by Thomas More
did . . . please the Romans: the Romans, like the Greeks, made considerable use of slave labour.
the Polylerites: from Greek polus (‘much’) and léros (‘nonsense’), thus ‘nonsensical people’.
But if the thing . . . and children: if the stolen item has disappeared, then its value is made up from the thief’s own property, but apart from this, all the rest of his property is bestowed upon the thief’s wife and children.
be not only tied . . . with stripes: in More’s Latin text the convicts are flogged rather than imprisoned, not as well as.
a coat of their own colour: (they may receive) clothing (so long as) it is of the proper colour.
to him that openeth and uttereth . . . large gifts: informants are generously rewarded.
forasmuch as the end . . . for the same: inasmuch as the objective of their punishment is only to destroy vice and nurture virtue, by so treating and educating people that they cannot help but act virtuously, and use the rest of their lives to make amends for the harm they have done in the past.
taken with the manner: caught with the items.
it is not to be thought . . . true and an honest man: there is no need to worry that they would confide in one another, since they know this would endanger those who concealed such confidences and benefit those who informed upon them. On the other hand, no one is deprived of the hope of being freed for good behaviour.
the privileges of all sanctuaries: by tradition, criminals could take sanctuary in holy places such as churches and churchyards. The practice of sanctuary still applied in some places.
to resemble and counterfeit the fool: to play the fool.
the proverb . . . hit the mark: again, a similar proverb appears in Erasmus’s Adagia.
For I had . . . good: for I would much prefer.
distributed . . . religion: forcibly placed in monasteries and convents.
lay brethren: people who took monastic vows, but who carried out only manual labour and were not admitted to orders.
friars: the distinction invoked is between monks and nuns, who lived and worked in monasteries and convents, and mendicant friars, who begged for their living.
scripture sayeth . . . your souls: see Luke 21: 19.
Be you angry, and sin not: see Psalms 4: 4.
The zeal of thy house hath eaten me: Psalms 69: 9.
The scorners of Elisha . . . zeal of the bald: 2 Kings 2: 23. Children mocked Elisha because he was bald; Elisha, in retaliation, made ‘she bears’ devour forty-two of the children.
For Solomon . . . be many bald men: for Elisha’s story, see the previous note. For Solomon’s proverb, see Proverbs 26: 5. Friars shaved their heads.
to hear his suitors: to attend to legal petitions brought before him.
whereas your Plato . . . philosophy: see the Republic, v. 473, where Plato maintains that civic good can only prosper when political power is informed by the wisdom of philosophy.
King Dionysius: Plato was called to Syracuse in 361 BC to instruct the dissolute Dionysius the Younger in philosophy, but was unsuccessful in the endeavour. The story is told in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers, iii. 17 ff.
the French king: the following passage refers to the empire-building of French kings such as Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I, and more generally to the attempts of various European magnates to annex for themselves the choicest possessions of their peers. Milan and Naples were both repeatedly conquered and lost by French kings between 1495 and 1515. Venice was divided between France, Spain, Austria, and the Pope in 1508. Flanders was part of the Austrian Netherlands as was Brabant; Burgundy was annexed to France, but its possessions passed to Austria. Various methods were utilized to achieve these ends, ranging from treaties whose terms were broken as soon as it became expedient to do so, to the use of German or Swiss mercenaries (the latter being so talented in the ‘arts’ of warfare that they were frequently paid not to fight). The emperor is Maximilian I of Austria; the King of Aragon is Ferdinand. Navarre (on the Franco-Spanish border) was coveted by both countries and annexed by Ferdinand in 1512.
Lance knights: ‘lansquenets’, i.e. German or Swiss mercenaries.
his five eggs: his two bits, his insignificant contribution.
to hook in . . . affinity or alliance: attempts to use marital alliances to acquire land, resolve conflict, or unite power were common.
the Scots must be had in a readiness: alliances between French and Scots against the English were frequent and long-standing.
some peer of England that is banished his country: covert support of rebels (such as Perkin Warbeck and Richard de la Pole, both of whom have been suggested as the referend of this passage) was (as it still is) a common tactic of nations aiming to destabilize their enemies.
