was not sure whether he could abide that any thing should be said against his mind specially remembring that he had reprehended this fault in other which be affraid least they should seeme not to be wise enough unlesse they could find some fault in other mens inventions therefore I praising both their institutions and his communication tooke him by the hand and lead him into supper saying that we would choose another time to weigh and examine the same matters and to talke with him more at large therein Which would GOD it might once come to passe In the meane time as I cannot agree and consent to all things that he said being else without doubt a man singularly well learned and also in all wordly matter exactly and profoundly experienced so must I needs confesse and grant that many things be in the Vtopian Weale-publique which in our Cities I may rather wish for then hope after FINIS Cuthbert Tunstall Rophael Hithloday Ships of strange faâ—â—iâ—â—s The Loadstone Partiall judgement Cardinall MORTON Of Lawes not made according to equity By what meanes thee might be sower theeues and robbers Idlenesse the mâ—tâ—eâ— of theeues Landlords by the way checked for Rent raising Of idle Serving-men coâ—â— theeues Betweene souldiours and theeus small diversity What inconveâ—â—e â—ces commeth by continuall Garrisons of souldiours Sheep-masters decayers of husbandâ—â— The decay of husbandry causeth beggery which is the mother of usgâ—â—â—â—ds theeves The cause of dearth of victuals Woat inconvenience commeth of dearth of Wooll The cause of dearth of Wooll Dearth of cattell with the cause therof Dearth of victuals is the decay of house-keeping whereof câ—sâ—eth beggery and thefs Excesse in apparell and dâ—â—t a maintainer of beggery and theft Baudes Whores wine-tavernes ale-houses and unlawfull games be very mothers of theeâ—es Richmen iâ—grossers and foreâ—talâ—ers The corrupt education of youth a mother of theevery He is worthily put to silence that â—s too full of words That theft â—ught not to â—â— punished by death Straight Lawes not allowable That mans law ought nâ—t to be prejudiciall to Gods law Theft is the old law not punished by death What in convenience ensueth of punishing theft with death Punishing of theft by death causeth theft to be a murtherer What lawfull punishment may be devised for Theft How the Romans punished theft A worthy and commendable punishmeÌ„t of theeves in the Weale publike of the Polilerites in Persia A prâ—vy nip for them that doe otherwise Theeves condemned to be câ—â—â—â—â— laboâ—ers Serving-men An â—viâ— intent esteemed as the deed The right â—â—â— and intenn of punishment 〈◊〉 The â—â—vering judgementâ— of 〈◊〉 Sick aged impotent persoâ—s and beggeâ—s A common Proverbe among Beggers A merry talke betweene a Fryar and a Foole. Talke qualified according to the person that speaketh The FreÌ„ch men privily be counsailed from the desire of Italy Lanceknights A notable Example and worthy to be followed Enhancing and embesing of Coynes Counterfes Warres The 〈…〉 of old Lawes Restraint Selling of Licences The saying of rich Crassus Poverty the mother of debate and decay of Realms A wortâ—y saying of Fabrice A straâ—gâ— and notable law of the Mâ—â—â—riâ—â—s Schoole Philosophy in the consultations of Princes hath no place A â—ine and fit sâ—â—ilitudâ— A dâ—mme player The Vto piâ—â— weale publike Plato willed all things in a Common-wealth to be common The fight and fashion of the new Iland Vtopia A place naturally â—eaced needeth one Garrison A politike devise in the changing land-markes The Iland of Vtopis so named of King Vtopiâ— Many haÌ„ds make light worke Cities in Vtopia Similitude causeth concord A meane distance betweene City and City The distribution of Lands But this now a daies is the ground of all mischiefe Husbandry tillage chiefly and principally regarded and advanced The duties of men of husbandry A strange fashion to â—atching and bringing vp of Pulleâ—â— The vse of Horses The vse of Oxen. Bread and drinke A great discretion in sowing of Corne. Mutuall helpe quickly dispatched The vse of fresh water The defence of the Townewâ—ls Streets Buildings and Houses To 〈…〉 This geare sine â—leth of Plato hâ—â— community Glased oâ— canvased windowes A Tranibore in the Vtopian tongue signifieth a head or chiefe Peere A meâ—vilous strange fashion in choosing Magistrates Tyranny in a well ordered Weale publike vtterly to be abhorred â—â—iteâ— and â—…fies between party party forthwith to be ended which â—â—w a dares of a set purpose be 〈…〉 deâ—aâ—ed Against hosty and rash decrees or statutes A custome worthy to be vsed in these daies in our Councels and Parliâ—ments Similitude in apparell No Citizen without a science To what occupation every one is naturally inclined that let hiâ— learne Idle persons to be driven out of the Weale publique A moderation in the labour and toyle of artificers The study of good literature Playing after supper But new a daies dice-play is the pastime of Princes Playes of games also profitable The kinds of sorts of idle people Women Priests and religious men Rich men and landed men Serving-men Sturdy and valiant beggars Wonderfull wittily spoken Not asmuch as the Magistrates liue idlely Only learned men called to Offices How to avoâ—â—excessiv◠〈…〉 building How to lâ—ssâ—n the charâ—e in apparell The number of Citizens Of the slaughter of Beasts we have learned manslaughter Filth and ordure bâ—ing the injection of Pestilence into Cities Care diligence and attendance about the sicke Everyman is at his liberty so that nothing is done by compulsioÌ„ Women both dresse and serve the meat Nurses Nothing sooner provoketh men to well doing then praise and commendation The eles Câ—ttâ—n of yong children The young mixed with their elders Old men regarded and reverenced This now adaies is observed in our Vniversity Talke at Table This is repugnant to the opinion of our Physitiâ—â—sâ— Musicke at the Table Pleasure without barâ—e commendable O holy common-wealth and of Christians to be followed Equality is the cause that every man hath enough A common wealth is nothing else but a great houshold In all things and aboue all things to the community they haue an eye By what policy money â—â—y be in lesse estimation It is