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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Utopia, by Thomas More, Edited by Henry Morley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Utopia
+
+
+Author: Thomas More
+
+Release Date: April 22, 2005  [eBook #2130]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UTOPIA***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1901 Cassell & Company Edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+
+UTOPIA
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Sir Thomas More, son of Sir John More, a justice of the King's Bench, was
+born in 1478, in Milk Street, in the city of London.  After his earlier
+education at St. Anthony's School, in Threadneedle Street, he was placed,
+as a boy, in the household of Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of
+Canterbury and Lord Chancellor.  It was not unusual for persons of wealth
+or influence and sons of good families to be so established together in a
+relation of patron and client.  The youth wore his patron's livery, and
+added to his state.  The patron used, afterwards, his wealth or influence
+in helping his young client forward in the world.  Cardinal Morton had
+been in earlier days that Bishop of Ely whom Richard III. sent to the
+Tower; was busy afterwards in hostility to Richard; and was a chief
+adviser of Henry VII., who in 1486 made him Archbishop of Canterbury, and
+nine months afterwards Lord Chancellor.  Cardinal Morton--of talk at
+whose table there are recollections in "Utopia"--delighted in the quick
+wit of young Thomas More.  He once said, "Whoever shall live to try it,
+shall see this child here waiting at table prove a notable and rare man."
+
+At the age of about nineteen, Thomas More was sent to Canterbury College,
+Oxford, by his patron, where he learnt Greek of the first men who brought
+Greek studies from Italy to England--William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre.
+Linacre, a physician, who afterwards took orders, was also the founder of
+the College of Physicians.  In 1499, More left Oxford to study law in
+London, at Lincoln's Inn, and in the next year Archbishop Morton died.
+
+More's earnest character caused him while studying law to aim at the
+subduing of the flesh, by wearing a hair shirt, taking a log for a
+pillow, and whipping himself on Fridays.  At the age of twenty-one he
+entered Parliament, and soon after he had been called to the bar he was
+made Under-Sheriff of London.  In 1503 he opposed in the House of Commons
+Henry VII.'s proposal for a subsidy on account of the marriage portion of
+his daughter Margaret; and he opposed with so much energy that the House
+refused to grant it.  One went and told the king that a beardless boy had
+disappointed all his expectations.  During the last years, therefore, of
+Henry VII.  More was under the displeasure of the king, and had thoughts
+of leaving the country.
+
+Henry VII. died in April, 1509, when More's age was a little over thirty.
+In the first years of the reign of Henry VIII. he rose to large practice
+in the law courts, where it is said he refused to plead in cases which he
+thought unjust, and took no fees from widows, orphans, or the poor.  He
+would have preferred marrying the second daughter of John Colt, of New
+Hall, in Essex, but chose her elder sister, that he might not subject her
+to the discredit of being passed over.
+
+In 1513 Thomas More, still Under-Sheriff of London, is said to have
+written his "History of the Life and Death of King Edward V., and of the
+Usurpation of Richard III."  The book, which seems to contain the
+knowledge and opinions of More's patron, Morton, was not printed until
+1557, when its writer had been twenty-two years dead.  It was then
+printed from a MS. in More's handwriting.
+
+In the year 1515 Wolsey, Archbishop of York, was made Cardinal by Leo X.;
+Henry VIII. made him Lord Chancellor, and from that year until 1523 the
+King and the Cardinal ruled England with absolute authority, and called
+no parliament.  In May of the year 1515 Thomas More--not knighted yet--was
+joined in a commission to the Low Countries with Cuthbert Tunstal and
+others to confer with the ambassadors of Charles V., then only Archduke
+of Austria, upon a renewal of alliance.  On that embassy More, aged about
+thirty-seven, was absent from England for six months, and while at
+Antwerp he established friendship with Peter Giles (Latinised AEgidius),
+a scholarly and courteous young man, who was secretary to the
+municipality of Antwerp.
+
+Cuthbert Tunstal was a rising churchman, chancellor to the Archbishop of
+Canterbury, who in that year (1515) was made Archdeacon of Chester, and
+in May of the next year (1516) Master of the Rolls.  In 1516 he was sent
+again to the Low Countries, and More then went with him to Brussels,
+where they were in close companionship with Erasmus.
+
+More's "Utopia" was written in Latin, and is in two parts, of which the
+second, describing the place ([Greek text]--or Nusquama, as he called it
+sometimes in his letters--"Nowhere"), was probably written towards the
+close of 1515; the first part, introductory, early in 1516.  The book was
+first printed at Louvain, late in 1516, under the editorship of Erasmus,
+Peter Giles, and other of More's friends in Flanders.  It was then
+revised by More, and printed by Frobenius at Basle in November, 1518.  It
+was reprinted at Paris and Vienna, but was not printed in England during
+More's lifetime.  Its first publication in this country was in the
+English translation, made in Edward's VI.'s reign (1551) by Ralph
+Robinson.  It was translated with more literary skill by Gilbert Burnet,
+in 1684, soon after he had conducted the defence of his friend Lord
+William Russell, attended his execution, vindicated his memory, and been
+spitefully deprived by James II. of his lectureship at St. Clement's.
+Burnet was drawn to the translation of "Utopia" by the same sense of
+unreason in high places that caused More to write the book.  Burnet's is
+the translation given in this volume.
+
+The name of the book has given an adjective to our language--we call an
+impracticable scheme Utopian.  Yet, under the veil of a playful fiction,
+the talk is intensely earnest, and abounds in practical suggestion.  It
+is the work of a scholarly and witty Englishman, who attacks in his own
+way the chief political and social evils of his time.  Beginning with
+fact, More tells how he was sent into Flanders with Cuthbert Tunstal,
+"whom the king's majesty of late, to the great rejoicing of all men, did
+prefer to the office of Master of the Rolls;" how the commissioners of
+Charles met them at Bruges, and presently returned to Brussels for
+instructions; and how More then went to Antwerp, where he found a
+pleasure in the society of Peter Giles which soothed his desire to see
+again his wife and children, from whom he had been four months away.  Then
+fact slides into fiction with the finding of Raphael Hythloday (whose
+name, made of two Greek words [Greek text] and [Greek text], means
+"knowing in trifles"), a man who had been with Amerigo Vespucci in the
+three last of the voyages to the new world lately discovered, of which
+the account had been first printed in 1507, only nine years before Utopia
+was written.
