ENGLISH 1A

UTOPIA / 511

From Book 2

[THE GEOGRAPHY OF UTOPIA]

The island of Utopia is two hundred miles across in the middle part where it is widest1 and nowhere much narrower than this except toward the two ends, where it gr:adually tapers. These ends,. curved round as if completing a circle

Site and shape of Utapia the new island

five hundred- miles in circumferenee, make the island crescent-shapedy like a new moon; Between the horns of the crescent1 which are about eleven miles apart, the sea enters and sprea(ls into a broad bay. Being sheltered from the wind by the surrounding land, the bay is not rough, but placid and smooth instead1 like a big lake. Thus, nearly the whole inner coast is one great harbor1 across which ships pass in every direction1 to the great advan- tage of the people. What with shallows on one side1 and rocks on the other, entrance "into the bay is very dangerous. Near midchannel, there is one rock that rises above the water, and so pres:ents no danger in itself; a tower has been built on top of it, and a garrison is kept there. Being naturally safe, the Since the other rocks lie under the water, they are entry is defended by a very dangerous to navigation~ The channels are single fort known only to the Utopians, so hardly any strangers enter the bay without one of their pilots; and even they themselves could not enter safely if they did not direct their course by some landmarks on the coast. Should these landmarks be shiflted about, the Utopians could lure to destruction an enemy fleet coming against them, however big it was.

The trick of shifting landmarks

On the outer side of the island, occasional harbors are to be found; but the coast is rugged by nature, and so wdl fortified that a few defenders could beat off the attack of a strong force. They say (and the appearance of the place confirms this) that their land wals not always an island. But Utopus, who conquered the country and gave it his name (for it had previously been called AbraxIl1), and who brought its rude, uncouth inhabitants to such a high

Utopia named for king Utopus

level of culture and humanity that they now excel in that regard almost every other people, also changed its geography. After subduing the natives,- at his first landing, he promptly cut a channel fifteen miles wiele where their land joined the continent, and thus caused the sea

This was a bigger job than digging across the Isthmus2

to flow around the country. He put not only the natives to work at this task, but all his own soldiers too, so that the vanquished would not think the labor a disgrace. With the work divided among so many hands, the project was

Many hands make light wo,k

finished quickly, and the neighboring peoples, who at first had laughed at his follY1 were struck with wonder and terror at his success.

There are fifry-four cities on the island, all spacious The towns of Utopia

and magnificent, identical in language:. customs, in-

1. The Greek Gnostic philosopher Basilides'(sec- and century c.!::,) postulated 365 heavens, and gave the name ~Abraxas" to the highest of them. The Greek letters that constitute the term have numerical equivalents summing to 365, but what

~ Abraxas" actually means, nobody knows. 2. The Isthmus or Corinth joins the Peloponnc- sian peninsula to the rest of Greece. Various attempts to dig a canal across it failed.

512 I SIR THOMAS MORE

stitutions, and laws. So far as the location permits, all of them are built on Likeness breeds concord the same pla'n arid, have the same appearance. The

nearest are at le~st twenty-four miles apart, and the A middling distance farthest are not: so remote that a man cannot go on betWeen towns foot. from one to the other in a day.

Once a year each city sends three ·of its old and experienced citizens to Amaurof3 to consider-affairs of common interest to the island. Amaurot lies at the navel of the land, so to speak, and convenient Distrihutrm- of land to every other district, so it acts as a capital Every city

has enough ground .. assigned to it so that at least, !; twelve miles of farm land a:re available in every direction, though where the

But today this is the curse of all countrieS"

FarmJng is the prime occupativn

cities are farther apart, their territories are more ex~ tensive. No city wants to enlarge its, boundaries, .for the inhabitants consider themselves good cultivators rather than . landlords. At proper intervals allover the countryside they have built houses and furnished them with farm equipment. These houses are inhab.

ited by citizens who come to the country by turns to occupy them. No rural household has fewer than forty men and, women in it, besides two slave'55

bound to the land. A master and mistress, serious and mature persons, are in charge of each household, and over every thirty households is, placed a single phylarch.6 Each year twenty persons from each rural household move back to the city after completing a two~year stint in the country. In their place, twenty others are sent out from town, ~to learn farm work from those who have already been in the countty for a year, and who are better skilled in farming. They, in tum, will teach those who come the follOwing year. If all were equally untrained in farm work and new to it, they might harm the crops out of ignorance. This custom of alternating farm workers is solemnly established so that no one will have to perform such heavy labor for more than two years; but many of them who take a natural pleasure in farm life are allowed to stay longer.

