorum animis instillent, quae ubi pueris penitus insederint, uiros per to-tam uitam comitantur, magnamque ad tuendum publicae rei statum—qui non nisi uitiis dilabitur, quae ex peruersis nascuntur opinionibus—afferunt utilita-tem.

¶sacerdotibus—ni feminae sint. nam neque ille sexus excluditur, sed rarius, et non nisi uidua, natuque grandis eligitur—uxores sunt popularium selectissimae. neque enim ulli apud Utopienses magistratui maior habetur honos usque adeo, ut si quid etiam flagitii admiserint, nulli publico iudicio subsint, deo tantum, ac sibi relinquuntur. neque enim fas putant illum, quantumuis scelestum, mortali manu contingere, qui deo tam singulari modo uelut anathema dedicatus est. qui mos illis facilior est obseruatu, quod sacerdotes et tam pauci, et tanta cum cura deliguntur. nam neque temere accidit, ut qui ex bonis optimus ad tantam dignitatem, solius respectu uirtutis euehitur, in corruptelam et uitium degeneret, et si iam maxime contingeret, ut est mortalium natura mutabilis, tamen qua sunt paucitate, nec ulla praeter honorem potestate praediti, ad publicam certe perniciem nihil magni ab his momenti pertimescendum sit. quos ideo tam raros atque infrequentes habent, ne dignitas ordinis, quem nunc tanta ueneratione prosequuntur, communicato cum multis honore uilesceret, praesertim cum dif-ficile putent frequentes inuenire tam bonos, ut ei sint dignitati pares, ad quam gerendam non sufficit mediocribus esse uirtutibus.

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sink in its reputation; they also think it difficult to find out many of such an exalted pitch of goodness as to be equal to that dignity, which demands the exercise of more than ordinary virtues.

¶Nor are the priests in greater veneration among them than they are among their neighboring nations, as you may imagine by that which I think gives occasion for it. When the Utopians engage in battle, the priests who accompany them to the war, ap-parelled in their sacred vestments, kneel down during the action (in a place not far from the field), and, lifting up their hands to heaven, pray, first for peace, and then for victory to their own side, and particularly that it may be gained without the effusion of much blood on either side; and when the victory turns to their side, they run in among their own men to restrain their fury; and if any of their enemies see them or call to them, they are preserved by that means; and such as can come so near them as to touch their garments have not only their lives, but their fortunes secured to them; it is upon this account that all the nations round about consider them so much, and treat them with such reverence, that they have been often no less able to preserve their own people from the fury of their enemies than to save their enemies from their rage; for it has sometimes fallen out, that when their armies have been in disorder and forced to fly, so that their enemies were running upon the slaughter and spoil, the priests by interposing have separated them from one another, and stopped the effusion of more blood; so that, by their mediation, a peace has been concluded on very reasonable terms; nor is there any nation about them so fierce, cruel, or barbarous, as not to look upon their persons as sacred and inviolable.

¶The first and the last day of the month, and of the year, is a festival; they measure their months by the course of the moon, and their years by the course of the sun: the first days are called in their language the Cynemernes, and the last the Trapemernes, which answers in our language, to the festival that begins or ends the season.

¶They have magnificent temples, that are not only nobly built, but extremely spa-cious, which is the more necessary as they have so few of them; they are a little dark within, which proceeds not from any error in the architecture, but is done with design; for their priests think that too much light dissipates the thoughts, and that a more moderate degree of it both recollects the mind and raises devotion.

¶Though there are many different forms of religion among them, yet all these, how various soever, agree in the main point, which is the worshipping the Divine Essence; and, therefore, there is nothing to be seen or heard in their temples in which the several persuasions among them may not agree; for every sect performs those rites that are peculiar to it in their private houses, nor is there anything in the public worship that contradicts the particular ways of those different sects.

¶There are no images for God in their temples, so that every one may represent Him to his thoughts according to the way of his religion; nor do they call this one God by any other name but that of Mithras, which is the common name by which they all express the Divine Essence, whatsver otherwise they think it to be; nor are there any prayers among them but such as every one of them may use without prejudice to his own opinion.

