This document is copyright (c) 1995, 1996 by Romuald Ian Lakowski, all rights reserved. All sections of Interactive EMLS (iEMLS) and iEMLS as a whole are copyright (c) 1995, 1996 by Early Modern Literary Studies, all rights reserved, and may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law. Archiving and redistribution for profit, or republication of this text in any medium, requires the consent of the copyright holder and the Editor of EMLS.

Note: While the summary below can be used alone, it was originally meant to serve as an Appendix to my chapter on Utopia in my Ph.D. dissertation:

• Romuald Ian Lakowski.
  "The Dialogue in Book I of Utopia."
  in Sir Thomas More and the Art of Dialogue.
  Ph.D. Diss. U of British Columbia, Fall 1993. pp. 77--123.

I have also appended three figures from the same chapter dealing with the structure of Utopia to the end of the summaries below. Further additions to these summaries may be posted on Interactive EMLS in the future.

In the revised version I have added paragraph numbers, and made some changes to the formating of the Table of Contents and the Figures.

Any comments or queries can be sent to the author at userted@mtsg.ubc.ca

3. Summary of Utopia, Book I and Conclusion to Book II

• Prefatory Letter of More to Peter Giles (pp. 38--44)
  • Preface 38/1--44/27

  I) Introductory Section (pp. 46--54)
  • 1. Introduction: More meets Peter Giles 46/8--48/15
    2. More meets Raphael Hythloday 48/15--54/13

  II) Beginning of the Dialogue of Counsel (pp. 54--58)
  • The Dialogue of Counsel Begins 54/13--58/14

  III) The Cardinal Morton Episode (pp. 58--84)
  • 1. At the Table of Cardinal Morton 58/14--60/13
    2. Hythloday Argues with an English Lawyer 60/13--64/31
    3. Denunciation of Enclosures 64/31--70/15
    4. Hythloday's Remedy for Thieves 70/16--74/17
    5. The Republic of the Polylerites (An Example) 74/17--80/20
    6. A Merry Dialogue Between a Friar and a Hanger-on 80/20--84/20

  IV) The Dialogue of Counsel Continued (pp. 84--108)
  • 1. On the Platonic ideal of the Philosopher King 84/20--86/22
    2. At the Court of the King of France 86/22--88/24
    3. The Example of the Achorians 88/24--90/22
    4. Another Royal Court with Corrupt Councillors 90/22--96/12
    5. The Example of the Macarians 96/12--31
    6. Academic Versus Civic Philosophy 96/31--102/26
    7. The Example of the Utopians 102/27--106/3
    8. The Conclusion to Book I 106/3--108/31

  V) The Concluding Sections of Book II (pp. 236--246)
  • 1. Hythloday's Sermon on Greed and Pride 236/31--244/13
    2. The 'Retractation' or Conclusion to Book II 244/13--246/2

  Epilogue: More's Second Letter to Peter Giles (1517) (pp. 248--252)
  • Second Letter of More to Peter Giles 248/1--252/7

  List of Figures from Utopia Chapter
  • Figure 3.1. The Structure of Utopia
    Figure 3.2. The Parerga to the Utopia
    Figure 3.3. The Episodic Structure of Book I of More's Utopia

Chapter on Utopia: Books I and Conclusion of II

Return to Thesis Table of Contents

3. Summary of Utopia, Book I and Conclusion to Book II

Prefatory Letter of More to Peter Giles (CW 4, pp. 38--44)