+
+Designedly fantastic in suggestion of details, "Utopia" is the work of a
+scholar who had read Plato's "Republic," and had his fancy quickened
+after reading Plutarch's account of Spartan life under Lycurgus.  Beneath
+the veil of an ideal communism, into which there has been worked some
+witty extravagance, there lies a noble English argument.  Sometimes More
+puts the case as of France when he means England.  Sometimes there is
+ironical praise of the good faith of Christian kings, saving the book
+from censure as a political attack on the policy of Henry VIII.  Erasmus
+wrote to a friend in 1517 that he should send for More's "Utopia," if he
+had not read it, and "wished to see the true source of all political
+evils."  And to More Erasmus wrote of his book, "A burgomaster of Antwerp
+is so pleased with it that he knows it all by heart."
+
+H. M.
+
+
+
+
+DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY, OF THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH
+
+
+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 Flanders, 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 dexterous 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 honour,
+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 artifice
+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, talking 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 gracious 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
+expectations, 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 travelled over
+land: he sent with them a very faithful guide, who was to introduce and
+recommend them to such other 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 verdant, 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 neighbours, 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,
+afterwards, they found ships made with round keels and canvas sails, and
+in all respects like our ships, and the seamen understood both astronomy
+and navigation.  He got wonderfully into their favour by showing them the
+use of the needle, of which till then they were utterly ignorant.  They
+sailed before with great caution, 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
+countries, 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, being struck with admiration, said, "I
+wonder, Raphael, how it comes that you enter 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 already 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
+unwillingly 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 whatsoever."  "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 favour 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 greatness; 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 fountain.  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 whatsoever."
+"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 ministers 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 favour, 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 admire 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 Government 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.'  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 labour, on the labour 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
+neighbourhood 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 honour 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 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 disabled 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 noblemen 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 enclose 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 enclose
+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 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 labour, 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 labour 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 farmers
+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 better; 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, 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; therefore 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 divine? and, if this is once
+admitted, by the same rule men may, in all other things, 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 lawful; 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 punishment?  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 invasions.  Thus they have
+no wars among them; they live rather conveniently than with splendour,
+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 neighbours.  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
+restitution 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 circumstance 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 labour; 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 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 colour, and their
+hair is cropped a little above their ears, and a piece of one of their
+ears is cut off.  Their friends are allowed to give them either meat,
+drink, or clothes, so they are of their proper colour; 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
+whatsoever: and it is also death for any of these slaves (so they are
+called) to handle arms.  Those of every division 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 persisting 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 government; but those of one division and neighbourhood can
+do nothing to any purpose unless a general conspiracy were laid amongst
+all the slaves of the several jurisdictions, 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 justice which
+the Counsellor magnified so much.  To this he answered, 'That it could
+never take place in England without endangering 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, inconvenient, 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 labour, '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 labour, 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.'  '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 Cardinal, 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 perdition, 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 contracted 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; and though you are, upon other accounts, very
+dear to me, yet you are the dearer because you honour 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 philosophers.  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 themselves 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 proposing 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; another 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; 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 pretensions 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 smallest 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 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 severely 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 favour 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 colour 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 favour.  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 honour, 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, therefore,
+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 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 suffered 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 pretending 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 speculation 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 everything to be alike fitting at all
+times; but there is another philosophy that is more pliable, 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 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 impression 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 different 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 extravagant--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.  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 conniving 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 matters 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
+philosopher'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 plenty--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,
+notwithstanding 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 distinguish 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 favourable 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 himself 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 themselves, 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--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 conveniently where all things are common.  How can there
+be any plenty where every man will excuse himself from labour? for as the
+hope of gain doth not excite him, so the confidence 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
+reverence 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 practice 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 ingenious 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 advantage
+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
+accident, 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 carefully, 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 servants 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:--
+
+"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 separate 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 labour 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 neighbours, who at first laughed at the folly
+of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought to perfection than they were
+struck with admiration and terror.
+
+"There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well built, the
+manners, customs, 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 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 labour.  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 otherwise 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 very 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 labour, 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 neighbours.  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.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT
+
+
+"He that knows one of their towns knows them all--they are so like one
+another, except 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 fountain-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
+whatsoever.  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
+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 quantities 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.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR MAGISTRATES
+
+
+"Thirty families choose every year a magistrate, who was anciently 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 anciently 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 several 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
+Tranibors 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; for that is always referred to the next
+meeting, that 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 opinions, 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.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE
+
+
+"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 formerly 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 the 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 of these 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 their
+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 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 between 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.  But the time appointed for labour is to be
+narrowly examined, otherwise you may imagine 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 mankind; 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 gentlemen, 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 labours mankind is supplied is much
+less than you perhaps imagined: then consider how few of those that work
+are employed in labours 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 tradesmen could not be maintained by their gains; if
+all those who labour 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 labour, you may easily imagine that a small
+proportion of time would serve for doing all that is either necessary,
+profitable, or pleasant to mankind, 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 labour, 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
+labour, 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 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.