¶They meet in their temples on the evening of the festival that concludes a season, and not having yet broke their fast, they thank God for their good success during that year or month which is then at an end; and the next day, being that which begins the

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¶nec eorum aestimatio apud suos magis, quam apud exteras etiam gentes hab-etur, quod inde facile patet, unde etiam natum puto. nempe decernentibus pro-elio copiis, seorsum illi non admodum procul considunt in genibus, sacras induti uestes, tensis ad caelum palmis, primum omnium pacem, proxime, suis uictoriam, sed neutri cruentam parti comprecantur, uincentibus suis decurrunt in aciem, saeuientesque in profligatos inhibent, uidisse tantum atque appellasse praesentes ad uitam satis, diffluentium contactus uestium, reliquas quoque fortunas ab omni bellorum iniuria defendit. qua ex re apud omnes undique gentes, tanta illis uen-eratio, tantum uerae maiestatis accessit, ut saepe ab hostibus non minus salutis ad ciues reportarint, quam ab ipsis ad hostes attulissent. siquidem aliquando constat, inclinata suorum acie, desperatis rebus, cum ipsi in fugam uerterentur, hostes in caedem ac praedam ruerent, interuentu sacerdotum interpellatam stragem, ac di-remptis inuicem copiis, pacem aequis conditionibus esse compositam atque con-stitutam. neque enim umquam fuit ulla gens tam fera, crudelis ac barbara, apud quos ipsorum corpus non sacrosanctum, atque inuiolabile sit habitum.

¶festos celebrant initialem atque ultimum cuiusque mensis diem, et anni item, quem in menses partiuntur, circuitu lunae finitos, ut solis ambitus annum circi-nat. primos quosque dies Cynemernos, postremos ipsorum lingua Trapemernos appellant, quae uocabula perinde sonant, ac si primifesti et finifesti uocentur.

¶delubra uisuntur egregia, utpote non operosa modo, sed quod erat in tanta ip-sorum paucitate necessarium, immensi etiam populi capacia. sunt tamen omnia subobscura, nec id aedificandi inscitia factum, sed consilio sacerdotum ferunt, quod immodicam lucem cogitationes dispergere, partiore ac uelut dubia colligi animos, et intendi religionem putant.

¶quae quoniam non est ibi apud omnes eadem, et uniuersae tamen eius for-mae quamquam uariae ac multiplices, in diuinae naturae cultum uelut in unum finem diuersa uia commigrant. idcirco nihil in templis uisitur, auditurue, quod non quadrare ad cunctas in commune uideatur. si quod proprium sit cuiusquam sectae sacrum, id intra domesticos quisque parietes curat, publica tali peragunt ordine, qui nulli prorsus ex priuatis deroget.

¶itaque nulla deorum effigies in templo conspicitur, quo liberum cuique sit, qua forma deum uelit e summa religione concipere. nullum peculiare dei nomen inuocant, sed Mythrae dumtaxat, quo uocabulo cuncti in unam diuinae maies-tatis naturam, quaecumque sit illa, conspirant, nullae concipiuntur preces, quas non pronunciare quiuis inoffensa sua secta possit.

¶ad templum ergo in finifestis diebus uespere conueniunt, adhuc ieiuni, acturi deo de anno, menseue cuius id festum postremus dies est, prospere acto gratias, postero die, nam is primifestus est, mane ad templa confluitur, ut insequentis anni, mensisue, quem ab illo auspicaturi festo sint, faustum felicemque succes-sum comprecentur. at in finifestis antea quam templum petunt uxores, domi ad uirorum pedes, liberi ad parentum prouoluti, peccasse fatentur sese aut admisso aliquo, aut officio indiligenter obito, ueniamque errati precantur. ita si qua se nubecula domesticae simultatis offuderat, tali satisfactione discutitur, uti animo puro ac sereno sacrificiis intersint. nam interesse turbido, religio est. eoque odii, iraeue in quemquam sibi conscii, nisi reconciliati ac defecatis affectibus ad sacri-ficia non ingerunt sese, uindictae celeris, magnaeque metu.

