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.

All of the towns in Utopia are identical, so it is sufficient to describe the main one, Amaurot, in order to know all of them. Amaurot is near the river Anider, the head of which is fortified lest any enemy try to poison the water supply. The town is surrounded by a wall and a ditch full of briars, for defense. The streets are twenty feet wide and the houses are terraced , three stories high, and identical to one another. Each has a rear garden full of flowers, fruits and vegetables. The inhabitants of different streets compete with each other to create the best gardens. Every ten years, the residents change houses by lot.

. To some modern readers, the uniformity of the houses and their arrangement in long terraces may seem boring or even inhuman. But in fact, just such a housing system was adopted on a massive scale in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in British cities, to house the great influx of people moving from the country to urban areas during the industrial revolution. These houses have on the whole proved a great popular success, and because of this they have survived government planners' attempts to replace them during at least two periods in recent history. Thomas More's early espousal of this system of housing is a testament to his far-sightedness  and his instinctive sympathy with ordinary people.


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.

Each year, every thirty families choose a magistrate to represent them in the government. Formerly, this magistrate was called the Syphogrant, but more recently the Philarch. Over every ten Syphogrants is another magistrate, formerly called the Tranibor, but more recently the Archphilarch. All of the two hundred Syphogrants choose the Prince, the head of government, by secret ballot. The Prince holds office for life, but can be removed if he tries to enslave the people. The Tranibors meet with the Prince every three days. They never decide on any issue the first time it is presented, as they mistrust hasty decisions, but debate it over three days.

. Utopia is far more democratic than the autocratic England of Thomas More's day and, indeed, than most so-called democracies today. Though a Parliament existed in Tudor England, it was made up of rich landowners. The majority of the population had no say in government, and it would take another 300 years before people could vote regardless of whether they owned land. There are differences too between the democratic process in Utopia and that of modern democracies. The Utopian people's representatives are answerable directly and only to the people, whereas it could be argued that today's representatives have many conflicting loyalties: to their political party, to lobbyists, to corporations and other vested interests, and to financiers. The main factor governing these conflicting loyalties is money, so in a society without money, the political process could be viewed as purer. In contrast to the hereditary monarchy of Thomas More's England, the Utopian Prince, the head of state, is elected by secret ballot. He is much like a modern president, but without the conflicts of interest that can be caused by money.


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.

All Utopians are instructed in agriculture from an early age. In addition, every man and woman has a trade, such as cloth making, blacksmithing, or carpentry. The women keep to the lighter trades, like cloth making. Families make their own clothes; everyone wears the same clothes, and the fashion never changes. Skills are passed down from father to son, but if a person wants to practice a different trade from his father, he is adopted into another family that can teach him that trade. It is the job of the Syphogrants to ensure that no man is idle, yet the Utopians do not wear themselves out with work: they work a six-hour day. They spend their leisure time reading, attending public lectures, playing or listening to music, chatting, or playing educational board games. There is no gambling because there is no money. A six-hour working day is sufficient for them to supply all their needs, as unlike contemporary European society, all the women work, there are no idle aristocrats or gentry, houses are kept in good repair so little building work is required, and there are no trades that merely serve the vanity of the rich. A few people are exempted from labor because they have an aptitude for intellectual pursuits. From this class are drawn the Tranibors, priests, ambassadors, and the Prince. Unnecessary labor is discouraged because Utopians believe that everyone should have as much time as possible to improve their minds, as this creates happiness.

. The working life of Utopia differs from that of the Europe of Thomas More's day in that women as well as men work. This is a progressive notion on the author's part. Still progressive is his idea of the six-hour working day - less than most people work in the West today. The author is able to put this idea forward because in Utopia, he has eliminated what he saw as the non-productive class of the nobility. It is worth noting that today, commentators on social policy are increasingly arguing for a shorter working day. For example, Madeleine Bunting's influential book Willing Slaves  points out that Americans and Britons are working extraordinarily long hours, at the expense of all other aspects of life. In addition, advisors to governments are beginning to challenge the prevailing model of deciding policy and measuring a nation's success solely by economic factors. In the face of research suggesting that as a nation grows financially richer, the people do not necessarily grow happier and may instead become more miserable, these advisors are suggesting that each time the government has to decide on a policy, the people's happiness and well being are taken into account. However, this remains controversial, with opponents arguing that the state cannot or should not legislate for happiness.


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.