+
+"And thus from the great numbers among them that are neither suffered to
+be idle nor to be employed in any fruitless labour, you may easily make
+the estimate how much may be done in those few hours in which they are
+obliged to labour.  But, besides all that has been already said, it is to
+be considered that the needful arts among them are managed with less
+labour 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.  But 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 labour, 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 labour 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 colour, and that is the natural colour of the
+wool.  As they need less woollen cloth than is used anywhere else, so
+that which they make use of is much less costly; they use linen cloth
+more, but that is prepared with less labour, 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 colours, 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.  And thus, since they are all employed
+in some useful labour, and since they content themselves 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 labour, since the chief end of the
+constitution is to regulate labour 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.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR TRAFFIC
+
+
+"But it is now time to explain to you the mutual intercourse of this
+people, their commerce, 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
+grand-children, 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; but lest any city
+should become either too great, or by any accident be dispeopled,
+provision 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 abound so much in them.  By the same rule
+they supply cities that do not increase so fast from others that breed
+faster; 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 neighbouring 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 to
+live with them; 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.
+But 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 possessing 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.
+
+"But to return 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 whatsoever 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.  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 washing 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,
+distinguished 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 market-place at an
+appointed hour, and according to the number of those that belong to the
+hall they carry home provisions.  But 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 whatsoever the
+physician prescribes, 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,
+indeed, 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
+reason; 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 disturbing 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 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 honoured 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 pleasant
+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.
+
+
+
+OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS
+
+
+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
+granted for travelling, and limits the time of their return.  They are
+furnished with a waggon and a slave, who drives the oxen and looks after
+them; but, unless there are women in the company, the waggon 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 labour
+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 labour.  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 ordinary 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, without 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
+unfavourable season), they order an exportation of the overplus, both of
+corn, honey, wool, flax, wood, wax, tallow, 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, indeed, 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 neighbours 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 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 extravagant 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; for since 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 intervening 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 during their childhood; but when they grow to years, and
+see that none but children use 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 splendour.
+Thus three ambassadors made their entry with a hundred attendants, all
+clad in garments of different colours, and the greater part in silk; the
+ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility of their country, 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 impression 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 other 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 doubtful 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 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 honours, 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 maxims, and partly from their learning and studies--for
+though there are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from
+labour as to give themselves entirely up to their studies (these being
+only such persons as discover from their childhood an extraordinary
+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 pleasant 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 geometry.  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
+instruments, 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, of 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 endowments 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 conjectural 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 distributed 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, using 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 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 favourite 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.
+
+"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 appetites 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 who are much taken with gems and precious stones,
+and who account it a degree of happiness next to a divine one if they can
+purchase one that is very extraordinary, especially if it be of that sort
+of stones that is then in greatest request, for the same sort is not at
+all times universally 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.  Those are no better 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 hiding it in the earth, 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, in fowling, or gaming, of whose madness they have only heard,
+for they have no such things among them.  But 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 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 occasions, since that is the same
+in both cases.  But 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.
+Therefore all this 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 the 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 degenerate 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 which 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 vigorous
+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 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
+opposite 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?
+
+"But, 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 pleasure
+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
+pleasures, 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!  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 sort of animals contemplates the figure and beauty of
+the universe, nor is 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 whatsoever, 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 satisfaction he can either serve the public
+or promote the happiness of others, for which he expects a greater
+recompense from God.  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 favours, 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 a middle stature, and
+have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet
+they fortify themselves 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 husbandman 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 labour 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 saw our labour 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 with me, 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 Aristotle'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, Euripides, 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 honours 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 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 neighbouring
+countries better, so they keep up the art of navigation which cannot be
+maintained but by much practice.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES
+
+
+"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 labour, 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 neighbouring 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 labour 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.  But 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 honourable, so if any man takes
+away his own life without the approbation of the priests and the senate,
+they give him none of the honours 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 punished, 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, indeed, both laughed at this, and condemned it as very indecent.  But
+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.  But 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 concerning the reasons of
+it they go on but 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 labour 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 the 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 a state of servitude is more for the interest of the
+commonwealth than killing them, since, as their labour 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 labour 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 again 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
+behaviour 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
+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 honours; 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 affect rather to be called fathers, and, by
+being really so, they well deserve the name; and the people pay them all
+the marks of honour 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 but 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 delays
+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 labour 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 neighbours, 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 honour 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 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 so soon 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
+Neighbours; 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 the pastoral censure, and think that 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 contrary, 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 expedients 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 making them, since the world has taken up a
+false maxim upon it, as if there were no tie of nature uniting one nation
+to another, 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 neighbours 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 the
+unskilfulness of 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
+whatsoever, since thereby the engagements of men's hearts become stronger
+than the bond and obligation of words.
+
+
+
+OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE
+
+
+They detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach of
+human nature, is more practised by men than by any sort of beasts.  They,
+in opposition to the sentiments of almost all other nations, think that
+there is nothing more inglorious than that glory that is 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 likewise, are trained up, that, in cases of necessity, they
+may not be quite useless, yet they do not rashly engage in war, unless it
+be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust
+aggressors, or, out of good nature or in 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 neighbour makes an inroad on
+another by public order, 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 colour of laws.  This was the only ground of that war in
+which they engaged with the Nephelogetes against the Aleopolitanes, a
+little before our time; for the merchants of the former having, as they
+thought, met with great injustice among the latter, which (whether it was
+in itself right or wrong) drew on a terrible war, in which many of their
+neighbours 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 a
+series of much mischief ended in the entire 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.