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new season, they meet early in their temples, to pray for the happy progress of all their affairs during that period upon which they then enter. In the festival which concludes the period, before they go to the temple, both wives and children fall on their knees before their husbands or parents and confess everything in which they have either erred or failed in their duty, and beg pardon for it. Thus all little discontents in families are removed, that they may offer up their devotions with a pure and serene mind; for they hold it a great impiety to enter upon them with disturbed thoughts, or with a con-sciousness of their bearing hatred or anger in their hearts to any person; and think that they should become liable to severe punishments if they presumed to offer sacrifices without cleansing their hearts, and reconciling all their differences.

¶In the temples the two sexes are separated, the men go to the right, and the women to the left; and the males and females all place themselves before the head and master or mistress of the family to which they belong, so that those who have the government of them at home may see their deportment in public. They intermingle them so, that the younger and the older may be set by one another; for if the younger sort were all set together, they would, perhaps, trifle away that time too much in which they ought to beget in themselves that religious dread of the Supreme Being which is the greatest incitement to virtue.

¶They offer up no living creature in sacrifice, nor do they think it suitable to the Di-vine Being, from whose bounty it is that these creatures have derived their lives, to take pleasure in their deaths, or the offering up their blood. They burn incense and other sweet odours, and have a great number of wax lights during their worship, not out of any imagination that such oblations can add anything to the divine nature (which even prayers cannot do), but as it is a harmless and pure way of worshipping God; so they think those sweet savors and lights, together with some other ceremonies, by a secret and unaccountable virtue, elevate men’s souls, and inflame them with greater energy and cheerfulness during the divine worship. ¶All the people appear in the temples in white garments; but the priest’s vestments are parti-colored, and both the work and colors are wonderful. They are made of no rich materials, for they are neither embroi-dered nor set with precious stones; but are composed of the plumes of several birds, laid together with so much art, and so neatly, that the true value of them is far beyond the costliest materials. They say, that in the ordering and placing those plumes some dark mysteries are represented, which pass down among their priests in a secret tradi-tion concerning them; and that they are as hieroglyphics, putting them in mind of the blessing that they have received from God, and of their duties, both to Him and to their neighbors.

¶As soon as the priest appears in those ornaments, they all fall prostrate on the ground, with so much reverence and deep silence, that onlookers cannot but be struck with it, as if it were the effect of the appearance of a deity. After they have been for some time in this posture, they all stand up, upon a sign given by the priest, and sing hymns to the honor of God, musical instruments playing all the while. These are quite of another form than those used among us; but, as many of them are much sweeter than ours, so others are made use of by us. Yet in one thing they very much exceed us: all their music, both vocal and instrumental, is adapted to imitate and express the passions, and is so well suited to every occasion, that, whether the subject of the hymn be cheerful, or formed to soothe or trouble the mind, or to express grief or remorse, the music takes

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¶eo cum ueniunt, uiri in dextram delubri partem, feminae seorsum in sinis-tram commeant. tum ita se collocant, ut cuiusque domus masculi ante patrem-familias consideant, feminarum materfamilias agmen claudat. ita prospicitur, uti omnes omnium gestus foris ab his obseruentur, quorum authoritate domi ac disciplina reguntur, quin hoc quoque sedulo cauent, uti iunior ibi passim cum seniore copuletur, ne pueri pueris crediti, id temporis puerilibus transigant ineptiis, in quo deberent maxime religiosum erga superos metum, maximum, ac prope unicum uirtutibus incitamentum concipere.