Preface. 38/1--44/27

1. Letter of More to Peter Giles. [This letter, which serves as the 'Preface' to Utopia, also participates in the fiction of the work. For an analysis, see E. McCutcheon, My Dear Peter: The Ars Poetica and Hermeneutics for More's Utopia (Angers: Éditions Moreana, 1983).] More begins the Prefatory Letter by apologizing to Peter Giles for taking almost a year to send him the Utopia, when he had been expecting it within six weeks of More's return to England. [Entering into the fiction of Utopia.] He was relieved of all the labours of gathering materials for the work, and needed to give no thought to their arrangement. All he had to do was to write down what Raphael Hythloday had related in Peter Giles's presence. But the demands of legal business and the affairs of his wife and family left hardly enough time to carry out even this trifling task. However, he did finally make a little time and has sent the finished work to Giles to read. He has some doubts about the accuracy of his recollection of one of the details of Hythloday's account. John Clement, More's servant pupil [and later tutor to More's children] was present [in a non-speaking role] at the conversation with Hythloday. More thinks that the length of the bridge over the river Anydrus at Amaurotum [Capital of Utopia] was 500 paces, John Clement 300 paces. More asks Giles to recall the matter to mind and also check with Raphael himself either by word of mouth or letter. More states that he has taken great pains to avoid anything objectively false in the book: "I would rather tell a falsehood [or fiction], than lie [potius mendacium dicam quam mentiar]. Another doubt has arisen concerning which part of the New World Utopia is situated in: We didn't think of asking and Hythloday didn't say. Several among us are anxious to visit Utopia, especially a devout theologian [Erasmus?--a private joke], who wants to be sent by the pope to be bishop of Utopia. More asks Giles, if possible, to get Hythloday to make sure there is nothing false in it. More has not made up his mind whether he should publish the work at all [a disingenuous statement] because of the disagreeable judgments of men. One man is so sour that he will not allow jokes, another so tasteless that he cannot bear wit, and others fear satire like a man bitten by a rabid dog fears water. Thet sit among their cups in the taverns condemning each author by his work, but they themselves remain under cover. Others, though they are extremely delighted with the work, do not love the author any the more. More concludes by asking Giles to carry out with Hythloday the business previously mentioned. Since he has already gone through the labour of writing, it is too late to be wise. Therefore, provided it is done with the consent of Hythloday [here = Erasmus?], in the matter of publishing, More will follow his friends', especially Gile's, advice.

[Contents]

I) Introductory Section (CW 4, pp. 46--54)

1. 46/8--48/15

2. Introduction: Narrator More describes the circumstances that led to his visit to Antwerp to Peter Giles. Praise of Giles. More's delight in Giles's company partially alleviates his desire to be home in England with his family.

2. 48/15--54/13

3. More meets Raphael Hythloday: After attending mass at the Church of Notre Dame, Giles introduces More to a sun-burnt stranger, a Portuguese traveller named Raphael Hythloday, who had been with Amerigo Vespucci on the last three of his four voyages. Giles relates that Hythloday had been one of twenty-four companions who had been left behind on Vespucci's fourth voyage in a fort in what is now modern-day Brazil. They then go off to the house where Narrator More is staying, and sit down in the garden and begin talking together. Hythloday briefly recounts his voyages in the Southern Hemisphere, his voyage to Utopia, and his return trip to Lisbon and Antwerp via Ceylon and Calicut (on the Malabar coast in India).

[Contents]

II) Beginning of the Dialogue of Counsel (CW 4, pp. 54--58)

1. 54/13--58/14

4. The Dialogue of Counsel Begins: Giles asks Hythloday, why, with all his experience of the world gained on his travels, he does not enter the service of some king. Hythloday condemns royal service as servitude and defends the freedom of his present way of life. Persona More now suggests that if Hythloday were to enter royal service, he would benefit the public interest, even at his own personal disadvantage. Hythloday does not fall for the bait and suggests instead that royal councillors are all self-serving, and that no one will listen to the advice of anyone who seeks to benefit the common good. He cites the example of England.

[Contents]

III) The Cardinal Morton Episode (CW 4, pp. 58--84)

1. 58/14--60/13

5. At the Table of Cardinal Morton: Persona More perks up and asks Hythloday, whether he was ever in England. Hythloday replies yes, that just shortly after the disastrous Cornish rebellion (1497), he had visited the household of Cardinal Morton, then Chancellor of England, and had been entertained at his table. Praise of Cardinal Morton. One day Hythloday enters into debate with a lawyer at Cardinal Morton's table.