Farmers' jobs

A notable way of hatching eggs,

The farm workers till the soil, feed the animals, hew wood, and take their produce to the city by land or water, as is convenient. They breed an enormouS number of chickens by a most marvelous method. Men, not hens, hatch the eggs by keeping them in a

warm place at an even temperature. As soon as they come out of the shell, the chicks recognize the men, follow them around, and are devoted to them instead of to their real mothers.

Uses of the horse

Usesofoun

They raise very few horses, and these full of mettle, which they keep only to exercise the young men in the art of horsemanship. For the heavy work of plow- ing and hauling they use oxen, which they agree are

inferior to horses ,over the short haul, but. which can hold out longer under heavy burdens, are less subject to disease (as. they suppose), and besides can

3. Coined from a Greek word meaning "dark'· or "dim"-a suitable name for the capital of a country whose name means "nowhere. ,. 4. Although Utopia exists in the present, the glosses repeatedly refer to it as if it belonged to the

distant past, like classical Greece or Rome. 5 .. More, provides for a few bondmen or slaves in Utopia, to perform tasks unfit for citizens, such as sIaught~ring. 6. From a Greek word meaning ~head ofa tribe."

UTOPIA / 513

be kept with less cost and trollble. Moreover, when oxen are too old for work, ~~k~~_ _~_

Grain they use only to make bread.' They drink wine made of grapes, apple. or pear, cider, or simple water, which they some- times mix with honey or licorice, of which they hav~ plenty. Although they know very well, down to the last detail, how much food each city and its surrounding, district will consume" they produce Planned planting much more grain and cattle than they need for them- selves, and share the. surplus with their neighbors. Whatever goods the folk in the country need which cannot be produced there, they request of the town magistrates,' and.- since there is nothing to be paid. or exchanged, they get.what they want at once without any haggling. They generally go to town orice a month in any easer to observe the < holy days. When harvest time approaches, the phylarchs in the country notify the town magistrates how many hands will be needed. Crews of harvesters The I ., lie· , d b vaue OJ co ctwe eome just when they re wanted, can in a out one labor day of good weather they can get in the whole crop.

[THEIR GOLD AND SILVER]

Fo~ t~ese reasons,8 therefore, ~hey have accumulated a vast treasure, but they do not keep it like a treasure. I'm really quite ashamed to tell you how they do keep it, because .you probably won't believe 0 crnfry fellow! me;. I would not have believed it mvself if someone hadjust told me about it, but I was inere, and saw it with my own eyes. As a general rule, the more different anything is from what people are used to, the harder it is to accept. But considering that all their other customs are so unlike ours, a sensible man "'ill perhaps not k surprised that they treat gold 'II1d silvc< .quite differendy from the way we do. After all, they never do use money among themselves, but keep it. ol'\ly for a contingency that mayor may not actually arise. So in the meanwhile they take care that no one shall value gold and silver, of which money is made, beyond what .the metals themselves deserve. Anyone can see, for example,. that f h ld I As for as "tility goes, gold iron,;. ar superior to, eit er; men cou. not ive is inferior to iron vvithout .iron,by heaven, any more than without fire or water. But gol4 and silver have, by nature, no function with which we eannot easily dispense. Human folly has made them precious because they are rare. But in fact nature, like a most indulgent mother, has placed her best gifts out in the open, like air, water, and the earth itself; vain and unprof- itable things she has hidden away in remote places.

If in Utopia gold and silver were kept locked up in wme.tower, smart fools among the common people might concoct a story that the governor and senate' were out to cheat ordinary, folk a'ld get some advantage for. them- selves. Of course, the gold and silver might be put into beautiful plate-ware and such rich handiwork, but then in case of necessity the people would not

7, I.e .• they don't. like the English, use it to make beer and ale. S, More has explained.- in a s«tion heft omitted,' that the UtopiAns, though living in a moncyJess economy, have a huge treasury, kept in reserve especially to hire mercenary soldiers (and to buy

off their enemy's soldiers) in ,time of war. 9. The governor of each Utopian city, as More has earlier explained. is chosen tor life by its senate, ci!\ell of whose memhet1l is elected by a group of thirty hou$ehol~,