¶nullum animal in sacrificiis mactant, nec sanguine rentur, ac caedibus diui-nam gaudere clementiam, qui uitam animantibus ideo est elargitus, ut uiuerent. thus incendunt et alia item odoramenta, ad haec cereos numerosos praeferunt, non quod haec nesciant nihil ad diuinam conferre naturam, quippe ut nec ipsas hominum preces, sed et innoxium colendi genus placet, et iis odoribus lumi-nibusque, ac ceteris etiam cerimoniis nescio quomodo sese sentiunt homines erigi, atque in dei cultum animo alacriore consurgere. candidis in templo uesti-bus amicitur populus, sacerdos uersicolores induitur, et opere et forma mirabiles materia non perinde pretiosa. neque enim auro intextae. aut raris coagmentatae lapidibus, sed diuersis auium plumis, tam scite, tantoque artificio laboratae sunt, ut operis pretium nullius aestimatio materiae fuerit aequatura. ad hoc in illis uolucrum pennis, plumisque, et certis earum ordinibus, quibus in sacerdotis ueste discriminantur, arcana quaedam dicunt contineri mysteria, quorum in-terpretatione cognita—quae per sacrificos diligenter traditur—diuinorum in se beneficiorum, suaeque uicissim pietatis in deum, ac mutui quoque inter se officii admoneantur.

¶cum primum sacerdos ita ornatus ex adito sese offert, cuncti protinus in ter-ram uenerabundi procumbunt, tam alto ab omni parte silentio, ut ipsa rei facies, terrorem quemdam uelut praesentis cuiuspiam numinis incutiat. tellure paulum morati, dato ab sacerdote signo, erigunt sese. tum laudes deo canunt, quas mu-sicis instrumentis interstingunt, aliis magna ex parte formis, quam quae nostro uisuntur orbe. ex illis pleraque sicuti quae nobis in usu sunt, multum suauitate uincunt. ita quaedam nostris ne conferenda quidem sint. uerum una in re haud dubie longo nos interuallo praecellunt, quod omnis eorum musica, siue quae personatur organis, siue quam uoce modulantur humana, ita naturales affectus imitatur et exprimit, ita sonus accommodatur ad rem, seu deprecantis oratio sit, seu laeta, placabilis, turbida, lugubris, irata, ita rei sensum quendam melodiae forma repraesentat, ut animos auditorum mirum in modum afficiat, penetret, incendat.

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the impression of whatever is represented, affects and kindles the passions, and works the sentiments deep into the hearts of the hearers.

¶When this is done, both priests and people offer up very solemn prayers to God in a set form of words; and these are so composed, that whatever is pronounced by the whole assembly may be likewise applied by every man in particular to his own condi-tion. In these they acknowledge God to be the author and governor of the world, and the fountain of all the good they receive, and therefore offer up to him their thanksgiv-ing; and, in particular, bless him for His goodness in ordering it so, that they are born under the happiest government in the world, and are of a religion which they hope is the truest of all others; but, if they are mistaken, and if there is either a better govern-ment, or a religion more acceptable to God, they implore His goodness to let them know it, vowing that they resolve to follow him whithersoever he leads them; but if their government is the best, and their religion the truest, then they pray that He may fortify them in it, and bring all the world both to the same rules of life, and to the same opinions concerning Himself, unless, according to the unsearchableness of His mind, He is pleased with a variety of religions. Then they pray that God may give them easy passage at last to Himself, not presuming to set limits to Him, how early or late it should be; but, if it may be wished for without derogating from His supreme authority, they desire to be quickly delivered, and to be taken to Himself, though by the most terrible kind of death, rather than to be detained long from seeing Him by the most prosperous course of life. When this prayer is ended, they fall again to the ground; and, after a little while, they rise up, go home to dinner, and spend the rest of the day in diversion or military exercises.

¶Thus have I described to you, as particularly as I could, the Constitution of that commonwealth, which I not only think the best, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that name. In other places it is visible that, while people talk of com-monwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the public good, and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that, unless he provides for himself, however flourishing the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full no man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties; neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters; but is secure in this, that both he and his wife, his children and grand-children, to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily; since, among them, there is no less care taken of those once engaged in labor, but grow unable to follow it, than there is, elsewhere, of these that continue still employed.