Achorians: from a (‘not’, ‘without’) and chora (‘place’), thus (like ‘Utopians’) ‘those who live in a place that does not exist’.
the valuation of money . . . gather any: Edward IV and Henry VII frequently tampered with the value of coinage in the attempt to raise funds.
to feign war: in 1492 taxes levied by Henry VII for a war with France over Brittany were appropriated by the monarch for other uses when the conflict was settled instead by the Treaty of Étaples.
old and moth-eaten laws: Empson and Dudley, counsellors to Henry VII, had fined people for failure to observe laws until then largely forgotten. Morton also participated in the practice.
to forbid many things . . . sustain loss and damage: to prohibit many practices (especially those counter to public interest) under penalty of severe fines; and then to license those damaged by these new prohibitions so as to allow them to go on indulging in the practices now forbidden.
selling . . . licences: selling exemptions (from these new laws).
endanger unto . . . his side: to ensure that the judiciary remains on his side.
to take . . . in a trip: to catch his opponent out.
the king’s indisputable prerogative: in fact, the question of the extent of monarchical privilege was a matter of growing debate.
the rich Crassus: Marcus Licinius Crassus, an enormously wealthy Roman. According to Cicero, Crassus declared that only those with enough money to maintain an army would be capable of taking part in government (Cicero, On Duty, i. 8).
the office . . . himself: see Ezekiel 34: 2 and Plato’s Republic, i. 343, where Plato argues that a true ruler is he who only acts in the interests of his subjects. Diogenes Laertius also mentions Plato’s views on the matter in his Lives of Eminent Philosophers, iii. 17.
Fabricius: Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, famous for his austerity and integrity. The saying attributed to him here is actually attributed (by Plutarch) to another Roman, Manius Curius Dentatus. See Plutarch’s Moralia, 194, under the section on Manius Curius.
Let him do cost not above his power: spend only his income.
Macarians: from the Greek makarios, ‘happy’, ‘blessed’, thus ‘happy people’.
school philosophy: academic philosophy, scholastic philosophy.
comedy of Plautus . . . Seneca disputeth with Nero: Plautus wrote farcical comedies, Seneca highly serious tragedies (amongst other works). Seneca did not write the tragedy Octavia (although it was handed down in his manuscripts), but appears as a character in it, arguing with the tyrant Nero about the evil of tyranny in the second act of the play.
the dumb person: a mute character in Greek drama.
that Plato feigneth in his weal-public: the Republic.
those things . . . in open houses: see Luke 12: 3 and Matthew 10: 27.
a rule of lead: a lead ruler was flexible and thus adaptable to curved surfaces; it was sometimes used as a metaphor for malleable ethics.
as Mitio saith in Terence: the reference is to a speech of Mitio’s at the end of the first act of Terence’s comedy Adelphoe, or The Brothers.
Wherefore Plato . . . commonwealth: ‘Goodly similitude’, i.e. fine analogy. Plato compares the man who wishes to do go
od to a traveller sheltering under a wall in a dust-storm. See the Republic, vi. 496.
Plato . . . commodities: Plato was invited to rule the Arcadians and the Thebans but declined when he learnt that they would not agree to equality of possessions. See Diogenes Laertius, The Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, iii. 23.
a statute . . . sum of money: laws limiting both land ownership and conspicuous consumption (the latter known as sumptuary laws) were enacted by several countries in early modern Europe.
offices should not . . . in their offices: once again, abuses such as the selling of offices were common in early modern England.
receiveth in ships . . . the land: allows ships to pass across it in the direction of any part of the land.
King Utopus: here and elsewhere, More’s Latin does not refer to ‘King Utopus’ but simply to ‘Utopus’; Robinson’s later references to ‘princes’ are similarly misleading. Utopia is not a monarchy.
Abraxa: the derivation of this name is not known. Some suggest it is derived from ‘Abraxas’, a mystical term (whose numerical equivalent is 365) which might have meant ‘Holy Name’ or ‘The Blessing’, and referred to the highest heaven. Turner suggests instead that it comes from the Greek a (not) and brakae breeches: he ‘translates’ the term as ‘Sanscullottia’. It is also possible that the Greek word abrachos may be another form of the word abrochos (‘waterless’); if so, and given the context (Abraxa’s attachment to the mainland), it seems likely that More may have had this in mind.
Amaurote: from the Greek amauros (‘faint’, ‘dim’, ‘dark’), thus ‘dim city’, ‘shadowy city’.
Philarch: from Greek phularchos, meaning ‘head of the group’. There may also be a play on phil (‘love’) and arché (‘rule’), thus ‘loving ruler’.
Anyder: from the Greek a (‘not’) and hudor (‘water’), thus ‘dry’, ‘without water’.
Whoso will may go in: also a practice of Plato’s republicans. See the conclusion of Book 3 of the Republic.
the history of 1,760 years: Logan and Adams note R. J. Schoeck’s observation that 1,760 years before 1516 would be 244 BC, in which year Agis IV, who was eventually executed for attempting to effect egalitarian reforms, became King of Sparta.
fine linen . . . or amber: glass was rare in English windows until the seventeenth century. The inhabitants of the New Atlantis also have oiled cloth in their windows.