514 / SIR THOMAS MORE

want to give up articles on which they had begun to fix their hearts-only to melt them down for soldiers' pay. To avoid these problems they thought of a plan which conforms with their institutions as clearly as it contrasts with our own. Unless one has actually seen it working, their plan may seem incredible, because we prize gold so highly and are so careful about guarding it. With them it's just the other way. While they eat from earthenware dishes

o magnificent scorn for gold!

and drink from glass cups, finely made but inex· pensive, their chamber pots and all their humblest vessels, for us<:~ in common halls and even in private

homes, are made of gold and silver. The chains and heavy fetters of slaves are also made of these metals. Finally, criminals who are to bear the mark

of some disgraceful act are forced to wear golden Gold the mark of infamy

rings in their ears and on their fingers, golden chains around their necks, even gold crowns on their heads. Thus they hold up gold and silver to scorn in every conceivahle way. As a result, if they had to part with their entire supply of these met.,ls, which other people give up with as much agony as if they were being disemboweled, the Utopians would feel it no more than the loss of a penny.

They pick up pearls by the seashore, diamonds and garnets from certain cliffs, but never go out of set purpose to look for them. If they happen to G he h' find some, th"y polish them and give them to the ch":idr':' playt mg' of children, who feel proud and pleased with such

gaudy decoratiions when they are small. But after, when they grow a bit older and notice that only babies like such toys, they lay them aside. Their parents don't have to say anything, they simply put these trifles away out of a shamefaced sense that they're no longer suitable, just as our children, when they grow up, put away their marbles, rattles, and dolls.

Different customs, different feelings: I never saw the adage better illus-

A neat tale trated than in the case of the Anemolian I ambassa~ dors, who came to Amaurot while I was there~

Because they came to discuss important business, the national council had assembled ahead of time, three citizens from each city. The ambassadors from nearby nations, who had visited Utopia before and knew the local cus· toms, realized that fine clothing was not much respected in that land, silk was despised, and gold a badge of contempt; therefore they always came in the very plainest of their clothes. But the Anemolians, who lived farther off and had had fewer dealings with the Utopians, had heard only that they all dressed alike and very simply; so they took for granted that their hosts had nothing to wear that they didn't put on. Being themselves rather more proud than wise, they decided to dress as splendidly as the very gods, and dazzle the eyes of the poor Utopians with th"ir gaudy garb.

Consequently the three ambassadors made a grand entry with a suite of a hundred attendants, all in "clothing of many colors, and most in silk. Being noblemen at home, the ambassadors were arrayed in cloth of gold, with heavy gold chains round their necks, gold jewels at their ears and on their fingers, and sparkling strings of pearls and gems on their caps. In fact, they were decked out in all the articles which in Utopia are used to punish slaves,

I. From Greek, "windy.»

UTOPIA I 515

shame ""'t'ongdoers, or pacify infants. It was a sight to see how they strutted when they compared their finery with the dress of the Utopians who had poured out into the street to see them pass. But it was just as funny to see how wide they fell of the mark, and how far they were from getting the consideration they expected, Except for a very few Utopians who for some special reason had visited foreign countries, all the onlookers considered this splendid pomp a mark of disgrace. They therefore bowed to the humblest servants as lords, and took the amhassadors, because of their golden chains, to be slaves. passing them hy without any reverence at all. You might have seen children, who had themselves thrown away their pearls and gems, nudge their mothers when they saw the ambassadors' jeweled caps, and say: "Look at thai hig loul, mother, who's still wearing pearls and The roreal! jewels as if he were a little kid!" But the mother, in all seriousness, would answer, "Quiet, son, I think he is One of the ambas- sadors' foo)s.»

Others found fault with the golden chains as useless because they were so Aimsy any slave could break them, and so loose that he could easily shake them off and run away whenever he wanted.

But after the ambassadors had spent a couple of days among the Utopians, they learned of the immense amounts of gold which were as thoroughly despised there as they were prized at home. They saw too that more gold and silver went into making chains and fetters for a single runaway slave than into costuming all three ofthem. Somewhat crestfallen. then, they put away all the finery in which they had strutted so arrogantly; but they saw the wisdom of doing so after they had talked with the Utopians enough to learn their customs and opinions.