¶I would gladly hear any man compare the justice that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom, may I perish, if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity; for what justice is there in this: that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any other man, that either does nothing at all, or, at best, is employed in things that are

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¶solemnes ad ultimum conceptis uerbis preces, sacerdos pariter populusque percensent, ita compositas, ut quae simul cuncti recitant, priuatim quisque ad semet referat. in his deum et creationis, et gubernationis, et ceterorum praeterea bonorum omnium, quilibet recognoscit authorem, tot ob recepta beneficia gra-tias agit. nominatim uero quod deo propitio in eam rempublicam inciderit quae sit felicissima, eam religionem sortitus sit, quam speret esse uerissimam. qua in re, si quid erret, aut si quid sit alterutra melius, et quod deus magis appro-bet, orare se eius bonitas efficiat, hoc ut ipse cognoscat. paratum enim sequi se quaqua uersus ab eo ducatur, sin et haec reipublicae forma sit optima, et sua religio rectissima, tum uti et ipsi constantiam tribuat, et ceteros mortales omneis ad eadem instituta uiuendi, in eandem de deo opinionem perducat, nisi inscru-tabilem eius uoluntatem etiam sit, quod in hac religionum uarietate delectet. denique precatur, ut facile defunctum exitu ad se recipiat, quam cito, seroue praefinire quidem non audere se. quamquam quod inoffensa eius maiestate fiat, multo magis ipsi futurum cordi sit, difficillima morte obita, ad deum peruadere, quam ab eo diutius, prosperrimo uitae cursu distineri. hac prece dicta rursus in terram proni, pauloque post erecti, discedunt pransum, et quod superest diei, ludis et exercitio militaris disciplinae percurrunt.

¶descripsi uobis quam potui uerissime eius formam reipublicae quam ego certe non optimam tantum, sed solam etiam censeo, quae sibi suo iure possit reipublicae uindicare uocabulum. siquidem alibi, de publico loquentes ubique commodo, priuatum curant. hic ubi nihil priuati est, serio publicum negotium agunt, certe utrobique merito. nam alibi, quotus quisque est qui nesciat, nisi quid seorsum prospiciat sibi, quantumuis florente republica semet tamen fame periturum, eoque necessitas urget, ut sui potius, quam populi id est aliorum habendam sibi rationem censeat. contra hic, ubi omnia omnium sunt nemo dubitat—curetur modo, ut plena sint horrea publica—nihil quic-quam priuati cuiquam defuturum. neque enim maligna rerum distributio est, neque inops, neque mendicus ibi quisquam. et cum nemo quicquam habeat, omnes tamen diuites sunt. nam quid ditius esse potest, quam adempta prorsus omni solicitudine, laeto ac tranquillo animo uiuere! non de suo uictu trepidum, non uxoris querula flagitatione uexatum, non paupertatem filio metuentem, non de filiae dote anxium, sed de suo, suorumque omnium, uxoris, filiorum, nepotum, pronepotum, abnepotum, et quam longam posterorum seriem suo-rum, generosi praesumunt, uictu esse, ac felicitate securum. quid quod nihilo minus his prospicitur, qui nunc impotes olim laborauerunt, quam his qui nunc laborant.

¶hic aliquis uelim cum hac aequitate audeat aliarum iustitiam gentium com-parare, apud quas dispeream, si ullum prorsus comperio, iustitiae, aequitatisque uestigium. nam quae haec iustitia est, ut nobilis quispiam, aut aurifex, aut foen-erator, aut denique alius quisquam eorum, qui aut omnino nihil agunt, aut id quod agunt, eius generis est, ut non sit reipublicae magnopere necessarium, lau-tam ac splendidam uitam, uel ex otio, uel superuacuo negotio consequatur, cum interim mediastinus, auriga, faber, agricola, tanto, tamque assiduo labore, quam uix iumenta sustineant, tam necessario, ut sine eo ne unum quidem annum possit ulla durare respublica uictum tamen adeo malignum parant, uitam adeo miseram ducunt, ut longe potior uideri possit conditio iumentorum, quibus

laus reipublicae Utopiensis

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of no public use, should live in great luxury upon what is so ill acquired, and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a ploughman, that works harder even than the beasts, and is employed in labors so necessary, that no commonwealth could hold out a year without them, can only earn so poor a livelihood and must lead so miserable a life, that the condition of the beasts is better than theirs? For as the beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as well, and with more pleasure, and have no anxiety about what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehensions of want in their old age; since that which they get by their daily labor does but maintain them at present, and is consumed as fast as it comes in, there is no overplus left to lay up for old age.