+
+"But, though they so vigorously assist their friends in obtaining
+reparation for the 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 a people.  This is not
+because they consider their neighbours more than their own citizens; but,
+since their neighbours trade every one upon his own stock, fraud is a
+more sensible injury to them than it is to the Utopians, among whom the
+public, in such a case, only suffers, as they expect no thing 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, 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 either 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 both 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 in that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without
+bloodshed.  In such cases they appoint public triumphs, and erect
+trophies to the honour of those who have succeeded; for then do they
+reckon that a man acts suitably to his nature, when he conquers his enemy
+in such a way as that no other creature but a man could be capable of,
+and that is by the strength of his understanding.  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 countrymen.  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 in whom they have trusted most; for
+the rewards that 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 a
+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 great 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 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 neighbours 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, who live 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 labour, 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; but will 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 whom they serve if they offer them a 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 consideration 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 their avarice influence them; and yet this money, which
+they value so highly, is of little use to them; for what they purchase
+thus 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 whatsoever, 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
+themselves to all sorts of hazards, out of which the greater part never
+returns to claim their 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 command in chief.  There are two
+sent with him, who, during his command, are but private men, but the
+first is to succeed him if he should happen to be either 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 own 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.  But 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 flying away; and thus either
+shame, the heat of action, or the impossibility of flying, bears down
+their cowardice; they often make a virtue of necessity, and behave
+themselves well, because nothing else is left them.  But as they force no
+man to go into any foreign war against his will, so they do not hinder
+those 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, kindred, 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
+necessary 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 themselves 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 by others, who never give
+over the pursuit, either attacking him with close weapons when they can
+get near him, 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 much more bent on taking
+many prisoners than on killing those that fly before them.  Nor do they
+ever 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 uneasy 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
+the use of them; so that he cannot prepare such a defence as would render
+them useless; the chief consideration 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 possible 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 whom they find 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 up, 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 those that they condemn, 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 Utopia 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
+any war to break in upon their island; and if that should happen, they
+would only defend themselves by their own people; but would not call for
+auxiliary troops to their assistance.
+
+
+
+OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS
+
+
+"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 that is far above all our apprehensions, that is spread
+over the whole universe, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue;
+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 honours to any but to Him alone.
+And, indeed, though they differ concerning other things, yet all agree in
+this: that they think there is one Supreme Being that made and governs
+the world, whom they call, in the language of their country, 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 honours 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 by them, 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 it was because it seemed so favourable to that community of
+goods, which is an opinion so particular as well as so dear to them;
+since they perceived that 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, true
+it is, that many of them came over to our religion, and were initiated
+into it by baptism.  But 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
+other sacraments, that can only be administered by priests, but they are
+instructed concerning them and long most vehemently for them.  They have
+had great disputes among themselves, whether one chosen by them to be a
+priest would not be thereby qualified to do all the things that belong to
+that character, even though he had no authority derived from the Pope,
+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, notwithstanding 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 all their rites as profane, and cried out
+against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious persons,
+that were to be damned to everlasting burnings.  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 having understood that
+before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in
+great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were so divided among
+themselves, that he found it an easy thing 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 the 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.  And supposing that only one religion was really true,
+and the rest false, he imagined that the native force of truth would at
+last 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 superstition, as corn is with
+briars and thorns; he therefore left men wholly to their liberty, 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 all 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
+society, 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 honours 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 that the souls of
+beasts are immortal, though far inferior to the dignity of the human
+soul, and not capable of so great a happiness.  They are almost all of
+them very firmly persuaded that good men will be infinitely happy in
+another state: so that though they are compassionate to all that are
+sick, yet they lament no man's death, except they see him loath to part
+with life; for they look on this as a very 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: but 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
+honour of the deceased.  When they come from the funeral, they discourse
+of his good life, and worthy actions, but speak of nothing oftener and
+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 to engage 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 invisible to us, yet they are
+present among us, and hear those discourses that pass concerning
+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
+therefore 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 effects 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 labour 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 labour: 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 present 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.  Another 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 labour; 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 reason, would prefer an
+unmarried state to a married, or a life of labour to an easy life: but
+they reverence and admire such as do it from the motives of religion.
+There is nothing 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
+government, 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 honour 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 honour might make the dignity of that order, which they esteem so
+highly, to 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 neighbouring 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, apparelled 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 spacious, 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, whatsoever 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 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
+consciousness of their bearing hatred or anger in their hearts to any
+person whatsoever; 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 hand, 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.
+And 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 and almost the only incitement to virtue.
+
+"They offer up no living creature in sacrifice, nor do they think it
+suitable to the Divine 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 savours 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-coloured, and both the work and colours are
+wonderful.  They are made of no rich materials, for they are neither
+embroidered 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 tradition
+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 neighbours.  As soon as the priest appears in
+those ornaments, they all fall prostrate on the ground, with so much
+reverence and so deep a silence, that such as look on 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 honour of God,
+some 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 happily 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 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 whatsoever is pronounced by the whole assembly may be likewise
+applied by every man in particular to his own condition.  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 thanksgiving; 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 government, 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 an 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 all fall down
+again upon 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 do not only think the best in
+the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that
+name.  In all other places it is visible that, while people talk of a
+commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no
+man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public,
+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, how
+flourishing soever 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 private 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 who were once engaged in labour, but
+grow afterwards 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 of no use to the public, should live in
+great luxury and splendour upon what is so ill acquired, and a mean man,
+a carter, a smith, or a ploughman, that works harder even than the beasts
+themselves, and is employed in labours 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
+much 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 labour 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 favours 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 labours 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 labourers
+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 colour 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
+labour 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 desire 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 severities of law, would
+all fall off, if money were not any more valued by the world?  Men's
+fears, solicitudes, cares, labours, 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
+apprehending this aright, take one instance:--
+
+"Consider any year, that has been so unfruitful that many thousands have
+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, if it had been
+distributed among them, none would have felt the terrible effects of that
+scarcity: 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 superfluities; 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 the brighter, by comparing it with the misfortunes of
+other persons; that by displaying 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 foundation of policy, that as men live happily under it, so it is
+like to be of great continuance; for they 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 neighbouring princes, who have often, though in vain, attempted
+their ruin, will never be able to put their state into any commotion or
+disorder."
+
+When Raphael had thus made an end of speaking, 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 other
+particulars, but chiefly what seemed the foundation of all the rest,
+their living in common, without the use of money, by which all nobility,
+magnificence, splendour, 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 honour to support
+the credit of their own wisdom, by finding out something to censure in
+all other men's inventions, besides 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 more particularly, and for
+discoursing more copiously upon it.  And, indeed, I shall be glad to
+embrace an opportunity of doing it.  In the meanwhile, though it must be
+confessed that he is both a very learned man and a person who has
+obtained 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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UTOPIA***
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+*****The Project Gutenberg Etext of Utopia, by Thomas More*****
+#2 in our series by Thomas More
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+This etext was prepared by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+from the 1901 Cassell & Co. edition.