[MARRIAGE CUSTOMS]

Women do nol marry till they are eighteen, nor Marriages

men till they are twenty-two. Clandestine premarital intercourse, if discovered and proved. brings severe punishment on both man and woman; and the guilty parties are forbidden to marry for their whole lives, unless the governor by his pardon mitigates the sentence. Also both the father and mother of the household where the offense occurred suffer public disgrace for having been remiss in their duty. The reason they punish this offense so severely is that they suppose rew people would join in married love-with confinement to a single partner and anlhe petty annoyances that married life involves-unless they were strictly restrained from promiscuity . . In choosing marriage partners they solemnly and seriously follow a custom

which seemed to us foolish and absurd in the ex- treme. Whether she be widow or virgin, the bride-to- be is shown naked to the groom by a responsible and

Not very moJ.est, but not so impractical either

respectable matron; and similarly, some respectable man presents the groom naked to his prospective bride.' We laughed at this custom, and called it ;d>surd; but they were just as amazed at the folly of all other peoples. When ~n go to buy a colt, where they are risking only a liltlemoney, tbey are so ~autious that, though the animal is almost bare, they won't dose the deal

2. Plato recommends a similar practice in his second dialogue on the ideal commonwealth, the Laws, with complete seriousness.

516 I SIR THOMAS MORE

until saddle and blanket have been taken off, lest there be a hidden sore underneath. Yet in the choice of a mate, which may cause either delight or disgust for the rest of their lives, men are so careless .that they leave all the rest of the woman's body. covered up with clothes and estimate her attrac- tiveness from a mere handsbreadth oEher p.erson, the face, which is .11 they can see. And so they marry, running great risk of bitter discord, if something in either's person should offend the other. Not .U people are so wise as to concern themselves solely 'with character; even the wise appreciate physical beauty as a supplement to a good disposition. There's no doubt that a defor- mity may lurk under clothing, serious enough to make a man hate his wife when it's too late to be separated from her. If some disfiguring accident takes place after marriage, each person must bear his own fate; but the Utopians think everyone should be legally protected from deception beforehand. .'

There is extra reason for them to be careful, because in that part of tIie world they are the only people who practice monogamy, and because their

. . . . ' marriages are seldom terminated exCept by death- Divorce though they do allow divorce for adultery or for intol, erablv offensive behavior. A husband or wife who.is an aggrieved party to such It divorce is granted leave by the senate to take a new mate, but .the guilty party suffers disgrace and is pennanently forbidden to remarry. They absolutely forbid a husband to put away his "if. againsther will and without any fault on her part, just because of some bodily misfortune; they think it cruel that a person should be abandoned when most in need of comfort; and they add that old age, since it not only entails disease but is a disease itsel~ needs more than a precarious fidelity.

It happens occasionally that a married couple cannot get along, and have both found other persons with whom they hope to live more harmoniOUSly. Mter getting approval of the senate, they may then separate by mutual con- sent and contract new marriages. But such divorces are allowed only after the senators and their ,vives have carefuUy investigated the case. Divorce is deliberately made difficult because they know that couples will have a hard time settling d~wn if each has in mind that a new relation is easily available;

They punish adulterers with the strictest form of slavery. !fboth parties were married, both are divorced, and the injured parties may marry one another if they want, or someone else. But if one of'theinjured parties con- tinues'to love such an ~nde'serving spouse, the mamage-may go on, provided the innocent person chooses to share in the labor to which every slave is condemned. And sometimes it happens that the repentance oftheguilty and the devotion of the innocent parry so move the governor to piry that he restores both to freedom. But a second conviction of adultery is punished by death.

[RELIGIONS]

There are different forms of religion throughout the island, and in the different cities as well. Some worship' as a god the sun, others the moon, still others one of the planets. There are some who worship a man of past ages, conspicuous either for virtue Or glory; they consider him not only a god, but the supreme god. The vast majority of Utopians, however, and among these

UTOPIA / 517

all the- wisest, believe nothing of the sort: they believe in a single power, unknown, eternal, infinite, inexplicable, far beyond the grasp of the human mind, and diffused throughout the universe, not physically, but in influence. Him they call father, and to him alone they attribute the origin, increase, progress, change, and end of all visible things; they do not offer divine honors to any other.