better either with money or by policy to avoid warrâ— thâ—â— with much losse of maâ—s blood to fight O fine wit Goldworse then yron as touching the necessary vse thereof Oâ—â—â— full 〈…〉 Gold â—â—â— reprâ—…s Gemmeâ— and 〈…〉 â—toâ—â—s 〈…〉 â—â—ildren to play â—â—â—all A verâ— pleasant tâ—le O â—itty â—eâ—d â—…ull â—…tâ—â—…er 〈…〉 〈◊〉 anâ—â—…t â—…t â—…y 〈…〉 A truâ—t â—tâ—â— and â—â—itty How much more wiâ— is â—â— the â—eds of the Vâ—â—â—â—anâ— â—â—â—â— of the common sort of Christians The studies among the Vtopians Musique Logique Arithmetique Geonetrie 〈…〉 lace 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 a vpâ—… A 〈…〉 â—â—t among 〈…〉 tâ—is 〈…〉 Naturall Philosophy is a knowledge most uncertaine Moral philosophie The ends of good things The Vtopians hold opinion that felicity consisteth tâ— honest pleasure The theologie of the Vtopians The immortality of the soule whereof these daies certaine christians be doubtfull As every pleasure ought to be imbraced so griefe is not to be pursue I â—ut for vertues sake In this definition of vertue they agree with thâ— Sâ—â—â—cians The worke aâ—â— effect of reason â—n â—â—n But now a daies some there be that willingly procure unto themselues painefull griefe as though therein restedsome high point of religion where as rather the religiously disposed person if they happen to him either by chance or else by naturall necessity ought patiently to receive and suffer them Bargaines and lawes The mutual recourse of kindnesse The definition of pleasure False and counterfeit pleasures The errour oâ—th â—â— that â—…e more for apparels sake Foolish honour Pleasure in precious stones must foolish The opinion and fancie of people doth aâ—gâ—â—nt and diminish the price and estimation of precious stones Hiders of Treasure Dice-play Hunting and Hawking Hunting the basest part of butchery among the Vtopians yet this is now in the exercise of most noble men The kindnesse of true pleasure Bodily health Delectaâ—ions The pleasures of the mind The gifts of nature Marke this well The wâ—lth â—â—â— descirption of the Vâ—â—piâ—â—s A wonderfull â—pâ— nesse to leaâ—â—â—g â—â— the Vtopians But now most block beaded Asse be set to learning and most progâ—â—â—â—â—its corrupt with pleasures Phisicke highly regarded The contemplation of nature Aâ—â—â—â—vailons â—quity of this nation 〈…〉 thâ—t be 〈…〉 Voluntary deâ—th Of Wedlâ—… Diversement The deseruing of punishment put to the discretion of the Magistrates Motion to Adultery punished Pleasure of fooles Coâ—â—terfeâ— beauty Siâ—â—e punished and vertue rewarded The inordinate desire of honors condemned Magistrats honoured Fâ—â— Lawes The multitude of Lawyers superfluous The intent of Lawes Victory deere bought The Captaine is chiefly to be pursued to the intent the battaile may the sooner â—e ended Their Armour Of Truces Religious houses Sediâ—ious reasoneâ—s punished Novilâ— opinion to be conceived of mans worthy â—â—tâ—re Irreligious people secluded from all honours A very strange saying Deceit and falshood detested A marâ—eilous stronge opinion touching the soules of brute beasts To die unwillingly an evill taken A willing and merry death not to be lamented Southsayers not regarded nor credited Miracles The life contemplation The life active It is not all one to be wise and good Priests Excommunicate The Mejesty and preheminence of Priests The observation of holy dayes among the Vtopians Their Churches Churches of adimme light and a reason why An order for place in the Church Their Church â—sicâ—ke Contempt of money A marvaiâ—â—â—â— saying
them in peeces Of them that have written the Grammer they have only Lasâ—aris For Theodorus I carried not with me nor never a Dictionarie but Hesâ—chius and Dioscorides They set great store by Plutarches bookes Aud they be delighted with Lucianes merry conceits and jeasts Of the Poets they have Aristophanes Homer Euripides and Sophocles in Aldâ—s small print Of the Historians they have Thucidides Herodotus and Herodian Also my companion Tricius Apinatus carried with him Physicke bookes certaine small workes of Hippocrates and Galens Microtechne The which booke they have in great estimation For though there be almost no natioÌ„ under heaven that hath lesse need of Physicke then they yet this notwith standing Physicke is no where in greater honour Because they count the knowledge of it among the godliest and most profitable parts of Philosophie For whiles they by the helpe of this Philosophy search out the secret my steries of nature they thinke themselves to recciue thereby not onely wonderfull great pleasure but also to obtaine great thanks and favour of the Author and maker thereof Whom they thinke according to the fashion of other Artificers to have set forth the marvailous and gorgious frame of the world for man with great affection incentiuely to behold Whom onely he hath made of wit and capacity to consider and understand the excellency of so great a worke And therefore he beareth say they more good will and love to the curious and diligent beholder and viewer of his worke and marveilour at the same then he doth to him which like a very bruit Beast without wit and reason or as one without sense or mooving hath no regard to so great and so wonderfull a spectacle The wits therefore of the Vtopians inured and exercised in learning be marvailous quicke in the invention of feats helping any thing to the advantage and wealth of life Howbeit two feats they may thanke vs for That is the science of Imprinting and the craft of making Paper And yet not onely vs but chiefly and principally themselves For when we shewed to them Aldus his print in bookes of paper told them of the stuffe whereof paper is made and of the feat of graving letters speaking somewhat more then we could plainely declare for there was none of vs that knew perfectly eyther the one or the other they forth with very wittily conjectured the thing And whereas before they wrote onely in skins in barkes of Trees and in reedes now they have attempted to make Paper and to imprint Letters And though at the first it proved not all of the best yet by often assaying the same they shortly got the feare of both And have so brought the matter about that if they had copies of Greeke authors they