+
+
+
+
+
+UTOPIA
+
+by Thomas More
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+
+
+Sir Thomas More, son of Sir John More, a justice of the King's
+Bench, was born in 1478, in Milk Street, in the city of London.
+After his earlier education at St. Anthony's School, in
+Threadneedle Street, he was placed, as a boy, in the household of
+Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor.
+It was not unusual for persons of wealth or influence and sons of
+good families to be so established together in a relation of patron
+and client.  The youth wore his patron's livery, and added to his
+state.  The patron used, afterwards, his wealth or influence in
+helping his young client forward in the world.  Cardinal Morton had
+been in earlier days that Bishop of Ely whom Richard III. sent to
+the Tower; was busy afterwards in hostility to Richard; and was a
+chief adviser of Henry VII., who in 1486 made him Archbishop of
+Canterbury, and nine months afterwards Lord Chancellor.  Cardinal
+Morton--of talk at whose table there are recollections in "Utopia"-
+-delighted in the quick wit of young Thomas More.  He once said,
+"Whoever shall live to try it, shall see this child here waiting at
+table prove a notable and rare man."
+
+At the age of about nineteen, Thomas More was sent to Canterbury
+College, Oxford, by his patron, where he learnt Greek of the first
+men who brought Greek studies from Italy to England--William Grocyn
+and Thomas Linacre.  Linacre, a physician, who afterwards took
+orders, was also the founder of the College of Physicians.  In
+1499, More left Oxford to study law in London, at Lincoln's Inn,
+and in the next year Archbishop Morton died.
+
+More's earnest character caused him while studying law to aim at
+the subduing of the flesh, by wearing a hair shirt, taking a log
+for a pillow, and whipping himself on Fridays.  At the age of
+twenty-one he entered Parliament, and soon after he had been called
+to the bar he was made Under-Sheriff of London.  In 1503 he opposed
+in the House of Commons Henry VII.'s proposal for a subsidy on
+account of the marriage portion of his daughter Margaret; and he
+opposed with so much energy that the House refused to grant it.
+One went and told the king that a beardless boy had disappointed
+all his expectations.  During the last years, therefore, of Henry
+VII.  More was under the displeasure of the king, and had thoughts
+of leaving the country.
+
+Henry VII. died in April, 1509, when More's age was a little over
+thirty.  In the first years of the reign of Henry VIII. he rose to
+large practice in the law courts, where it is said he refused to
+plead in cases which he thought unjust, and took no fees from
+widows, orphans, or the poor.  He would have preferred marrying the
+second daughter of John Colt, of New Hall, in Essex, but chose her
+elder sister, that he might not subject her to the discredit of
+being passed over.
+
+In 1513 Thomas More, still Under-Sheriff of London, is said to have
+written his "History of the Life and Death of King Edward V., and
+of the Usurpation of Richard III."  The book, which seems to
+contain the knowledge and opinions of More's patron, Morton, was
+not printed until 1557, when its writer had been twenty-two years
+dead.  It was then printed from a MS. in More's handwriting.
+
+In the year 1515 Wolsey, Archbishop of York, was made Cardinal by
+Leo X.; Henry VIII. made him Lord Chancellor, and from that year
+until 1523 the King and the Cardinal ruled England with absolute
+authority, and called no parliament.  In May of the year 1515
+Thomas More--not knighted yet--was joined in a commission to the
+Low Countries with Cuthbert Tunstal and others to confer with the
+ambassadors of Charles V., then only Archduke of Austria, upon a
+renewal of alliance.  On that embassy More, aged about thirty-
+seven, was absent from England for six months, and while at Antwerp
+he established  friendship with Peter Giles (Latinised AEgidius), a
+scholarly and courteous young man, who was secretary to the
+municipality of Antwerp.
+
+Cuthbert Tunstal was a rising churchman, chancellor to the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, who in that year (1515) was made
+Archdeacon of Chester, and in May of the next year (1516) Master of
+the Rolls.  In 1516 he was sent again to the Low Countries, and
+More then went with him to Brussels, where they were in close
+companionship with Erasmus.
+
+More's "Utopia" was written in Latin, and is in two parts, of which
+the second, describing the place ([Greek text]--or Nusquama, as he
+called it sometimes in his letters--"Nowhere"), was probably
+written towards the close of 1515; the first part, introductory,
+early in 1516.  The book was first printed at Louvain, late in
+1516, under the editorship of Erasmus, Peter Giles, and other of
+More's friends in Flanders.  It was then revised by More, and
+printed by Frobenius at Basle in November, 1518.  It was reprinted
+at Paris and Vienna, but was not printed in England during More's
+lifetime.  Its first publication in this country was in the English
+translation, made in Edward's VI.'s reign (1551) by Ralph Robinson.
+It was translated with more literary skill by Gilbert Burnet, in
+1684, soon after he had conducted the defence of his friend Lord
+William Russell, attended his execution, vindicated his memory, and
+been spitefully deprived by James II. of his lectureship at St.
+Clement's.  Burnet was drawn to the translation of "Utopia" by the
+same sense of unreason in high places that caused More to write the
+book.  Burnet's is the translation given in this volume.
+
+The name of the book has given an adjective to our language--we
+call an impracticable scheme Utopian.  Yet, under the veil of a
+playful fiction, the talk is intensely earnest, and abounds in
+practical suggestion.  It is the work of a scholarly and witty
+Englishman, who attacks in his own way the chief political and
+social evils of his time.  Beginning with fact, More tells how he
+was sent into Flanders with Cuthbert Tunstal, "whom the king's
+majesty of late, to the great rejoicing of all men, did prefer to
+the office of Master of the Rolls;" how the commissioners of
+Charles met them at Bruges, and presently returned to Brussels for
+instructions; and how More then went to Antwerp, where he found a
+pleasure in the society of Peter Giles which soothed his desire to
+see again his wife and children, from whom he had been four months
+away.  Then fact slides into fiction with the finding of Raphael
+Hythloday (whose name, made of two Greek words [Greek text] and
+[Greek text], means "knowing in trifles"), a man who had been with
+Amerigo Vespucci in the three last of the voyages to the new world
+lately discovered, of which the account had been first printed in
+1507, only nine years before Utopia was written.