Though the other sects differ from this group in various particular doc- trines, they all agree in a single main head, that there is one supreme power, the maker and ruler of the univer~se; in their native tongue they all call him Mithra.' Different people define him differently, and each supposes the object of his worship is the special vessel of that great force which all people agree iIi. worshipping. Bllt gradually they are coming to forsake this mixture of superstitions and unite in that one religion which seems more reasonable than any of the others. And there is no doubt that the other religions would have disappeared long ago, had not various unlucky accidents, befalling cer- tairi Utopians who were thinking of changing their religion, been interpreted as a sign of ,divine anger, not chance-as if the deity, who was being aban- doned were avenging an insult against himself. 1 But after they heard from us the name of Christ, and learned of his teach- i,rigSj ·his life, his miracles, and the no less marvelous devotion of the many martyrs whose blood, freely shed, had drawn nations far and near into the Ghristian fellowship, you would not believe how they were impressed. Either ~rough the secret inspiration of God, or because Christianity seemed very like .the belief that most prevails among them, they were well disposed toward id'rom the start. But I think they were also much influenced by the fact that Ghrist encouraged . his disciples to practice community of goods, and that among the truest groups of Christians, the practice Monasteries Still prevails.4 Whatever the reason, no small number ofthem chose to join our communion and were washed in the holy water of baptism.

By that time, two of our group had died, and among us four survivors there was, I am sorry to say,- no priest. So, though they received, instruction in other matters, they still lack those sacraments which in our religion can be administered only by pdests. 5 They do, however, understand what these are, and eagerly desire them. In fact, they dispute warmly whether a man chosen from :among themselves could be considered a priest without ordination by a Christian bishop. Though they seemed about to select such a person, they had not yet done so when I left.

Thos'e who have not accepted Christianity make no effort to restrain others from it, nor do they criticize new converts to it. While I was there, only one of the Christians got into trouble with the law. As soon as he was baptized, he took on himself to preach the Christian religion publicly, with more zeal than.discretion. We warned him not to do so, but he soon worked himself up to a pitch where he not only preferred our religion, but condemned all others as profane, leading their impious and sacrilegious followers to the

3.- In: ancient Persian religion, Mithra or Mithras, t4~ spirit of light, was the supreme force of good in the universe. 4. Many monastic orders of More's time disal-

lowed private property-for their members. 5. In Catholic teaching, only baptism and matri- mony among the seven sacraments can be con- ferred without a priest.

518 / SIR THOMAS MORE

hell-fires they richly deserved. Mter he had been going on in this style for a long time, they arrested him. He was tried on a charge, not of despising their religion, but of creating a public disorder, convicted, and sentenced to exile.

Men must he drawn to religion by its merits

For it is one of their oldest rules that no one should suffer for his religion. Even before he took over the island, King Utopus had heard that the

natives were continually squabbling over religious matters. Actually, he found it easy to conquer the country because the different sects were too busy fighting one another to oppose him. As soon as he had gained the victory, therefore, he decreed that every man might cultivate the religion- of his choice, and proselytize for it too, provided he did so quietly, modestly, rationally, and without bitterness toward others. If persuasions failed, no man might resort to abuse or violence, under penalty of exile or slavery.

Utopus laid down these rules not simply for the sake of peace, which he saw was being destroyed by constant quarrels and implacable hatreds, hut also for the sake of religion itself. In such matters he was not at all quick to dogmatize, because he suspected that God perhaps likes various forms of worship and has therefore deliberately inspired different men with different views. On the other hand, he was quite sure that it was arrogant folly for anyone to enforce conformity with his own beliefs by threats or violence. He supposed that if one religion is really true and the rest are false, the true one will sooner or later prevail by its own natural strength, if men will only con~ sider the matter reasonalily and moderately. But it they try to aeciae things by fighting and rioting, ,nnee the worst men are always most headstrong, the best and holiest religion in the world will be crowded out by foolish super- stitions, like grain choked out of a field by thorns and briars. So he left the whole matter open, allOwing each person to choose what he would believe. The only exception was a positive and strict law against anyone who should sink so far below the digoity of human nature as to think that the soul pel' ishes with the body, or that the universe is ruled by blind chance, not divine providence.

Thus they believe that after this life vices will be punished and virtue rewarded. Anyone who denies this proposition tbey consider less than a man, since he has degraded the sublimity of his own soul to the base level of a beast's wretched body. Still less will they count him as one of their citizens, since he would openly despise all the laws and customs of society, if not prevented by fear. Who can doubt that a man who has nothing to fear but tbe law, and no hope of life beyond the grave, will do anything he can to evade his country's laws by craft or to break them by violence, in order to gratify bis own personal greed? Therefore a man who holds such views is offered no honors, entrusted with no offices, and given no public responsi- bility; he is universally regarded as a loW'and sordid fellow. Yet they do not punish him, because they are persuaded that no man can choose to believe by a mere act of the will. They do not compel him by threats to dissemble his views, nor do they tolerate in the matter any deceit or lying, which they detest as next door to deliberate malice. The man may not argue with com- mon people in behalf of his opinion; but in the presence of priests and other important persons, they not only permit but encourage it. For tbey are con- fident that in the end his madness will yield to reason.