could lack no Bookes But now they have no more then I rehearsed before saving that by printing of bookes they have multiplied and increased the same into many thousands of Copies Whosoever commeth thither to see the Land being excellent in any gift of wit or through much and long journeying well experienced and seene in the knowledge of many Countries for the which cause wee were very welcome to them him they receive and entertaine wondrous gently and lovingly For they have delight to heare what is done in every Land howbeit very few Marchant men come thither For what should they bring thither vnlesse it were yron or else Gold and silver which they had rather carry home againe Also such things as are to be carried out of their land they thinke it more wisedome to carry that geere forth themselues then that other should come thither to fetch it to the intent they may the better know the out lands on every side of them and keepe in ure the feate and knowledge of failing Of Bond-men Sicke Persons Wedlocke and divers other matters THey neither make Bondmen of prisoners taken in Battaile unlesse it be in baâ—â—â—ile that they fought themselves â—or of bondmens children nor to be short of any such as they can get out of forraigne Countries though he were yet there a bondman But eyther such as among themselves for heynous offences be punished bondage or else such as in the Cities of other Lands for great trespasses be coÌ„demned to death And of this sort of bondmen they have most store For many of them they bring home sometimes paying very little for them yea most commonly getting them for gramercy These sorts of bondmen they keep not only in continuall work and labour but also in bands But their owne men they handle hardest whom they judge more desperate and to haue deserved greater punishment because they being so godly brought vp to vertue in so excellent a common wealth could not for all that be refrained from misdoing Another kind of bondmen they haue when a vile drudge being a poore laborer in another Countrey doth choose of his owne free will to be a bondman among them These they intreat and oâ—der honestly and entertaine almost as gently as their owne free citizens saving that they put them to a little more labour as thereto accustomed If any such bee disposed to depart thence which seldome is seene they neither hold him against his will neither send him a way with empty hands The sicke as I said they see to with great affection and let nothing at all passe câ—cerning either Phisicke or good diet whereby they may be restored againe to their health Such as be sicke or incureable diseases they comfort with sitting by them and to be short withall manner of helpes that may be But if the disease bee not onely vncureable but also full of continuall paine and anguish theÌ„ the Priests and the Magistrates exhort the man seeing hee is not able to doe any duty of life and by overliving his owne death is noysome and irkesome to other and grieuous to himselfe that he will determine with himselfe no longer to cherish that pestilent and painfull disease And seeing his life is to him but a torment that he will not be vnwilling to dy but rather take a good hope to him and either dispatch himselfe out of that painefull life as out of a prison or a racke of torment or else suffer himselfe willingly to be ridde out of it by other And in so doing they tell him he shall doe wisely seeing by his death he shall loose no commodity but end his paine And because in that act he shall follow the counsel of the Priests that is to say of the Interpreters of Gods will and pleasure they shew him that he shall doe like a godly and a vertuous man They that be thus perswaded finish their lives willingly either with hunger or else dye in their sleepe without any feeling of death But they cause none such to dye against his will nor they vse no lesse â—iligence and attendance about him beleeuing this to be an honourable death Else he that killeth himselfe before that the
abroad till that be spent what can they then doe but steale and then justly pardy be hanged or elâ—e goe about a begging And yet then also they be cast into Prison as Vagabonds because they goe about and worke not whom no man will set a worke though they never so willingly proffer themselues thereto For one Shepheard or Heardman is enough to eat vp that ground with cattell to the occupying whereof about husbandry many hands were requisite And this is also the cause why victuals be now in many places dearer Yea besides this the price of wooll is so risen that poore folkes which were wont to worke it and make cloath thereof be now able to buy none at all And by this meanes very many be forced to forsake worke and to giue themselues to idlenesse For after that so much ground was inclosed for pasture an infinite multitude of sheepe died of the rot such vengeance God tooke of their inordinate and unsatiable covetousnesse sending among the sheepe that pestiferous murrein which much more justly should haue fallen on the sheep-masters owne heads And though the number of sheepe increase never so fast yet the price falleth not one mite because there be so few sellers For they be almost all come into a few rich mens hands whom no need forceth to sell before they lust and they lust not before they may sell as deare they lust Now the same cause bringeth in like dearth of the dearth of the other kinds of Cattell yea and that so much the more because that after Farmes plucked downe and husbandry decayed there is no man that passeth for the breeding of young store for these rich men bring not vp the young ones of great cattell as they doe lambes But first they buy them abroad very cheape and afterward when they be fatted in their pastures they sell them againe exceeding deare And therefore as I suppose the whole incommodity hereof is not yet felt for yet they make dearth onely in those places where they sell But when they shall fetch them away from thence where they be bred faster then they can be bought vp then shall there also be felt great dearth store beginning there to faile where the ware is bought Thus the unreasonable covetousnesse of a few hath turned that thing to the vtter undoing of your Hand in the which thing