¶Is not that government both unjust and ungrateful, that is so prodigal of its favors to those that are called gentlemen, or goldsmiths, or such others who are idle, or live either by flattery or by contriving the arts of vain pleasure, and, on the other hand, takes no care of those of a meaner sort, such as ploughmen, colliers, and smiths, without whom it could not subsist? But after the public has reaped all the advantage of their service, and they come to be oppressed with age, sickness, and want, all their labors and the good they have done is forgotten, and all the recompense given them is that they are left to die in great misery. The richer sort are often endeavouring to bring the hire of labor-ers lower, not only by their fraudulent practices, but by the laws which they procure to be made to that effect, so that though it is a thing most unjust in itself to give such small rewards to those who deserve so well of the public, yet they have given those hardships the name and color of justice, by procuring laws to be made for regulating them.

¶Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the other governments that I see or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on pretence of managing the public, only pursue their private ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first, that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so ill-acquired, and then, that they may engage the poor to toil and labor for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they please; and if they can but prevail to get these contrivances established by the show of public authority, which is considered as the representative of the whole people, then they are accounted laws; yet these wicked men, after they have, by a most insatiable covetousness, divided that among themselves with which all the rest might have been well supplied, are far from that happiness that is enjoyed among the Utopians; for the use as well as the de-sire of money being extinguished, much anxiety and great occasions of mischief is cut off with it, and who does not see that the frauds, thefts, robberies, quarrels, tumults, contentions, seditions, murders, treacheries, and witchcrafts, which are, indeed, rather punished than restrained by the seventies of law, would all fall off, if money were not any more valued by the world? Men’s fears, solicitudes, cares, labors, and watchings would all perish in the same moment with the value of money; even poverty itself, for the relief of which money seems most necessary, would fall. But, in order to the ap-prehending this aright, take one instance.

¶Consider any year, that has been so unfruitful that thousands died of hunger; and yet if, at the end of that year, a survey was made of the granaries of all the rich men that have hoarded up the corn, it would be found that there was enough among them to have prevented all that consumption of men that perished in misery; and that, had been distributed among them, none would have felt the terrible effects of that scarcity:

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nec tam perpetuus labor, nec uictus multo deterior est, et ipsis etiam suauior, nec ullus interim de futuro timor. at hos et labor sterilis, atque infructuosus, in praesenti stimulat, et inopis recordatio senectutis occidit, quippe quibus parcior est diurna merces, quam ut eidem possit diei sufficere, tantum abest ut excrescat, et supersit aliquid quod quotidie queat in senectutis usum reponi.

¶an non haec iniqua est et ingrata respublica, quae generosis ut uocant et au-rificibus, et id genus reliquis, aut otiosis, aut tantum adulatoribus, et inanium uoluptatum artificibus, tanta munera prodigit. agricolis contra, carbonariis, mediastinis, aurigis et fabris, sine quibus nulla omnino respublica esset, nihil benigne prospicit. sed eorum florentis aetatis abusa laboribus, annis tandem ac morbo graues, omnium rerum indigos, tot uigiliarum immemor, tot ac tanto-rum oblita beneficiorum miserrima morte repensat ingratissima. quid quod ex diurno pauperum demenso diuites cotidie aliquid, non modo priuata fraude, sed publicis etiam legibus abradunt, ita quod ante uidebatur iniustum, optime de republica meritis pessimam referre gratiam, hoc isti deprauatum etiam fecerunt, tum prouulgata lege iustitiam.