There are some others, in fact no small number of them, who err the other

way in supposing that animals too have immortal souls, though not comparable to ours in excellence nor destined to equal felicity. These men are not

UTOPIA / 519

A strange opinion on the souls of animals

thought to be evil, their opinion is not considered wholly unreasonable, and so they are not interfered with.

Almost all the Utopians are absolutely convinced that man's bliss after death will be enormous and eternal; thus they lament every man's sickness, but mourn over a death only if the man was torn from life wretchedly and against his will. Such behavior they take to be a very bad sign, as if the soul; despairing and conscious of guilt, dreaded death through a secret premoni- tion of punishments to come. Besides, they suppose God can hardly be well pleased with the coming of one who, when he is summoned, does not come gladly, but is dragged off reluctantly and against his will. Such a death fills the onlookers with horror, and they carry off the corpse to the cemetery in melancholy silence. There, after begging God to have mercy on his spirit and to pardon his infirmities, they bury the unhappy man. But when someone dies blithely and full of good hope, they do not mourn for him, but carry the body cheerfully away, singing and commending the dead man's soul to God. They cremate6 him in a spirit of reverence more than of grief, and erect a tombstone on which the dead man's honors are inscribed. As they go home, they talk of his character and deeds, and no part of his life is mentioned more frequently or more gladly than his joyful death.

They think that recolle;:ting'the good qu~lities of a man inspires the living to behave virtuously and is the most acceptable form of honor to the dead. For they think that dead persons are actually present among us, and hear what we say about them, though through the dullness of human sight they remain invisible. Given their state of bliss, the dead must be able to travel freely where they please, and it would be unkind of them to cast off every desire of seeing those friends to whom in life they had been joined by mutual affection and charity. Like other good qualities they think that after death charity is increased rather than diminished in all good men; and thus they believe the dead come frequently among the living, to observe their words and acts. Hence they go about their business the more confidently because of their trust in such protectors; and the belief that their forefathers are physically present keeps men from any secret dishonorable deed.

Fortune-telling and other vain, superstitious divinations, such as other peoples take very seriously, they consider ridiculous and contemptible. But they venerate miracles which occur without the help of nature, considering them. direct and visible manifestations of the divinity. Indeed, they report that miracles have often occurred in their country. Sometimes in great and dangerous crises they pray publicly for a miracle, which they then anticipate with great confidence, and obtain.

They think the investigation of nature and the reverence arising from it are most acceptable to God. There are some people, however, and quite a few of them, who from religious motives reject literary and scientific pursuits, and refuse all leisure, but devote their full time to The active life good works. Only by constant dedication to the of-

6. Cremation was not practiced by Christians before the nineteenth century, because it was thought to be at odds with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.

520 I SIR THOMAS MORE

fices of charity, these people think, can happiness after death be earned; and so they are always busy. Some tend the sick; others repair roads, dean ditches, rebuild bridges, dig tun; sand, or stones; still others fell trees and cut them up, and transport wood; grain •. or other commodities into the cities by wagon. They work for private citizens as well as for the public, and work even harder than slaves. With· cheery good will they undertake any task that is so rough, hard, and dirty that most people refuse to tackle it because of the toil, tedium, and frustration involved. While constantly engaged in heavy labor themselves; they procure leisure for others, yet claim no credit for it. They neither criticize the way others live, nor boast of their own doings; The more they put themselves in the position of slaves, the more highly they are honored by everyone •

. These people are of two sects. The first are celibates who abstain not only from""", but also from eating meat, and some from any sort of animal food whatever. They reject all the pleasures of this life as harmful, and look for- ward only·to the joys of the life to come, which they hope to merit by hard labor and all-night vigils. As they hope to attain it soon, they are cheerful and active in the here and now. The other kind.are just as fond of hard work, but prefer to marry. They don't despise the comforts of mimiage, but think as they owe nature their labor, so they owe children to their country. Unless it interferes with their labor, they avoid no pleasure; and gladly eat meat, precisely because they think it makes them stronger for any sort of heavy wmk The Utopians regard· the second. sort as more sensible, but the first sort as· holier.< If anyone chose celibacy over marriage and a hard life over a comfortahle one on grounds of reaSOn alone, they would laugh at him; hut as these men say they are motivated by religion, the Utopians respect and revere them. On no subject are they Warier of jumping to conclusions than in this matter of religion. Such then are the men whom in their own language they call Buthresca., a term which can.be translated as "specially religious.':

