12 a, b, v - Utopia Reading

Hey guys,

I hope you're enjoying your week! Below you will find the sections of Utopia that I would like you to read for next week. You will most likely need a dictionary close by as you read. They come from several different sections in the book, and each new paragraph is a new section in the book. The first paragraph talks about a kingdom in Persia and its punishment of thieves. The rest of the paragraphs relate to life on the mythical island of Utopia. Some of the sections have been slightly condensed for you. If you see "...", it means that I removed a section of text that I felt was extraneous. If you wish to read the full text, you may go here to download the full book for free. Project Gutenberg is a database filled with texts that are no longer subject to copyright restrictions and that have been typed up and formatted for download. Feel free to search the site for other books that you might be interested in as well. It is an easy way to get a hold of certain texts quickly. Anyway, my promotional plug is finished. Enjoy Utopia. As always, post a comment if you have a question or email me at mohsla01@luther.edu. Please try to print off a copy of the text before class so that you can easily refer to it during discussion. Thanks and good luck!

Laura

"Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not, as it is in many other places, to the prince, for they reckon that the prince has no more right to the stolen goods than the thief; but if that which was stolen is no more in being, then the goods of the thieves are estimated, and restitution being made out of them, the remainder is given to their wives and children; and they themselves are condemned to serve in the public works, but are neither imprisoned nor chained, unless there happens to be some extraordinary circumstance in their crimes. They go about loose and free, working for the public: if they are idle or backward to work they are whipped, but if they work hard they are well used and treated without any mark of reproach; only the lists of them are called always at night, and then they are shut up."

"The island of Utopia is in the middle two hundred miles broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a great part of it, but it grows narrower towards both ends. Its figure is not unlike a crescent. …Every city sends three of their wisest senators once a year to Amaurot, to consult about their common concerns; for that is the chief town of the island, being situated near the centre of it, so that it is the most convenient place for their assemblies. They have built, over all the country, farmhouses for husbandmen, which are well contrived, and furnished with all things necessary for country labour. Inhabitants are sent, by turns, from the cities to dwell in them; no country family has fewer than forty men and women in it, besides two slaves. There is a master and a mistress set over every family, and over thirty families there is a magistrate. Every year, twenty of this family come back to the town after they have stayed two years in the country, and in their room [in their place] there are twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country work from those that have been already one year in the country, as they must teach those that come to them the next from the town. By this means such as dwell in those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so commit no errors which might otherwise be fatal and bring them under a scarcity of corn. But though there is every year such a shifting of the husbandmen to prevent any man being forced against his will to follow that hard course of life too long, yet many among them take such pleasure in it that they desire leave to continue in it many years. These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns either by land or water, as is most convenient."

"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 [jobs are handed down father to son/mother to daughter except when a Utopian decides that he/she wishes to learn a different trade]; 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."

"Whenever they are engaged in war, which is the only occasion in which their treasure can be usefully employed, they make use of it themselves; in great extremities or sudden accidents they employ it in hiring foreign troops, whom they more willingly expose to danger than their own people; they give them great pay, knowing well that this will work even on their enemies; that it will engage them either to betray their own side, or, at least, to desert it; and that it is the best means of raising mutual jealousies among them. For this end they have an incredible treasure; but they do not keep it as a treasure, but in such a manner as I am almost afraid to tell, lest you think it so extravagant as to be hardly credible. … If they should work it into vessels, or any sort of plate, they fear that the people might grow too fond of it, and so be unwilling to let the plate be run down, if a war made it necessary, to employ it in paying their soldiers. To prevent all these inconveniences they have fallen upon an expedient which, as it agrees with their other policy, so is it very different from ours, and will scarce gain belief among us who value gold so much, and lay it up so carefully. They eat and drink out of vessels of earth or glass, which make an agreeable appearance, though formed of brittle materials; while they make their chamber-pots and close-stools of gold and silver, and that not only in their public halls but in their private houses. Of the same metals they likewise make chains and fetters for their slaves, to some of which, as a badge of infamy, they hang an earring of gold, and make others wear a chain or a coronet of the same metal; and thus they take care by all possible means to render gold and silver of no esteem."