2. 60/13--64/31

6. Hythloday Argues with an English Lawyer: The lawyer defends the English custom of hanging twenty thieves at a time on a single gallows. Persona/Narrator/Persona Hythloday condemns the English justice system as too harsh. The lawyer argues that thieves should all take up farming or manual crafts instead. Hythloday refuses to let him get away with the standard "welfare-bum" argument, and points out that some thieves are unemployable. He cites the example of those who came back crippled from the wars with France and from the Cornish campaign. He also gives as an example the case of the servants of a nobleman, who have been corrupted by their easy way of life, and who after the nobleman then dies, are unable to hold down an honest job. He then goes on to condemn the French custom of having a standing army, because it only encourages theft and violence---the soldiers cut people's throats just to stay in practice.

3. 64/31--70/15

7. Denunciation of Enclosures: Hythloday begins by making the startling remark that English sheep have become so greedy and wild that they are devouring human beings, and devastating fields and towns. He goes on to denounce the policies of enclosures. The noblemen and churchmen are turning the common people off the land, enclosing it for sheep pasturage and leaving nothing for tillage. The peasants are being evicted and often deprived of their property by violence and fraud. Their household goods are sold for a penny. Where before many hands were needed to till the land, only a single shepherd is required. The homeless peasants are forced to wander and beg, or steal and be hanged. Futhermore, the price of food has gone up because all the sheep were killed by a murrain. But even when the number of sheep and cattle multiply, the nobility keep the prices artificially high. The unscrupulous greed of a few is ruining the English people. The high price of food is forcing many to get rid of their household servants. Yet in the midst of all this poverty, there are also many examples of wanton luxury. Hythloday demands that the laws be reformed to prevent the rich from buying up all the land, and that farming be taken up once again.

4. 70/16--74/17

8. Hythloday's Remedy for Thieves: After Hythloday has finished speaking, the lawyer then prepares his reply. He begins by laying out the main points he is going to refute. However, the Cardinal interrupts him and puts him off by telling him that he can reply to Hythloday at their next meeting. Cardinal Morton then turns to Hythloday and asks him why he would abolish the death penalty for theft. Hythloday begins by asserting the fundamental legal principle of equity---that the punishment must fit the crime---and goes on to condemn the extreme justice of the English system as extreme wrong. God has said "Thou shalt not kill" and yet we kill a man for stealing some small change. What prevents us from also deciding how far rape, adultery and perjury may be allowable? Even the law of Moses punished theft by fine and not by death. The Romans also punished thieves by sending them to work in the stone quarries and mines, rather than by executing them.

5. 74/17--80/20

9. The Republic of the Polylerites (An Example): Hythloday goes on to cite the example of the Polylerites, who live among the Persians. They punish thieves by enslaving them (after they have made restitution to their victims). The slaves do public works, though they can also be hired out to the benefit of the public treasury. They are treated humanely, but if they try to escape they are put to death. They have to wear special clothes and the tips of their ears are clipped. They cannot carry money or own arms. At night they sleep in special quarters. Hythloday suggests that the practice of the Polylerites be tried out in England. The lawyer immediately attacks Hythloday, and the others there present agree with him. However, the Cardinal is more open-minded and suggests that Hythloday's scheme be tried out as an experiment. There is no harm in it even if it fails---the thieves can still be executed later on. The Cardinal also suggests that provision be made for vagrants. The hangers-on all change their tune and now praise Cardinal Morton's suggestion, where before they had rejected it coming from Hythloday.

6. 80/20--84/20

10. A Merry Dialogue Between a Friar and a Hanger-on: One of the guests asks about what to do with the sick and unemployable. A hanger-on (parasitus) suggests as a joke that all beggers should be put in monasteries as lay-brothers and nuns. A friar who is present replies half-jokingly that they would have to make provision for mendicant friars as well. The hanger-on in turn replies that this has already been covered by Cardinal Morton's provision for vagrants. The friar is furious and verbally attacks the hanger-on and curses him. Cardinal Morton attempts to make peace, but the friar returns to the attack. Cardinal Morton then tactfully turns to another subject.