the chiefefelicity of your Realme did consist For this great dearth of victuals causeth men to keepe as little houses and as small hospitality as they possible may and to put away their servants whither I pray you but a begging or else which these gentle blouds and stout stomacks will sooner set their minds unto stealing Now to amend the matter to this wretched beggery and miserable poverty is joyned great wantonnesse importunate superfluity and excessiue riot For not onely gentlemens servants but also handy craft men yea and almost the Ploughmen of the Country with all other sorts of people vse much strange and proud new-faâ—â—gles in their apparell and too much prodigall riot and sumptuous fare at their table Now Baudes queanes whores harlots strumpets brothel-houses stewes and yet another stewes wine-tauerns ale-houses and tipling houses with so many naughty lewd and unlawfull games as dice Cardes tables tennis boules coytes doe not all these send the haunters of them straight a stealing when their money i gone Cast ouâ— these pernicious abhominations make a law that they which plucked downe fâ—rmes and townes of husbandry shall reedifie them or else yeeld and vprender the possession thereof to such as will goe to the cost of building them anew Suffer not these rich men to buy vp all to ingroâ—â—e and forestall and with their monopoly to keepe the market alone as please them Let not so many be brought vp in idlenesse let husbandry and tillage be restored let Cloth-working be renued that there may be honest labours for this idle sort to passe their time in profitably which hitherto either poverty hath caused to be theeues or else now be either vagabonds or idle Servingmen and shortly will be theeues Doubtlesse unlesse you find a remedy for these enormities you shall in vaine advance your selues of executing justice vpon fellons For this justice is more beautifull in appearance and more flourishing to the shew then either just or profitable For by suffering your youth wantonly and viciously to be brought vp and to be infected even from their tender age by little and little with vice then a Gods name to be punished when they commit the same faults after being come to mans state which from their youth they were ever like to doe In this point I pray you what other thing doe you then make theeues and then punish them Now as I was thus speaking the Lawyer began to make himselfe ready to answer and was determined with himselfe to vse the common fashion and trade of disputers which be more diligent in rehearsing then answering as thinking the memory worthy of the chiefe praise Indeed Sir quoth he you haue said well being but a stranger and one that might rather heare something of these matters then haue any exact or perfect knowledge of the same as I will incontinent by open proofe make manifest and plaine For first I will rehearse in order all that you haue said then I will declare wherein you be deceived through lacke of knowledge in all our fashions manners and customes and last of all I will answer your arguments and coâ—â—â—te them every one First therefore I will begin where I promised Foure things you seemed to me Hold your peace quoth tâ—e Cardinall for it appeareth that you will make no short answer which make such a beginning Wherefore at this time you shall not take the paines to make your answer but keepe it to your next meeting which I would be right glad that it might be to morrow next unlesse either you or Master Raphael haue earnest let But now Master Raphael I would very gladly heare of you why you thinke theft not worthy to be punished with death or what other punishment you can devise more expâ—dient to the Weale publike for I am sure that you are not of that mind that you would haue theft escape unpunished For if now the extreame punishment of death cannot cause them to leaue stealing then if ruffians and robbers should be sure of their liues what violence what feare were able to hold their hands from robbing which would take the mittigation of the punishment as a very provocation to the mischiefe Surely my Lord I thinke it not right nor justice that the losse of money should cause the losse of mans life For mine opinion is that all the goods in the world are not able to countervaâ—le mans life But if they would thus say that the breaking of Iustice and the transgression of lawes is recompenced with this punishmeÌ„t and not the losse of the money
for the election which be put vp to the Counsell The Princes Office continueth all his life time vnlesse he be deposed or put downe for suspition of tyranny They choose the Tranibores yearely but lightly they change them not All the other Officer be but for one yeare The Tranibores every third day and sometimes if need be oftner come into the Counsell house with the Prince Their counsell is concerning the Common-wealth If there be any controversies among the commoners which be very few they dispatch and end them by and by They take ever two Siphogrants to them in counsell and every day a new couple And it is provided that nothing touching the common-wealth shall be confirmed and ratified vnlesse it haue beene â—easoned of and debated three dayes in the counsell before it be decreed It is death to haue any consultation for the common-wealth out of the counsell or the place of the common election This statute they say was made to the intent that the Prince and Tranibores might not easily conspire together to oppresle the people by tyranny and to change the state of the Weale-publike Therefore matters of great weight and importance be brought to the election house of the Siphogrants which open the matter to their families And afterward when they haue consulted among themselues they shew their devise of the counsell Sometime the matter is brought before the counsell of the whole Iland Furthermore this custome also the counsell vseth to dispute or reason of no matter the same day that it is first proposed or put forth but to deferre it to the next sitting of the counsell Because that no mâ—n when he hath rashly there none other occupation that any number to speake of doth vse there For their garments which throughout all the Iland be of one fashion saving that there is a difference betweene