¶itaque omnes has quae hodie usquam florent respublicas animo intuenti ac uersanti mihi, nihil sic me amet deus, occurrit aliud quam quaedam conspiratio diuitum, de suis commodis reipublicae nomine, tituloque tractantium. com-miniscunturque et excogitant omnes modos atque artes quibus, quae malis arti-bus ipsi congesserunt, ea primum ut absque perdendi metu retineant, post hoc ut pauperum omnium opera, ac laboribus quam minimo sibi redimant, eisque abutantur. haec machinamenta, ubi semel diuites publico nomine hoc est etiam pauperum, decreuerunt obseruari, iam leges fiunt. at homines deterrimi cum inexplebili cupiditate, quae fuerant omnibus suffectura, ea omnia inter se par-tiuerint, quam longe tamen ab Utopiensium reipublicae felicitate absunt! e qua cum ipso usu sublata penitus omni auiditate pecuniae, quanta moles molesti-arum recisa, quanta scelerum seges radicitus euulsa est! quis enim nescit fraudes, furta, rapinas, rixas, tumultus, iurgia, seditiones, caedes, proditiones, ueneficia, cotidianis uindicata potius quam refrenata suppliciis, interempta pecunia com-mori, ad haec metum sollicitudinem, curas, labores, uigilias, eodem momento quo pecunia perituras. quin paupertas ipsa, quae sola pecuniis uisa est indigere, pecunia prorsus undique sublata, protinus etiam ipsa decresceret.

¶id quo fiat illustrius, reuolue in animo tecum annum aliquem sterilem atque infoecundum, in quo multa hominum milia, fames abstulerit, con-tendo plane in fine illius penuriae excussis diuitum horreis, tantum frugum potuisse reperiri, quantum si fuisset inter eos distributum, quos macies ac ta-bes absumpsit illam caeli, solique parcitatem, nemo omnino sensisset. tam facile uictus parari posset, nisi beata illa pecunia, quae praeclare scilicet inu-enta est, ut aditus ad uictum per eam patesceret, sola nobis ad uictum uiam intercluderet.

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so easy a thing would it be to supply all the necessities of life, if that blessed thing called money, which is pretended to be invented for procuring them was not really the only thing that obstructed their being procured!

¶I do not doubt but rich men are sensible of this, and that they well know how much a greater happiness it is to want nothing necessary, than to abound in many superflui-ties; and to be rescued out of so much misery, than to abound with so much wealth: and I cannot think but the sense of every man’s interest, added to the authority of Christ’s commands, who, as He was infinitely wise, knew what was best, and was not less good in discovering it to us, would have drawn all the world over to the laws of the Utopians, if pride, that plague of human nature, that source of so much misery, did not hinder it; for this vice does not measure happiness so much by its own conveniences, as by the miseries of others; and would not be satisfied with being thought a goddess, if none were left that were miserable, over whom she might insult. Pride thinks its own happiness shines brighter, by comparing it with the misfortunes of others; that by dis-playing its own wealth they may feel their poverty the more sensibly.

¶This is that infernal serpent that creeps into the breasts of mortals, and possesses them too much to be easily drawn out; and, therefore, I am glad that the Utopians have fallen upon this form of government, in which I wish that all the world could be so wise as to imitate them; for they have, indeed, laid down such a scheme and founda-tion of policy, that as men live happily under it, so it is like to be of great continuance; for having rooted out of the minds of their people all the seeds, both of ambition and faction, there is no danger of any commotions at home; which alone has been the ruin of many states that seemed otherwise to be well secured; but as long as they live in peace at home, and are governed by such good laws, the envy of all their neighboring princes, who have often, though in vain, attempted their ruin, will never be able to put their state into any disorder.

¶When Raphael had finished, though many things occurred to me, both concerning the manners and laws of that people, that seemed very absurd, as well in their way of making war, as in their notions of religion and divine matters—together with several others, but chiefly what seemed the foundation of all the rest, their living in common, without the use of money, by which all nobility, magnificence, splendor, and majesty, which, according to the common opinion, are the true ornaments of a nation, would be quite taken away—yet since I perceived that Raphael was weary, and was not sure whether he could easily bear contradiction, remembering that he had taken notice of some, who seemed to think they were bound in honor to support the credit of their own wisdom, by finding out something to censure in all other men’s inventions, be-sides their own, I only commended their Constitution, and the account he had given of it in general; and so, taking him by the hand, carried him to supper, and told him I would find out some other time for examining this subject further, and for discours-ing more copiously upon it. And, indeed, I shall be glad to embrace an opportunity of doing it.