+
+Designedly fantastic in suggestion of details, "Utopia" is the work
+of a scholar who had read Plato's "Republic," and had his fancy
+quickened after reading Plutarch's account of Spartan life under
+Lycurgus.  Beneath the veil of an ideal communism, into which there
+has been worked some witty extravagance, there lies a noble English
+argument.  Sometimes More puts the case as of France when he means
+England.  Sometimes there is ironical praise of the good faith of
+Christian kings, saving the book from censure as a political attack
+on the policy of Henry VIII.  Erasmus wrote to a friend in 1517
+that he should send for More's "Utopia," if he had not read it, and
+"wished to see the true source of all political evils."  And to
+More Erasmus wrote of his book, "A burgomaster of Antwerp is so
+pleased with it that he knows it all by heart."
+
+H. M.
+
+
+
+
+DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY,
+OF THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH
+
+
+
+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 Flanders, 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 dexterous 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 honour,
+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 artifice 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,
+talking 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 gracious 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
+expectations, 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 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 verdant, 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 neighbours, 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, afterwards, they found ships made
+with round keels and canvas sails, and in all respects like our
+ships, and the seamen understood both astronomy and navigation.  He
+got wonderfully into their favour by showing them the use of the
+needle, of which till then they were utterly ignorant.  They sailed
+before with great caution, 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 countries, 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, being struck
+with admiration, said, "I wonder, Raphael, how it comes that you
+enter 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 already 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 unwillingly 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 whatsoever."  "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 favour 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 greatness;
+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 fountain.  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 whatsoever."  "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 ministers 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 favour, 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 admire 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 Government 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.'  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 labour, on the labour 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 neighbourhood 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 honour 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
+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 disabled 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 noblemen
+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 dobots! 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
+enclose 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 enclose 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 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 labour, 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 labour 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 farmers 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 better; 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, 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; therefore 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
+divine? and, if this is once admitted, by the same rule men may, in
+all other things, 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 lawful; 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 punishment?  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 invasions.  Thus they have no wars
+among them; they live rather conveniently than with splendour, 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 neighbours.  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 restitution 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 circumstance 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 labour; 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 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 colour, and their hair is cropped
+a little above their ears, and a piece of one of their ears is cut
+off.  Their friends are allowed to give them either meat, drink, or
+clothes, so they are of their proper colour; 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
+whatsoever:  and it is also death for any of these slaves (so they
+are called) to handle arms.  Those of every division 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 persisting
+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 government; but those of one
+division and neighbourhood can do nothing to any purpose unless a
+general conspiracy were laid amongst all the slaves of the several
+jurisdictions, 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 justice which the Counsellor magnified so
+much.  To this he answered, 'That it could never take place in
+England without endangering 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,
+inconvenient, 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 labour, '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
+labour, 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.'  '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 Cardinal,
+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 perdition, 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 contracted 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; and
+though you are, upon other accounts, very dear to me, yet you are
+the dearer because you honour 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 philosophers.  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 themselves 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 proposing 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; another 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; 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 pretensions 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 smallest 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 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 severely
+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 favour 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 colour 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 favour.  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
+honour, 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, therefore, 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 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 suffered 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 pretending 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
+speculation 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 everything to be alike fitting at all times;
+but there is another philosophy that is more pliable, 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 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 impression 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 different 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 extravagant--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.
+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 conniving 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 matters 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 philosopher'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 plenty--
+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, notwithstanding 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
+distinguish 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 favourable 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 himself 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 themselves, 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--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 conveniently where all things are common.  How
+can there be any plenty where every man will excuse himself from
+labour? for as the hope of gain doth not excite him, so the
+confidence 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 reverence 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 practice 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
+ingenious 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 advantage 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 accident, 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
+carefully, 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 servants 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:-
+
+"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 separate 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 labour 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 neighbours, who at first laughed at the
+folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought to perfection
+than they were struck with admiration and terror.
+
+"There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well
+built, the manners, customs, 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
+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
+labour.  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 otherwise 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 very 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 labour, 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 neighbours.  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.
+
+
+OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT
+
+
+"He that knows one of their towns knows them all--they are so like
+one another, except 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 fountain-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 whatsoever.
+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 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 quantities 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.
+
+
+OF THEIR MAGISTRATES
+
+
+"Thirty families choose every year a magistrate, who was anciently
+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 anciently 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 several 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 Tranibors 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; for that is always referred to the next
+meeting, that 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 opinions, 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.
+
+
+OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE
+
+
+"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 formerly 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 the 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 of these 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
+their 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 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 between 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.  But the time appointed
+for labour is to be narrowly examined, otherwise you may imagine
+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 mankind; 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 gentlemen,
+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 labours mankind is supplied is much less
+than you perhaps imagined:  then consider how few of those that
+work are employed in labours 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 tradesmen could not
+be maintained by their gains; if all those who labour 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 labour, you may easily imagine that a small proportion of
+time would serve for doing all that is either necessary,
+profitable, or pleasant to mankind, 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 labour, 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 labour, 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 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.
+
+"And thus from the great numbers among them that are neither
+suffered to be idle nor to be employed in any fruitless labour, you
+may easily make the estimate how much may be done in those few
+hours in which they are obliged to labour.  But, besides all that
+has been already said, it is to be considered that the needful arts
+among them are managed with less labour 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.  But 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 labour, 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 labour 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 colour, and that is the natural
+colour of the wool.  As they need less woollen cloth than is used
+anywhere else, so that which they make use of is much less costly;
+they use linen cloth more, but that is prepared with less labour,
+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 colours, 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.  And thus, since they
+are all employed in some useful labour, and since they content
+themselves 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 labour, since the chief end of the
+constitution is to regulate labour 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.