Families are made up of people closely related to one another. When the women grow up, they are married out, but the males continue to live in the same house. The oldest man is head of the family. No city contains more than six thousand families, and each family has between ten and sixteen people in it, excluding children. If a city becomes overpopulated, some families are moved to underpopulated areas. If the population of the whole country grows too much, then some people are sent to colonize the neighboring mainland. If the native population resist, the Utopians will use force, on the grounds that every person has a right to cultivate soil that would otherwise be wasteland. If the population on Utopia drops, some colonists are recalled. Within the family, wives are subservient to their husbands, and children to their parents. Younger people are subservient to older ones. Every city is divided into four sections, and each has a market place at the center, where people bring the food and goods that they produce. Each father goes and takes whatever he needs for his family, without having to pay for it. No one takes more than he needs, since there are no shortages. Outside the towns is a place near running water where animals are butchered for meat. This is done by slaves, since it is believed that butchering animals has a negative effect on character. The Utopians do not allow anything unclean to be brought into the towns, lest it cause disease. In each street is a great hall where the Syphogrant lives. Each Syphogrant presides over thirty families. Those thirty families meet and dine together in the great hall. The meals are skillfully prepared by the women of the families, who take it in turn to cook. Menial kitchen tasks are performed by slaves. Each town has four hospitals, and the Utopians take better care of their sick than any other nation. At the communal meals, children under five sit separately with the nurses. Older children up to marriageable age serve their elders. Young people are seated near older people, as this is thought to have a good influence on their behavior. Dinner and supper begin with a lecture on morality, but it is kept short. In the country, everyone eats in their own homes because of the large distance between houses.

. A form of population control is practiced in Utopia, but the term does not carry the same meaning as today: no one is told how many children they may have, and contraception is not involved. People are simply moved if there are population problems. This section goes a more detailed account of this society without money or private property works. Nobody earns money for his labor, but everyone's needs are provided for so that he or she receives free food, housing, and health care. This system has been partially implemented by governments worldwide, which in different degrees provide health care, some housing, and tokens that can be exchanged for food, either universally or to those in need. Money, however, has never been absent from the equation, and funds for such programs are raised through taxes. Communal dining is a feature common to many utopian civilizations, including that of Plato's Republic and the Greek historian Plutarch's  description of the city of Sparta in his work, Lives. Communal dining is also, of course, practiced in monasteries and nunneries.


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.

Slavery exists in Utopia, but the slaves are prisoners of war taken in battle or criminals, who are sentenced to slavery. Some are criminals who have been sentenced to death in other countries and who are bought by Utopian merchants. Other slaves are the poor of other countries, who prefer the life of a slave in Utopia to that of a pauper in their own country. Terminally ill people are encouraged by the priests and magistrates to choose euthanasia. If they agree, they starve themselves to death or take a lethal dose of opium. If they do not agree, they are well looked after. Suicide without the approval of the priests and Senate is disapproved of, and people who commit suicide are denied a dignified funeral and cast into a ditch. Women are not allowed to marry before they are eighteen, and men before twenty-two. Pre-marital sex is severely punished, but a man and woman who intend to marry are allowed to see each other naked before committing themselves. Divorce is allowed in cases of adultery or "insufferable perverseness," but is forbidden in cases where one partner becomes ill. Adulterers are condemned to slavery. The death penalty is used only for slaves who persist in rebelling against the work they have been set. Slavery is thought to be the best punishment even for the most serious crimes, since the labor done by slaves is of more benefit to the state than their death would be. Criminals who genuinely repent may have their sentences shortened or be restored to liberty by the Prince. The Prince is not distinguished from other men from his dress, but by a sheaf of corn being carried before him. Utopia has few laws, partly because they have a strong constitution, and there are no lawyers. Utopians believe that every citizen should know and understand the laws. Everyone accused of a crime pleads his own cause before the judge. Some of the neighboring countries have asked for Utopian magistrates to govern them. Because these men will soon return to Utopia, where there is no use for money, they cannot be bribed. Utopians never enter into treaties with other countries, since if humanitarian principles fail to bind men together, treaties will have no effect. They are confirmed in this view by the widespread deceits and abuses surrounding treaties in other societies. In other societies, too, there is a double standard of justice: one that belongs to the lower classes, who must remain bound by the restraints imposed on them; and another that applies to princes, who measure what is lawful only by what is in their interest. Such nations believe that they have a right to harm other countries provided that no treaty specifically forbids it. Utopians, in contrast, believe that no man is an enemy if he has never injured them.