the mans garment and the womans betweene the married and the vnmarried and this one continueth for evermore vnchanged seemely and comely to the eye no let to the moving and welding of the body also fit-both for winter and summer as for these garments I say every family maketh their owne But of the other foresaid crafts every man learneth one And not onely the men but also the women But the women as the weaker sort be put to the easier crafts as to worke wooll and flaxe The more laborsome sciences be committed to the men For the most part every man is brought vp in his fathers craft For most commonly they be naturally thereto bent and inclined But if a mans mind stand to any other he is by adoption put into a family of that occupation which he doth most fantasie Whom not onely his father but also the Magistrate doe diligently looke to that he be put to a discreet and an honest housholder Yea and if any person when he hath learned one craft be desirous to learne also another he is likewise suffered and permitted When he hath learned both he occupieth whether he will vnlesse the City hath more need of the one then the other The chiefe and almost the onely office of the Syphogrants is to see and take heed that no man sit idle but that every one apply his owne craft with earnest diligence And yet for all that not to be wearied from earely in the morning too late in the evening with continuall worke like labouring and toyling Beasts For this is worse then the miserable and wretched condition of bondmen Which neverthelesse is almost every where the life of workmen and artificers saving in Vtopia For they dividing the day and the night into twenty foure just houres appoint and assigne only 6 of those hours to worke before noone vpon the which they goe strait to dinner and after dinner when they have rested 2 houres then they worke three houres and vpon that they goe to supper About eight of the clocke in the evening counting one of the clocke the first houre After noone they goe to bed eight houres they give to sleepe All the voide time that is betweene the houres of worke sleepe and meate that they be suffered to bestow every man aâ— he liketh best himselfe Not to the into it that they should mispend this time in riot or sloathfulnesse but being then licensed from the labour of their owne occupations to bestow the time well thriftily vpon some other Science as shall please them For it is a solemne custome there to have Lectures daily early in the morning whereto be present they only be constrained that be namely chosen and appointed to learning Howbeit a great multitude of every sort of people both men and women goe to heare Lectures some one and some another as every mans nature is inclined Yet this notwithstanding if any man had rather bestow this time vpon his owne occupation as it chanceth in many whose minds rise not in the contemplation of any Science liberall he is not letted nor prohibited but is also praised and commended as profitable to the Common-wealth After Supper they bestow one houre in play in Summer in their Gardens in Winter in their common Halls where they dine and sup There they exercise themselves in Musicke or else in honest and wholsome communication Dice-play and such other foolish and pernicious games they know not But they vse two games not much vnlike the Chesse The one is the battaile of numbers wherein one number stealeth away another The other is where vices fight with vertues as it were in battaile array or a set Field In the which game is very properly shewed both the strife and discord that the vices have among themselves and againe their vnity and concord against vertues And also what vices be repugnant to what vertues with what power and strength they assaile them openly by what wiles and subtilty they assault them secretly with what helpe and ayd the vertue reâ—iâ—t and overcome the the puissance of the vices by what craft they frustrate their purposes and finally by what â—eight or meanes the one getteth the victory But here least you be deceived one thing you must looke more narrowly vpon For seeing they bestow but sixe houres in worke perchance you may thinke that the lacke of some necessary things hereof may ensue But this is nothing so For that small time is not onely enough but also too much for the store and abundance of all things that be requisite either for the necessity or commodity of life The which thing you also shall perceiue if you weigh and consider with your selves how great a part of the people in other Countries liveth idle First almost all women which be the halfe of the whole number or else if the women be somewhere occupyed there most commonly in their stead the men be idle Besides this how great and how idle a company is there of Priests and religious men is they
bound downe on every side with many bands because it shall not run at rovers The other a princely vertue which like as it is of much higher Majesty then the other poore justice so also it is of much more liberty as to the which nothing is unlawfull that it hâ—steth after These manners of Princes as I said which be there so evill keepers of leagues cause the Vtopians as I suppose to make no leagues at all which perchance would change their mind if they lived here Howbeit they thinke that though leagues be never so faithfully observed and kept yet the custome or making leagues was very evill begun For this causeth men as though nations which be separate a sunder by the space of a little hill or River were coupled together by no society or bond of nature to thinke themselves borne adversaries and enemies one to another and that it were lawfull for the one to seeke the death and destruction of the other if leagues were not yea and that after the leagues be accorded friendship doth not grow and increase But the licence of robbing and stealing doth still remaine as faire forth as for lacke of fore-sight and advisement in writing the words of the league any sentence or clause to the contrary is not therein sufficiently comprehended But they be of a contrary opinion That is that no man ought to be counted an enemy which hath done no injury And that the fellowship of nature is a strong league and that men be better and more surely knit