[Contents]

IV) The Dialogue of Counsel Continued (CW 4, pp. 84--108)

1. 84/20--86/22

11. On the Platonic ideal of the Philosopher King: At this point Hythloday breaks off his account of Cardinal Morton's household and turns to Persona More and uses the above incident as an illustration of how absurd the conversations of most courtiers are. He goes on to point out, as an example of the uselessness of giving political advice, that the same suggestions that had been ridiculed when he had previously made them, were praised when repeated by Cardinal Morton. Persona More deliberately ignores Hythloday's point and expresses pleasure at learning again about Cardinal Morton's household in which he had been brought up as a youth. Turning from the example of Cardinal Morton as model statesman, Persona More then reminds Hythloday of the Platonic doctrine of the Philosopher-King, that philosophers should not hesitate to give advice to kings. Hythloday replies rather bitterly that many philosophers already have given advice in printed books but they were ignored. He cites the example of Plato's own rather unfortunate experience with Dionysus, the tyrant of Syracuse.

2. 86/22--88/24

12. At the Court of the King of France: Hythloday then imagines himself being present at a meeting of the French King and his privy council. The councillors are all suggesting various diplomatic machinations and opportunistic political treaties, to be kept only as long as is convenient, with the intention of increasing the power of the French King, especially in Italy. Hythloday imagines himself in turn giving very different political advice---that the French leave Italy well alone and concentrate on ruling well the single kingdom of France.

3. 88/24--90/22

13. The Example of the Achorians: He then cites the example of the Achorians, who live on the mainland to the south-southeast of the island of Utopia (roughly the same geographical relation as that between France and England). Their king had conquered another kingdom but had no less trouble in keeping it than had been suffered in conquering it. They were in continual fear of both rebellion within and invasion from without. Their own people were being plundered to pay for the cost of the war, public morality was being corrupted, and crime was rampant. The Achorians took counsel together and gave their king an ultimatum to choose which of the two kingdoms he wanted to keep, and give up the other. He gave the conquered kingdom to a friend, who was shortly thereafter driven out. Hythloday now asks Persona More to imagine what kind of response the French court would give to this kind of political advice (including the example of the Achorians). Persona More suggests that they would be unfavorable.

4. 90/22--96/12

14. Another Royal Court with Corrupt Councillors: Hythloday then asks Persona More to imagine another court where the councillors are all advising the King on various nefarious means of raising taxes (in what turns out to be a thinly veiled reference to the fiscal policies of Henry VII). They advise fiddling with the currency exchange rates to reduce the king's debts, pretending to wage war as an excuse to raise money, reviving old laws that are no longer enforced and then fining anyone who has transgressed them, and selling privileges at a great price. They also advise that the judges be corrupted to give judgements always in the king's favour, and that important legal matters always be settled in the king's presence, where pressure through fear and intimidation can be put on those involved to acquiesce with the king's will. Further, they advise that the king should wear down his people with hardship and financial exactions to break their spirits and make them less likely to rebel. Hythloday then imagines himself standing up in the council and giving completely opposite advice; that the king should be the shepherd of his people; that he should care more for their welfare than his own; that he should seek to rule over a prosperous people rather than be prosperous himself; and that for a single person to enjoy a life of pleasure and self-indulgence while all those around him are suffering greatly is to be keeper of a prison not a kingdom. The king should live harmlessly on his own means and not try to raise money from his subjects by crooked means.

5. 96/12--31

15. The Example of the Macarians: Hythloday then goes on to cite the example of the Macarians, a people who live near to Utopia, and who make their king swear a solemn oath at his coronation that he will never keep more than a thousand pounds of gold in his treasury. This amount was deemed enough to put down rebellion and meet hostile invasions, but not enough to cause money shortages in the marketplace or to tempt the king to seize the possessions of others. Hythloday again asks Persona More to imagine how the councillors of this imaginary kingdom (modelled on Henry VII's England) would respond. Again Persona More is forced to admit that without doubt they would be completely deaf to Hythloday's advice.