+
+
+OF THEIR TRAFFIC
+
+
+"But it is now time to explain to you the mutual intercourse of
+this people, their commerce, 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; but lest any city should become either too great, or
+by any accident be dispeopled, provision 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 abound so much in them.  By the same
+rule they supply cities that do not increase so fast from others
+that breed faster; 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 neighbouring 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 to live with them; 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.
+But 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 possessing 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.
+
+"But to return 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 whatsoever 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.  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 washing 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, distinguished 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 market-place at an appointed hour,
+and according to the number of those that belong to the hall they
+carry home provisions.  But 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
+whatsoever the physician prescribes, 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, indeed, 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 marketplace, for they know that none does that but for
+some good reason; 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 disturbing 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 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 honoured 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 pleasant 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.
+
+
+OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS
+
+
+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 granted for travelling, and limits the time of
+their return.  They are furnished with a waggon and a slave, who
+drives the oxen and looks after them; but, unless there are women
+in the company, the waggon 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 labour 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
+labour.  There are no taverns, no alehouses, 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 ordinary 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, without 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 unfavourable season),
+they order an exportation of the overplus, both of corn, honey,
+wool, flax, wood, wax, tallow, 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, indeed, 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 neighbours 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 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
+extravagant 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; for since 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 intervening 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 during their childhood; but
+when they grow to years, and see that none but children use 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 splendour.  Thus three ambassadors made their entry with
+a hundred attendants, all clad in garments of different colours,
+and the greater part in silk; the ambassadors themselves, who were
+of the nobility of their country, 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 impression 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 other 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 doubtful 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 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 honours, 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 maxims, and partly from their learning
+and studies--for though there are but few in any town that are so
+wholly excused from labour as to give themselves entirely up to
+their studies (these being only such persons as discover from their
+childhood an extraordinary 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 pleasant 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 geometry.  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 instruments, 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, of 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 endowments 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 conjectural 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 distributed
+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, using 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
+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 favourite
+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.
+
+"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 appetites 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 who are much taken with gems and precious stones, and who
+account it a degree of happiness next to a divine one if they can
+purchase one that is very extraordinary, especially if it be of
+that sort of stones that is then in greatest request, for the same
+sort is not at all times universally 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.  Those are no better 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 hiding it in the
+earth, 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, in fowling, or gaming, of whose madness they
+have only heard, for they have no such things among them.  But 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 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 occasions, since that is the same in both
+cases.  But 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.  Therefore all this 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 the 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 degenerate 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 which 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 vigorous 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 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 opposite 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?
+
+"But, 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 pleasure
+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 pleasures, 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!  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 sort of animals contemplates the
+figure and beauty of the universe, nor is 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
+whatsoever, 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 satisfaction he can
+either serve the public or promote the happiness of others, for
+which he expects a greater recompense from God.  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 favours, 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 a middle stature, and have
+neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet
+they fortify themselves 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 husbandman 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
+labour 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 saw our labour 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 with me, 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 Aristotle'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, Euripides, 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
+honours 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 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
+neighbouring countries better, so they keep up the art of
+navigation which cannot be maintained but by much practice.
+
+
+OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES
+
+
+"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 labour, 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 neighbouring 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 labour 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.  But 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
+honourable, so if any man takes away his own life without the
+approbation of the priests and the senate, they give him none of
+the honours 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 punished, 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, indeed, both laughed at
+this, and condemned it as very indecent.  But 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.  But 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 concerning the reasons of it they go on but
+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 labour 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 the 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 a state of servitude is more for the interest of the
+commonwealth than killing them, since, as their labour 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 labour 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 again 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 behaviour 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 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 honours; 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 affect rather to be
+called fathers, and, by being really so, they well deserve the
+name; and the people pay them all the marks of honour 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 but 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 delays 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 labour 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 neighbours, 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 honour 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
+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 so soon 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 Neighbours; 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 the pastoral
+censure, and think that 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
+contrary, 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 expedients 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 making them, since the world
+has taken up a false maxim upon it, as if there were no tie of
+nature uniting one nation to another, 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
+neighbours 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 the
+unskilfulness of 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 whatsoever, since thereby the
+engagements of men's hearts become stronger than the bond and
+obligation of words.
+
+
+OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE
+
+
+They detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach
+of human nature, is more practised by men than by any sort of
+beasts.  They, in opposition to the sentiments of almost all other
+nations, think that there is nothing more inglorious than that
+glory that is 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 likewise, are trained
+up, that, in cases of necessity, they may not be quite useless, yet
+they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend
+themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of
+good nature or in 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
+neighbour makes an inroad on another by public order, 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 colour of laws.  This was the only ground of that war in which
+they engaged with the Nephelogetes against the Aleopolitanes, a
+little before our time; for the merchants of the former having, as
+they thought, met with great injustice among the latter, which
+(whether it was in itself right or wrong) drew on a terrible war,
+in which many of their neighbours 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 a series of much mischief ended in the
+entire 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
+
+"But, though they so vigorously assist their friends in obtaining
+reparation for the 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 a
+people.  This is not because they consider their neighbours more
+than their own citizens; but, since their neighbours trade every
+one upon his own stock, fraud is a more sensible injury to them
+than it is to the Utopians, among whom the public, in such a case,
+only suffers, as they expect no thing 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, 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 either 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 both 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 in that which is gained by dexterity and
+good conduct without bloodshed.  In such cases they appoint public
+triumphs, and erect trophies to the honour of those who have
+succeeded; for then do they reckon that a man acts suitably to his
+nature, when he conquers his enemy in such a way as that no other
+creature but a man could be capable of, and that is by the strength
+of his understanding.  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 countrymen.  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 in whom
+they have trusted most; for the rewards that 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 a 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 great 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 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 neighbours
+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, who live 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 labour, 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; but will
+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
+whom they serve if they offer them a 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 consideration 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 their avarice
+influence them; and yet this money, which they value so highly, is
+of little use to them; for what they purchase thus 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 whatsoever, 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 themselves to all sorts of hazards, out of
+which the greater part never returns to claim their 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 command in chief.  There are two sent with him, who,
+during his command, are but private men, but the first is to
+succeed him if he should happen to be either 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 own 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.  But 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 flying away; and thus either shame,
+the heat of action, or the impossibility of flying, bears down
+their cowardice; they often make a virtue of necessity, and behave
+themselves well, because nothing else is left them.  But as they
+force no man to go into any foreign war against his will, so they
+do not hinder those 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,
+kindred, 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 necessary 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 themselves
+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 by others, who never give over
+the pursuit, either attacking him with close weapons when they can
+get near him, 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
+much more bent on taking many prisoners than on killing those that
+fly before them.  Nor do they ever 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 uneasy 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 the use of
+them; so that he cannot prepare such a defence as would render them
+useless; the chief consideration 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 possible 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 whom they find 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 up, 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 those that they condemn, 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 Utopia
+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 any war to break in upon their island; and if
+that should happen, they would only defend themselves by their own
+people; but would not call for auxiliary troops to their
+assistance.