together by love and benevolence then by covenants of leagues by hearty affection of mind then by words Of War-fare VVArre or Battaile as a thing very beastly and yet no kind of beasts in so much vse as to man they doe detest and abhorre And contrary to the custome almost of all other nations they count nothing so much against glory as glory gotten in warre And therefore though they doe daily practice and exercise themselves in the discipline of warre not only the men but also the women vpon certaine appointed dayes least they should be to seek in the feat of armes if need should require yet they never goe to battaile but either in the defence of their owne Country or to drive out of their friends Land the enemies that have invaded it or by the power to deliver from the yoake and bondage of Tyrannie some people that be therewith oppressed Which thing they doe of meere pitty and compassion Howbeit they send helpe to their friends not ever in their defence but sometimes also to requite and revenge injuries before to them done But this they doe not vnlesse their counsell and advise in the matter be asked whiles it is yet new and fresh For if they find the cause probable and if the contrary part will not restoreagaine such things as be of them justly demanded then they be the chiefe authors and makers of the warre Which they doe not onely as oft as by â—â—rodes and invosions of souldiers preyes and booties be driven but then also much more mortally when their friends marchants in any land either vnder the pretence of vnjust lawes or else by the wresting and wrong vnderstanding of good lawes doe sustaine an vnjust accusation vnder the colour of justice Neither the battaile which the Vtopians fought for the Nephelogetes against the Alaopolitanes a little before our time was made for any other cause but that the Nephelogete marchant men as the Vtopians thought suffered wrong of the Alaopolitans vnder the pretence of right But whether it were right or wrong it was with so cruell and mortall warre revenged the Countries round about joyning their helpe and power to the puissance and malice of both parties that most flourishing and wealthy peoples being some of them shrewdly shaken and some of them sharply beaten the mischiefes were not finished nor ended vntill the Alaopolitans at the last were yeelded vp as bondmen into the jurisdiction of the Nephelogetes For the Vtopians fought not this warre for themselves And yet the Nephelogetes before the warre when the Alaopolitanes flourished in wealth were nothing to be compared with them So eagerly the Vtopians prosecute the injuries done to their friends yea in money matters and not their owne likewise For if they by covine or gâ—â—le be wiped beside their goods so that no violence be done to their bodies they ease their anger by abstaining from occupying with that nation untill they have made satisfaction Not for because they set lesse store by their owne Citizens then by their friends but that they take the losse of their friends money more heavily then the losse of their owne Because that their friends Merchant men for as much as that the losse is their owne private goods sustaine great damage by the losse But their own Citizens lose nothing but of the common goods and of that which was at home plentifull and almost superfluous else had it not beene sent forth Therefore no man feeleth the losse And for this cause they thinke it too cruell an act to revenge the losse with the death of man the incommodity of the which losse no man feeleth neither in his life nor yet in his living But if it chance that any of their men be in any other Country be maimed or killed whether it be done by a common or a private Councell knowing and trying out the truth of the matter by their Ambassadours unlesse the offendors be rendered unto them in recompence of the injury they will not be appeased but incontinent they proclaime Warre against them The offendors yeelded they punish either with death or with bondage They be not onely sory but also ashamed to atchieve the victory with bloodshed counting it great folly to buy precious wares too deare They rejoyce and avant themselves if they vanquish and oppresse their enemy by craft and deceit And for that act they make a generall triumph and as if the matter were manfully handled they set vp a pillar of stone in the place where they so vanquished their enemies in token of their victory For then they glory then they boast and crack that they haue plaied the men indeed when they haue so overcome as no other living creature but only man could that is to say by the might and puissance of wit For with bodily strength say they Beares Lions Boares wolfes dogs and other wild beasts doe fight And as the most paâ—t of them doe passe vs in strength and fierce courage so in wit reason we be much stronger then they all Their chiefe principall purpose in war is to obtaine that thing which if they had before obtained they would not haue mooved battaile But if that be not possible they take such cruell vengeance of them which be in the fault that ever after they be affraid to doe the like This is their chiefe and principall intent which they immediatly and first of all prosecute and set forward But yet so
that they be more circumspect in auoyding and eschewing jeopardies then they be desirous of praise and renowne Therefore immediatly after that warre is once solemnly denounced they procure many Proclamations signed with their owne common seale to be set vp privily at one time in their enemes land in places most frequented In these proclamations they promise great rewards to him that will kill their enemies Prince and somewhat lesse gifts but them very great also for every head of theÌ„ whose names be in the said proclamations contained They be those whom they count their chiefe adversaries next unto the Prince whom there is prescribed unto him that killeth any of the proclaimed persons that is doubled to him that briâ—geth any of the sâ—me to them alive yea and to the proclaâ—â—ed persons themselves if they will change their minds and come into them taking their parts they proffer the same great rewards with pardon and surety of their lives Therefore it quickly commeth to passe that their enemies