. Slavery is perhaps the most controversial element of Utopian society. However, it must be considered in the context that Utopian slaves are criminals who in other societies would have been put to death or left to rot in prison, often in inhumane conditions. Thomas More points out that poor people from other countries volunteer to be slaves in Utopia as it offers them a better life than they would have at home. This is a severe criticism of the desperate conditions in which many poor people lived in his time. Another factor to be taken into consideration in judging Utopian slavery is the common practice in modern democratic countries of putting prisoners to work in penal labor schemes. Whether such schemes help to rehabilitate the prisoners or are a form of institutionalized abuse must depend largely on the conditions of labor. In Utopia, these are demanding but not harsh. Like modern prisoners in many countries, Utopian slaves can have their sentences shortened or ended through good behavior. This section satirizes the widespread abuse of treaties in sixteenth-century Europe. Thomas More, through Hythloday, notes that the Utopians "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 ." . The author, who was himself a lawyer, also attacks the complexity and inequity of European laws by drawing a contrast with those of Utopia. Lawyers do not exist in Utopia, since the laws are few and easy to understand, and everyone defends himself in court. This is as radical an idea now as it was in Thomas More's time. It is clearly in the interest of the common people rather than that of the powerful rulers and the wealthy, who can afford the cleverest lawyers. Another radical suggestion for Thomas More's time is that people intending to marry one another can inspect each other naked first. While modern couples in the West would expect to do this and more, to ensure they were making a sound choice, it would have been thought scandalous in sixteenth-century England. Then, as Thomas More points out, people were expected to choose a mate for life based on seeing a few square inches of face, the only uncovered part. Utopian divorce laws may seem harsh to the modern reader, since in Utopia, divorce is only available for adultery or insufferable behavior. But this is a much more lenient arrangement than was available to the ordinary person in Thomas More's time, when divorce was virtually impossible unless you were royalty; even then, it needed the Pope's permission. It was not until the nineteenth century that divorce became more widely available, though it was still difficult to accomplish. Moreover, divorce carried a strong social stigma until the middle of the twentieth century, whereas in Utopia, a stigma only attaches to those guilty of adultery and not to the injured party. Thomas More's suggestion of euthanasia for the terminally ill was remarkable for his time: religious edicts condemning suicide as a sin made no exceptions for terminal illnesses. Today, euthanasia remains a controversial topic.


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.

Utopians detest war and do not believe in its so-called glory. They are willing to fight in defense of their nation or their friends, or to help another nation shake off tyranny, but only if they agree that all peaceful solutions have been exhausted. They refuse to share in any spoils of war. Both men and women are trained in military skills. If any nation commits a fraud against them, provided there is no violence in the case, they do not declare war on them, but merely cease trading with them. If a foreigner commits a violent act against a Utopian citizen, the Utopian ambassadors demand that they submit themselves to Utopian justice, whereupon they are enslaved. If the Utopians do go to war, they try to obtain the victory in ways that do not involve bloodshed. They target those who are most guilty and try to avoid loss of innocent lives. As soon as they declare war, they put up posters in the enemy country offering large rewards to anyone who will kill the Prince or his supporters. This sows mistrust in the enemy country and weakens it. The Utopians feel that this is fair because it can shorten any war. If it fails, they bribe some of the nobility of the enemy country to seize the crown, or they bribe neighbor countries with a grudge against that country to attack it. Their aim is always to avoid shedding the blood of Utopian citizens, and with this in mind, they prefer to hire foreign mercenaries to do their fighting for them, paying them with the gold and silver that they obtain from exporting goods. They do not force people into military service unless the country is invaded. Wives and families are allowed to accompany their husbands into battle if they wish, as it is believed that people fight better if they are defending those they love.

. Some of the tactics used by the Utopians against an enemy country foreshadow Niccolo Machiavelli's  work The Prince, which was written around 1513, but not published until 1532. The Prince described the use of underhand methods for rulers to gain or maintain power. Utopian tactics include bribing the citizens of an enemy country to assassinate their leader and bribing leaders of other countries to attack Utopia's enemy. Machiavelli's work spawned an entire genre of political realism, whose central theme was "the ends justify the means. " Machiavelli himself never wrote this phrase, though he did write, "One must consider the final result." . The Utopians' war tactics fit into this mold of political realism, though with an important difference. While the leaders on whom Machiavelli commented and the followers of Machiavellian tactics were motivated by the prospect of increasing the power, wealth, and influence of the state, the Utopians are motivated by the prospect of avoiding bloodshed as far as possible, and are not concerned with extending their power or increasing their wealth. Moreover, in Utopia, power lies with the individual, not the state.