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¶sentiunt ista, non dubito, etiam diuites, nec ignorant quanto potior esset illa conditio nulla re necessaria carere, quam multis abundare superfluis, tam nu-merosis eripi malis, quam magnis obsideri diuitiis. neque mihi quidem dubitare subit, quin uel sui cuiusque commodi ratio, uel Christi seruatoris authoritas—qui neque pro tanta sapientia potuit ignorare quid optimum esset, neque qua erat bonitate id consulere, quod non optimum sciret—totum orbem facile in huius reipublicae leges iamdudum traxisset, nisi una tantum belua, omnium princeps parensque pestium superbia, reluctaretur. haec non suis commodis prosperitatem, sed ex alienis metitur incommodis. haec ne dea quidem fieri uel-let, nullis relictis miseris quibus imperare atque insultare possit. quorum miseriis praefulgeat ipsius comparata felicitas, quorum suis explicatis opibus, angat atque incendat inopiam. haec auerni serpens mortalium pererrans pectora, ne melio-rem uitae capessant uiam, uelut remora retrahit ac remoratur.

¶quae quoniam pressius hominibus infixa est, quam ut facile possit euelli, hanc reipublicae formam, quam omnibus libenter optarim, Utopiensibus saltem con-tigisse gaudeo, qui ea uitae sunt instituta secuti, quibus reipublicae fundamenta iecerunt non modo felicissime, uerum etiam quantum humana praesagiri coni-ectura contigit, aeternum duratura. extirpatis enim domi cum ceteris uitiis am-bitionis, et factionum radicibus, nihil impendet periculi, ne domestico dissidio laboretur, quae res una multarum urbium egregie munitas opes pessundedit. at salua domi concordia, et salubribus institutis, non omnium finitimorum inuidia principum—quae saepius id iam olim semper reuerberata tentauit—concutere illud imperium, aut commouere queat.

¶haec ubi Raphael recensuit, quamquam haud pauca mihi succurrebant, quae in eius populi moribus, legibusque perquam absurde uidebantur instituta, non solum de belli gerendi ratione, et rebus diuinis, ac religione, aliisque insuper eorum institutis, sed in eo quoque ipso maxime, quod maximum totius insti-tutionis fundamentum est uita scilicet, uictuque communi, sine ullo pecuniae commercio, qua una re funditus euertitur omnis nobilitas, magnificentia, splen-dor, maiestas, uera ut publica est opinio decora atque ornamenta reipublicae tamen quoniam defessum narrando sciebam, neque mihi satis exploratum erat, possetne ferre, ut contra suam sententiam sentiretur, praesertim quod record-abar, eo nomine quosdam ab illo reprehensos, quasi uererentur, ne non satis putarentur sapere, nisi aliquid inuenirent, in quo uellicare aliorum inuenta pos-sent, idcirco et illorum institutione, et ipsius oratione laudata, manu apprehen-dens intro cenatum duco, praefatus tamen aliud nobis tempus, iisdem de rebus altius cogitandi, atque uberius cum eo conferendi fore, quod utinam aliquando contingeret.

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¶Meanwhile, though it must be confessed that he is a very learned man and a person who has a great knowledge of the world, I cannot perfectly agree to everything he has related. However, there are many things in the commonwealth of Utopia that I rather wish, than hope, to see followed in our governments.

end of book two

St. Sir omas More 133

¶interea quemadmodum haud possum omnibus assentiri quae dicta sunt, alio-qui ab homine citra controuersiam eruditissimo simul et rerum humanarum peritissimo, ita facile confiteor permulta esse in Utopiensium republica, quae in nostris ciuitatibus optarim uerius, quam sperarim.

secundi libri finis

SERMONIS POMERIDIANI RAPHAELIS HYTHLODAEI, DE LEGI-BUS ET INSTITUTIS UTOPIENSIS INSULAE PAUCIS ADHUC COG-NITAE, PER CLARISSIMUM ET ERUDITISSIMUM UIRUM D. THOMAM MORUM CIUEM ET UICECOMITEM LONDINENSEM.