have all other men in suspition and be unthankfull and mistrusting among themselves one to another living in great feare and in no lâ—sâ—e jeopardy For it is well knowne that divers times the most part of them and specially the Prince himselfe hath beene betrayed of them in whom they put their most hope and trust So there is no manner of act nor deed that gifts and rewards doe not inforce men unto And in rewards they keepe no measure But remembring and considering into how great hazard and jeopardy they call them endevour themselves to recompence the greatnesse of the danger with like great benefits And therefore they promise not onely wonderfull great abundance of gold but also lands of great revenues lying in most safe places among their friends And their promises they performe faithfully without any fraud or covine This custome of buying and selling adversaries among other people is disallowed as a cruâ—l act of a base and a cowardish mind But they in this behalfe thinke themselves much praise worthy as who likewise men by this meanes dispatch great Warres without Battaâ—â—e oâ— skirmish Yea they count it also a deed of pitty and mercy because that by the death of a few offenders the lives of a great number of Innocents as well of their owne men as also of their enemies be ransomed and saved which in fighting should have beene slaine For they doe no lesse pitty the base and common sort of their enemies people then they doe their owne knowing that they be driven and forced to warre against their wills by the furious inâ—dnesse of their Princes and heads If by none of these meanes the matter goe forward as they would have it then they procure occasions of debate and dissention to be spread among their enemies As by bringing the Princes brother oâ— some of the noble men in hope to obtaine the Kingdome If this way prevaile not then they raise vp the people that be next neighbours and bordeâ—eâ—s to their enemies and them they set in their necks under the colour of some old title of right such as Kings doe never lacke To them they promise their helpe and ayd in their Warre And as for money they giue them abundance But of their owne Citizens they send to them few or none whom they make so much of and love so â—â—tirely that they would not be willing to change any of them for their adversaries Prince But them gold and silver because they keepe it all for this onely purpose they lay it out â—ranckly and â—â—â—ly as who should live even a wealthily if they had â—â—stowed it every penny Yea and besides their riches which they keepe at home they have also an infinite treasure abroad by reason that as I said before many Nations be in their debt Thereâ—ore they hire souldiours out of all Countries and send them to Battaile but chiefly of the Zapolets This people is five hundred miles from Vtopia Eastward They be hidious savage and fierce dwelling in wild Woods and high mountaines where they were bred and brought vp They be of an hard nature able to abide and sustaine heate cold and labour abhorring from all dilicate dainties occupying no husbandry noâ— tillage of the ground homely and rude both in building of their houses and in their apparell given unto no goodnesse but onely to the breeding and bringing vp of Catâ—le The most part of their living is by hunting and stealing They be borne onely to warre which they diligently and earnestly seek for And when they have gotten it they be wondrous glad thereof They goe forth of their Coâ—â—â—â—y in great companies together and wâ—â—osâ—ever lacketh souldioâ—rs there they proffer their service for smal wages This is onely the craft that they have to get their living by They maintaine their lives by seeking their death For them with whom they be in wages they fight hardly fiercely and faithfully But they bind themselves for no certaine time But vpon this condition they enter into bonds that the next day they will take part with the other side for greater wages and the next day after that they will be ready to come back againe for a little more money There be few warrs there away wherein is not a great number of them in both parties Therefore it daily chanceth that nigh kinsfolke which were hired together on one part and there very friendly and familiarly vsed themselves one with another shortly after being separate into contrary parts run one against another enviously and fiercely and forgetting both kindred and friendship thrust their swords one in another And that for none other cause but that they be hired for contrary Princes for a little money Which they doe so highly regard and esteeme that they will easily be provoked to change parts for a halfe-penny more wages by the day So quickly they have taken a smacke in covetousnesse Which for all that is to them no profit For that they get by fighting immediately they spend needâ—esse unthriâ—â—ily and wretchedly in ryâ—â— This people sighteth for the Vtopians against all Natioâ—s because they give them greater wages then any other nation will For the Vtopians like as they seeke good men to vse well so they seeke these evill and vicious men to abuse Whom when need requireth with promises of great rewards they put forth into great jeopardies From whence the most part of them never commeth againe to aske their rewards But to them that remaine alive they pay that which they promised faithfully that they may be the more willing to put themselves in like danger another time Nor the Vtopians passe not how many of them they bring to destruction For they beleeve that they should doe a very good deed for all mankind if they could rid out of that world all that foule stincking denne of that most wicked and cursed people Next unto these they vse the souldiours of them for whom they fight and then the helpe of their other friends And