Syphogrant . . . Philarch: the derivation of these words is unknown. For the first syllables of syphogrant, some have suggested the Greek sophos (‘wise’); others have proposed supheos (‘of the pigsty’). It is also possible that the derivation might play on suphar (‘a piece of old wrinkled skin’). For the second syllable of ‘syphogrant’ derivations suggested have included gerontes (‘old men’) and krantor (‘ruler’). For the first syllables of ‘tranibor’ suggestions have included tranos (‘clear’, ‘distinct’) and thranos (‘bench’); for the second, most commentators have used a variant of bora (‘food’). Some of these suggestions stem from associations editors of the text have made between the practices used by the Utopians and the ritual dinners enjoyed by lawyers of the various Inns of Court in sixteenth-century England.
of the prince: the Latin has princeps (‘ruler’, ‘leader’): More means something like ‘chief magistrate of the city’, not ‘prince of the island’.
counsels: probably a misprint for ‘councils’.
the life of workmen . . . Utopia: early modern agricultural workers had to work from daybreak to nightfall during autumn and winter, and from about 5 a.m. to about 8 p.m. during spring and summer.
dinner: unusually, the second edition introduces a misprint here, which is absent from the first edition of Robinson’s translation, and which makes the text contradictory, since the total number of hours worked adds up to nine rather than six. The text should have read: ‘. . . assign only six of those hours to work; three before noon, upon which they go straight to dinner . . . then they work three . . .’
Dice-play . . . or a set field: ‘dice-play’, i.e. gambling. The ‘battle of numbers’ and the battle between vices and virtues seem to have been games invented by More.
money . . . swing: where money alone is valued.
Barzanes . . . Adamus: the derivation of Barzanes is uncertain. It may come from Mithrobarzanes (Menippus’ guide to the Underworld in Menippus by the Greek comic writer Lucian), and hence have connotations of wisdom. Some have suggested that it means ‘Son of Zeus’, from the Hebrew bar (‘son of’), plus zanos. ‘Adamus’ is Robinson’s mistake, or a misprint: it should be ‘Ademus’ from the Greek a (‘without’) and demos (‘people’), thus ‘without people’.
stood one man in much money: cost one man a lot of money.
meat markets: food markets.
the number of their halls: the number of people in their halls.
the hospitals: the only English hospital at the time was St Bartholomew’s, in London.
They begin every dinner . . . virtue: formerly the practice in monasteries, and the contemporary practice in universities, reading instructive literature aloud during meals was customary in More’s own household.
incontinent the lack . . . abundance of the other: those who have immediately give up their excess to those who have not.
they sell for ready money . . . paid at a day: sell for hard cash or for promise of payment at a later date.
follow the credence of private men: trust individuals.
be set together by the ears among themselves: be set in conflict with one another.
cast away nuts: a Latin proverb for giving up childish things.
Anemolians: from the Greek anemos (‘wind’), thus ‘windy people’.
those three citizens . . . every city: i.e. those representatives from each city who come together to confer on matters relating to the commonwealth.
apparelled . . . colours: dressed in clothes of many different colours.
Doubtful he calleth . . . very little worth: in this marginal note Robinson appears to be uncertain how to translate More’s Latin. His note means: ‘More uses “doubtful” to qualify either the value of the counterfeit stones themselves, or the pleasure men take in them.’
which selfsame wool . . . than a sheep: see Lucian, Demonax, 41. For a story similar to that of the Anemolian ambassadors, see Lucian’s Nigrinus.
as an augmentation . . . his money: as if he himself were a bonus prize over and above his wealth.
pointed to of us: pointed to by us.
our new logicians . . . with our finger: More here satirizes the academic discipline of logic, and its teaching in the schools and universities of medieval and early modern Europe. The Small Logicals was probably a logic textbook written by Petrus Hispanus (Peter of Spain), who later became Pope John XXI; ‘restrictions’, ‘amplifications’, and ‘suppositions’ were all terms for various logical procedures. ‘First’ and ‘second’ ‘intentions’ were terms used to distinguish between categories of perception. ‘First intentions’ referred to the mind’s perception of a singular, material object; ‘second intentions’ to the mind’s capacity to make distinctions between abstract notions of objects by comparing one with another, or categorizing them by their properties into species or other kinds of type. In this case, the distinction invoked is that between man as an individual, and ‘Man’ in the abstract, as a species.
heavenly spheres: Ptolemaic astronomical theory held that the earth is stable, and surrounded by a number of revolving spheres upon which were carried the planets.