+
+
+OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS
+
+
+"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 that is
+far above all our apprehensions, that is spread over the whole
+universe, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue; 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 honours to any but to
+Him alone.  And, indeed, though they differ concerning other
+things, yet all agree in this:  that they think there is one
+Supreme Being that made and governs the world, whom they call, in
+the language of their country, 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 honours 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
+by them, 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 it was because it
+seemed so favourable to that community of goods, which is an
+opinion so particular as well as so dear to them; since they
+perceived that 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,
+true it is, that many of them came over to our religion, and were
+initiated into it by baptism.  But 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 other sacraments, that can only be
+administered by priests, but they are instructed concerning them
+and long most vehemently for them.  They have had great disputes
+among themselves, whether one chosen by them to be a priest would
+not be thereby qualified to do all the things that belong to that
+character, even though he had no authority derived from the Pope,
+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, notwithstanding 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 all their rites
+as profane, and cried out against all that adhered to them as
+impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned to
+everlasting burnings.  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 having
+understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants
+had been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which
+they were so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy
+thing 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 the 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.
+And supposing that only one religion was really true, and the rest
+false, he imagined that the native force of truth would at last
+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
+superstition, as corn is with briars and thorns; he therefore left
+men wholly to their liberty, 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 all 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 society, 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 honours 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 that
+the souls of beasts are immortal, though far inferior to the
+dignity of the human soul, and not capable of so great a happiness.
+They are almost all of them very firmly persuaded that good men
+will be infinitely happy in another state:  so that though they are
+compassionate to all that are sick, yet they lament no man's death,
+except they see him loath to part with life; for they look on this
+as a very 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:  but 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 honour of the deceased.
+When they come from the funeral, they discourse of his good life,
+and worthy actions, but speak of nothing oftener and 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 to engage 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 invisible to us,
+yet they are present among us, and hear those discourses that pass
+concerning 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 therefore
+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 effects 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 labour 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 labour:  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 present 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.  Another 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 labour; 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 reason,
+would prefer an unmarried state to a married, or a life of labour
+to an easy life:  but they reverence and admire such as do it from
+the motives of religion.  There is nothing 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 government, 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 honour 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 honour might make the dignity of that order, which they
+esteem so highly, to 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 neighbouring 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, apparelled 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 spacious, 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, whatsoever 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 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 consciousness of their bearing hatred or anger in their
+hearts to any person whatsoever; 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 hand, 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.  And
+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 and almost the only incitement to virtue.
+
+"They offer up no living creature in sacrifice, nor do they think
+it suitable to the Divine 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 savours 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-coloured, and both the work and
+colours are wonderful.  They are made of no rich materials, for
+they are neither embroidered 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 tradition 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 neighbours.  As soon as the priest appears in those
+ornaments, they all fall prostrate on the ground, with so much
+reverence and so deep a silence, that such as look on 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 honour of God, some 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 happily 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 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 whatsoever is pronounced by the whole assembly
+may be likewise applied by every man in particular to his own
+condition.  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 thanksgiving; 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 government, 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 an 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 all fall down again upon 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 do not only think the
+best in the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly
+deserves that name.  In all other places it is visible that, while
+people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth;
+but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue
+the good of the public, 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, how flourishing soever 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 private 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 who were once engaged in labour, but grow
+afterwards 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 of no
+use to the public, should live in great luxury and splendour upon
+what is so ill acquired, and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a
+ploughman, that works harder even than the beasts themselves, and
+is employed in labours 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 much 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 labour 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 favours 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
+labours 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
+labourers 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 colour 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 labour 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 desire 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, labours, 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 apprehending this aright, take one instance:-
+
+"Consider any year, that has been so unfruitful that many thousands
+have 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, if it had been distributed among them, none would have
+felt the terrible effects of that scarcity:  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 superfluities; 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 the brighter, by comparing it with the
+misfortunes of other persons; that by displaying 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 foundation
+of policy, that as men live happily under it, so it is like to be
+of great continuance; for they 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 neighbouring princes, who have often,
+though in vain, attempted their ruin, will never be able to put
+their state into any commotion or disorder."
+
+When Raphael had thus made an end of speaking, 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 other particulars, but chiefly what seemed the
+foundation of all the rest, their living in common, without the use
+of money, by which all nobility, magnificence, splendour, 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 honour to support the
+credit of their own wisdom, by finding out something to censure in
+all other men's inventions, besides 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 more
+particularly, and for discoursing more copiously upon it.  And,
+indeed, I shall be glad to embrace an opportunity of doing it.  In
+the meanwhile, though it must be confessed that he is both a very
+learned man and a person who has obtained 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 The Project Gutenberg Etext of Utopia, by Thomas More
+
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