6. 96/31--102/26

16. Academic Versus Civic Philosophy: Persona More immediately attacks Hythloday's 'academic' philosophy as being unsuitable for the court. Instead, he advocates another philosophy more suitable for the statesman which adapts itself to the 'play' at hand. The stateman has to know how to play a part, and not introduce inappropriate matters at the wrong time. You cannot force new and strange ideas on people of opposite convictions. By using the indirect approach, you handle things tactfully and what cannot be turned to good, you make as little bad as you can. Hythloday rejects Persona More's arguments. By this approach you only share the madness of others. Hythloday insists that although what he says may be unwelcome, yet it is not folly. He goes on to cite the example of Plato's Republic or the practice of the Utopians where all things are held in common---this seems odd to us because individuals here have the right of private property. If everything odd is to be rejected, then we would have to put aside almost all of Christ's teachings. Yet he forbade us to hide them. Christian preachers, however, are very good at accommodating Christ's teachings to the morals of men. If I adopt this indirect approach in the councils of princes, I will only be helping their madness. At court one must openly approve the worst desires. Plato was right in arguing that philosophers should abstain from administration in the commonwealth. Wherever there is private property, it is scarely possible to have justice.

7. 102/27--106/3

17. The Example of the Utopians: In Utopia, where all things are held in common, there is an abundance of all things. Plato was wise in insisting that the path to general welfare lay in equality in all respects. Where there is private property there are terrible inequalities in the distribution of goods. The poor are crushed under the inescapable burden of poverty. Attempts to limit the amount of wealth each individual can own are half-measures. There is no hope of a real cure to societal ills as long as there is private property.

8. 106/3--108/31

18. Conclusion to Book I: At this point Persona More objects and insists that where all things are held in common there is no motive for personal gain, and that the individual becomes slothful, if there is no way of keeping what one has gained by personal industry. Hythloday argues against this by citing the example of Utopia---"When I was in Utopia"---and, claiming to be thoroughly familiar with their manners and customs, asserts that there is no society as well-ordered as theirs is. At this point, Peter Giles, who has not spoken for quite some time, bursts in to express extreme scepticism as to Hythloday's claim. It would be hard to imagine a better-ordered people than is to be found among us. Hythloday replies that the commonwealths in that part of the world are older than ours, and that there were cities among them before there were men among us. Once a Roman ship was shipwrecked in Utopia. The Utopians immediately mastered everything the Romans had to teach them. If the same thing happened to us, we would be hardly as likely to learn from them. Their eagerness to learn is one of the reasons for their superiority over us. Persona More then displomatically intervenes at this point and asks Hythloday to give an extended description of Utopia (which becomes the 'matter' of Book II)---of its lands, rivers, cities, inhabitants, traditions, customs and laws. Hythloday expresses eagerness to do so but warns that it will take some time. Persona More suggests they dine first. After dinner, they return to the same place in the garden, and Hythloday then begins his account of Utopia.

[Contents]

V) The Concluding Sections of Book II (CW 4, pp. 236--246)

1. 236/31--244/13

19. Hythloday's Sermon on Greed and Pride: After Hythloday concludes his account of Utopia, he returns to the main point he had made at the end of Book I, that the superiority of Utopian society lies in the fact that they hold all things in common. In Utopia the public granaries are well-filled and no one need worry about going hungry---though no one owns anything, all are rich. Outside of Utopia, everyone has to worry continually, not only about his own survival, but also about looking after his family. There is no justice outside of Utopia. The noblemen, money-lenders and bankers live lives of luxury and grandeur on the basis of their idleness or inessential work. While the common people, whose work is absolutely essential to the commonwealth, live lives that are harder and more miserable even than that of beasts of burden, only to be cast off in old age or sickness and left to die a miserable death. The rich even extort a part of their living from the poor by public law. They have perverted the laws, and palmed it off as justice. The state of all commonwealths flourishing today is nothing other than a conspiracy of the rich looking after their own interests, under the appearence of a commonwealth. Yet, for all their insatiable greed, the rich are very far from the happiness of Utopia. In Utopia all greed for money has been abolished when the use of money was abolished. A great mass of troubles and criminal activities was also done away with at the same time. Contrast this with the situation among us, where many thousands of poor people have been carried off during a time of famine. If you had opened the granaries of the rich, you would have found more than enough to feed all those who died of starvation and disease. Mankind, either out of self-interest or following the teachings of Christ himself, would long ago have adopted the practice of the Utopians if the monster of pride had not stopped them. Pride is too deeply fixed in men's hearts to be easily plucked out. But in Utopia, at least, the vices of ambition and factionalism have been rooted up.