[CONCLUSION]

Now I have described to you as accurately as I could the structure of that commonwealth which I consider not only the hest but indeed the onlyone that can rightfully claim that name. In other places men talk very liberally of the commonwealth, but what they mean is simply their own wealth; in Utopia, where there is no private business, every man zealously pursues the public business. And in both places men are right to act as they do. For elsewhere, even though the commonwealth may flourish, each man knoWs that unless he makes separate provision for himself, he may perfectly well die of hunger., Bitter necessity, then, forces men to look out for themselves rather than for the people, that is, for other people. But in Utopia, where everything belongs to everybody, no man need fear. that, so longosihe public warehouses are filled, he will ever lack for anything he needs. Distrihution is not one of their problems; in Utopia no men are poor, no men are beggars; and though !l0 man owns anything, 'everyone is rich.

For what can be greater riches than for a man to live joyfully and peace~ fully, free from all anxieties, and without worries about making a living? No man is bothered by his wife's querulous complaints about money, no man fears poverty for his son, or struggles to scrape up a dowry for his daughter.

UTOP1A I 52l

Each man can feel secure of his own livelihood and happiness, and of his whole family's- as well; \\-rife, sons, grands~ns,' great-grandsons, great¥great- grandsons, and that whole long line of descendants that the gentry are so fond of contemplating. Indeed, eyen those who once worked butean no longer do so are cared for just as well as i£ they were still productive.

At this point, I'd like to see anyone venture to compare this equity of the Utopians with the sO-.called . justice that prevails among other nations- among whom let me perish if I can. discover the slightest scrap of justice or fairness. What kind of justioe is..it whe'''ll nobleman, a goldsmith,' a moneylender, or sOmeone else who makes his living by doing either nothing at all or something completely uselcssto the. commonwealth, gets to live a life of· luxury and grandeur, while in .th" meantime, a laborer, a carter, a carpenter, or a farmer works so hard. and so constantly. that even beasts of burden would scarcely endure it; .and this work of theirs is so necessary that no· commonwealth could sunive for,a, year without it? Yet they earn so mea- ger Ii living and lead such, miserable lives that beasts would really seem to be better off. Beasts do .not have tt1> work every minute, and their food is not much worse; in fact they like it better, and besides, .. they do not have to worry about their future. But workingmen must not only sweat and suffer without present reward, but agonize over the prospect of a penniless old age. Their daily wage is inadequate even for present needs, so· there is no possible chance of their saving for thcir declining years . .. , Now isn't this an anju .. st and ungrateful commonwealth? It lavishes rich rewards on so-called gentry, loan sharks, and the rest of that crew, who don't Work at all or are mere parasites, purveyors of empty pleasures. And yet it makes no provision whatever for the welfare offarmers and collierS,Jaborers. carters, and carpenters, without whom the commonwealth would simply cease to exisL After society has taken the labor of their best years, when they are worn out by-age t sickness, and utter destitution, then the thankless com- monwealth, forgetting all their pains and servkes, throws them out to die a Illiserable death. What is worse, the rich constantly try to grind out of the poor part of their meager pittance, not only by private swindling but by public laws .. It is basically unjust that people who deserve most from the common- wealth should receive least. But now they have distorted and debased the tight even further by giving their .extortion the form of law; and thus they have palmed injustice .off as legal. When I run over in my mind the various etmtmonwealths flourishing today," so help me God, I Reader, note well! ~an see in them nothing-but a.conspiracy of the rich, 'who are fattening up their own interests under, the name and title of the commonwealth. They invent ways and means to hang onto whatever they have acquired by sharp practice, and then they scheme to oppress the poor by.buying up their toil and labor as, cheaply as possible. These devices become law as soon as the rich, speaking through the commonwealth-which, of course, includes the poor as well..,..:say they must be observed.