Religion and began to waxe so hot in this matter that he did not onely preferre our Religion before all other but also did vtterly despise and condemne all other calling them prophane and the followers of them wicked and devilish and the children of everlasting damnation When he had thus long reasoned the matter they laid hold on him accused him and condemned him into exile not as a dispiser of religion but as a sedicious person and a rayser vp of dissention among the people For this is one of the ancientest lawes among them that no man shall be blamed for reasoning in the maintenance of his owne religion For King Vtopus even at the first beginning hearing that the inhabitants of the land were before his comming thither at continuall dissention and strife among them selves for their religions perceiving also that this common dissention whiles every severall Sect tooke severall parts in fighting for their Country was the onely occasion of his Conquest over them all as soone as he had gotten the victory First of all he made a decree that it should be lawfull for every man to favour and follow what religion he would and that he might doe the best he could to bring other to his opinion so that he did it peaceably gently quietly and soberly without hasty and contentious rebuking and inveying against other If he could not by faire and gentle speech induce them vnto his opinion yet he should vse no kind of violence and refraine from displeasant and sedicious words To him that would vehemently and fervently in this cause strife and contend was decreed banishment or bondage This law did King Vtopus make not onely for the maintenance of peace which hee saw through continual contentation and mortall hatred vtterly extinguished but also because he thought this decree should make for the furtherance of religion Whereof he durst define and determine nothing vnadvisedly as doubting whither God desiring manifold and divers sorts of honour would inspire sundry men with sundry kinds of religion And this surely he thought a very vnmeet and foolish thing a point of arrogant presumption to compell all other by violence and threatnings to agree to the same that thou beleevest to be true Furthermore though there be one religion which a lone is true and all other vaine and superstitions yet did he well foresee so that the matter were handdled with reason and sober modesty that the truth of the owne power would at the last issue out and come to light But if contention and debate in that behalfe should continually be vsed as the worst men be most obstinate and stubborne and in their evill opinion most constant he perceived that theâ— the best and honest religion would be â—roden vnder foote and destroyed by most vaine superstitions even as good corne is by thornes and weeds over grown and choaked Therefore all this matter he left vndiscussed and gaue to every man free liberty and choice to beleeue what he would Saving that he earnestly and straitly charged them that no man should conceiue so vile and base an 〈◊〉 â—◠〈◊〉 of mans nature as to thinke that the soules doe die and perish with the body or that the world runneth at all adventures governed by no divine providence And therefore they beleeue that after this life vices be extreamely punished and vertues bountifully rewarded He that is of a contrary opinion they count not in the number of men as one that hath availed the high nature of his soule to the vilenesse of brute beasts bodies much lesse in the number of the Citizens whose lawes and ordinances if it were not for feare he would nothing at all esteeme For you may be sure that he will study either with craft privily to mocke or else violently to breake the common lawes of his countrey in whom remaineth no further feare then of the lawes nor no further hope then of the body Wherefore he that is thus minded is deprived of all honors excluded from all offices and reject from all common administrations in the weale-publique And thus he is of all sorts despised as of an vnprofitable and of a base and vile nature Howbeit they put him to no punishment because they be perswaded that it is in no mans power to beleeue what he list No nor they constraine him not with threatnings to dissemble his mind and shew countenance contrary to his thought For deceit and falshood and all manner of lies as next vnto fraud they doe marveilously deject and abhorre But they suffer him not to dispute in his opinion and that onely among the common people For else apart among the Priests and men of grauity they doe not onely suffer but also exhort him to dispute and argue hoping that at the last that midâ—eâ—se will giue place to reason There bee also other and of them no small number which be not bidden to speake their minds as grounding their opinion vpon some reason being in their living neither evill nor vicious Their hereâ—ie is much contrary to the other For they beleeue that the soules of the brute beasts be immorall and everlasting But nothing to be compared with others in dignity neither ordained and predestinate to like felicity For all they beleeue certainly and surely that mans blisse shall be so great that they doe mourne and lament euery mans sicknesse but no mans death vnlesse it be on whom they see depart from his life carefully and against his will For this they take for a very evill token as though the soule being in dispaire and vexed in conscience through some privy and secret forefeeling of the punishment now at hand were affraid to depart And theâ— they thinke he shall not be welcome to GOD which when he is called runneth not to him gladly but is drawne by force and sore against his will They therefore that see this kind of death doc abhorre it and them that so die they bury with sorrow and silence And when they haue prayed to GOD to be mercifull to the soule and mercifull to pardon the infirmities thereof they cover the dead corse with earth Contrariwise all that depart merily and full of good hope for then no man mourneth but followeth the hearse with joyfull singing commending the soules to GOD with great affection And at the last not with mourning sorrow but with a great reverence they burne the bodies And in the same place they set vp a pillar of stone with the dead mens titles therein graved When they be come home they rehearse his vertuous manners and his good deeds But no part of his life is so oft or gladly talked of as his mery death They thinke that this remembrance of the vertue and goodnesse of the dead doth vehemently provoke and enforce the liuing to vertue And that nothing can be more pleasant and acceptable to the dead Whom they suppose to bee present among them when they talke of them