2. 244/13--246/2

20. The 'Retractation' or Conclusion to Book II: After Hythloday had finished speaking, the concluding voice of Persona/Narrator/Authorial More replies by pointing to the many absurdities of Utopian society, especially their common life and common food supply---and lack of money. These things completely undermine all nobility, magnificence, splendour and majesty, which as the common people think (heavy irony here), are the true glories of a commonwealth. Knowing that Hythloday had wearied of his tale and would not tolerate any opposition to his opinions, the concluding voice then rather diplomatically suggests that they retire for supper, and continue their conversation some other day, if it were at all possible. The concluding voice ends rather ambivalently by expressing disagreement with some aspects of Hythloday's account, but also by praising many features of Utopian society which one can only wish for, rather than realistically hope of seeing realised in our countries.

[Contents]

Epilogue: More's Second Letter to Peter Giles (1517) (CW 4, pp. 248--252)

Epilogue. 248/1--252/7

21. Second Letter of More to Peter Giles. [This letter only appeared in the second edition Utopia (Paris: 1517), where it follows immediately after the text of Utopia as a sort of epilogue. It was omitted from the editions of 1518 (and later), no doubt with the author's consent, presumeably because the openly sarcastic tone of the letter gives too many of the literary games of Utopia away. For an analysis, see E. Surtz, "More's Apologia pro Utopia sua." Modern Language Quarterly 19 (1958): 319--24.] More begins by saying that he was delighted with the criticisms of a very sharp person [probably fictitious], who posed the following dilemma about Utopia: If the matter is put forth as true, I see some rather absurd details in it, but if it is fictitious, then I find More's keen judgment lacking in some matters. This critic has obviously read the Utopia slowly and carefully, weighing the individual points skilfully. When he finds fault with More that some passages are not clear enough, More responds that he doesn't think this critic is so "sharp-sighted" because he has discovered some little absurdities in the institutions of the Utopian commonwealth, as if there weren't many absurdities elsewhere in the world or in the ideal republics of all the philosophers. When he doubts whether Utopia is real or fictitious, he shows his own keen judgment is lacking. More declares that if he had decided to write about a fictional commonwealth, he certainly would have tempered the fiction somewhat, so that if he wanted to impose on the ignorance of the common people, he would at least have given some indications to the more learned of his design. [Two audiences for Utopia posited.] At the very least he would have imposed names on the ruler, river, city and island to suggest to the more learned [i.e. humanist readers who know Greek] that the island was nowhere, the city a phantom, the river without water, and the ruler without a people. As it is the faithfulness of a historian has forced him to use barbarous and meaningless names, such as Utopia, Anydrus, Amaurotum and Ademus. [Heavy irony here, since More has just given the meanings of the Greek roots from which these names are derived.] Some people are so suspicious that they can hardly be led to believe what we simple-minded and credulous folk [blatant sarcasm] have written down of Hythloday's account. More's own credibility and reputation as an historian may be called into question, but Raphael Hythloday also told his story to many other very honest and worthy men, besides More and Giles. If these doubters will not believe them either, let them go to Hythloday himself, for he is not yet dead. Some travellers from Portugal recently reported that he was healthy and as vigorous as ever. More concludes that he is only responsible for his own work, and not for the credibility of another [i.e. Hythloday].

[Contents]

[Contents]

[Contents]

[Contents]