And yet when these insatiably greedy and evil men have divided among themselves goods which would have sufficed for the entire people, how far

;;~, in'addition to being the creators of-objects that are, from the Utopian point of view, worthless, goldsmiths often functioned as bankers. As the inclusion of moneylenders in this lisl suggests, the

idea that lending money at interest constituted sin- ful usury remained strong in More's time-though the sentence also makes it clear that the practice was firmly established.

522 / SIR THOMAS MORE

they remain from'the happiness of the Utopian Republic, which has abol- ished not only money' but with it greed! Whala mass of trouble wascut away by thatone.step! What a thicket of crimes was uprooted! Everyone knows that if money were abolished, fraud, theft, robbei:y, quarrels, brawls; sedi- tions, murders, treasons,' poisonings, and a ~whole' set' of crimes which, are avenged but not prevented by the hangman would at once die out. If money disappeared, so would fear, anxiety, worry, toll; 'and sleepless nights; Even poverty, which seems to need money more than anything else, would vanish if money were entirely done away with. "

Consider if you will this example; Take a barren year of failed harvests, when many thousands ormen have been carried'off by hunger. If atthe etid of the famine the barns of the rich were searched, I dare saypositiveIy enough grain would be found in them to have' kept all those who .died of starvation' and disease from . even ·reaHzing that '8 shortage- ever existed.:...:...if only it had been divided equally among them. SO' easily might men get tire necessities 'Of life if that cursed money,' which:is:su.pposed to provide acceS$ to them, were not in facHhe only barrier to our getting what we need to live: Even the rich, I'm sure, understand this. They must know that it's better to have enough of what we 'really need than· an . abundance of superfluities; much better to escape-from our many present troubles than to be burdened with great masses of wealth. Arid in fact I have no doubt that every man's perception of where his true interest lies; along with the authority of Christ our Savior (whose wisdom could not fail to recognize the best, and whose goodness would not fail to counsel it},would.lorig "go have broughtthewhole

world 'to adopt Utopian laws, were it not.for 'One sfngle A strikingpkmsemonster; the prime plague and begetter of all other_

. I mean Pride~ Pride measures 'her adv;'mtages rmtby:whatshe has but bywha! other

people lack. Pride would not deign even to be mad. a goddess if there were no wretches' for her to sneer at and domineer over. Her good' fortune·j, dazzlingcorily by contrast with the .mseri"s of others, her riches are valuable only as they toment and tantalize the poverty .oEothers. Pride is a serpent from hell that twines itselraround the hearts of men, acting like <l suckfish' to hold them back from choosing a better way of life,

hide'is too deeply fixed in human nature 'to be easily plucked out, 'So I am glad·that the Utopians' at least have been lucky enough to achlevetlris Republic; which.! wish all mankind would imitate. The institutions they have adopted have made their community most happy, 'and, "s far as anyone can tell, capable of lasting forever_ Now that they have tom up the seeds of ambition and faction at home, along with·most other vices, they are in no danger from internal strife, which alone has been the ruin of many other nations that seemed secure. As longas·they preserve harmony at ho';'e,and keep their institutions healthy;the'Utopians-can nev.r be overeome or even shaken by their envious neighbor>; who have' of len attempted their ruin, but always invain. ' . -,,:.

When Raphael had finished his story, I was left thinking that quite a few of the laws and customsh~ had described as existing among theUlopians

8, The remora, which attaches 'il-.eft'by a suction cup to larger' fish or ~hips, It Was fabled to be ~trong enough to h¢ld back a ship under sail.

were really absurd. These included-their method's of waging war, their reli- gious practices, as well as others of their customs; but my ,chief objection was to the basis of their whole system, that, is, their communal living and their moneyless economy. This one thing alone utterly subverts all the nobil- ity, magnificence, splendor, and majesty which (;in the popular view) are the true ornaments and-glory of any commonwealth. But I saw Raphael was tired with talking, and I was not sure he could take contradiction in these matters, particularly when lrecalled what he had said about certain counselors who were afraid they might not appear knowing enough unless they found some- thing to criticize in' other men's ideas~ So with praise for the Utopian way of life and his account of it, I took him by the hand and led him in to supper. But .first I said that we would find some other time for thinking of these matters more deeply, and for talking them over in more detail. And I still hope such an opportunity will present itself some day . . . Meantime; while I can hardly agree with. everything he said (though he is a- man of,' unquestionable learning and enormous experience of human affairs), yet I freely confess that in the Utopian commonwealth there are toany features that in our own societies I would wish, rather than expect to see.

'1515-16 1516