IV. THE LITERARY ART SHOWN IN THE

"UTOPIA"

That the second part of the Utopia was the earlier
written, has already been said. There are several in-
dications, among them the division into sections and
the occasional use of the editorial plural (142 : 2) that
it was originally intended as an independent whole.
But having constructed his castle in the air, More de-
cided to put a foundation under it ; having shown how-
certain fundamental principles (which Bude in his let-
ter to Lupset (xxxvi : 4) gave as the absolute equality
of all things good and bad among fellow-citizens, a
settled and unwavering love of peace and quietness,
and a contempt for gold and silver) would work out
in practice in an actually existing state, he wrote what
may be considered an introduction to explain how
he came to learn of the existence of that state and to
obtain such detailed information concerning its polity
and the customs, manners, and beliefs of its inhabitants.

In 1507, eight years before More's visit to Flanders,

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Vespucci's account of the four voyages that he asserted
he had made across the ocean was published. To
many it must have proved a very disappointing book.
Apparently the New World had nothing to teach the
Old. The peoples that Vespucci had found there were
but savages, living in a state of degradation unknown
in Europe. Even had they been otherwise, however,
his book clearly showed that Vespucci was not the man
to be interested in, or to give an accurate account of,
their governments, social systems, and religious beliefs.
He was far from being either " the expert and prudent
prince Ulysses " or " the ancient and sage philosopher
Plato. " To give him then as a companion one who
was truly a philosophical traveller, and to make this
one after he had been left in Brazil by Vespucci (21 : 20)
explore on his own account and discover a people from
whom the Old World might learn much, was a really
brilliant idea.

But had More not been gifted with great literary art,
the mere idea would have availed him little. He well
knew, however, how to give the appearance of truth to
his work by mingling fact and fiction and introducing
minute, otherwise insignificant, details. That he went
with Cuthbert Tunstall on an embassy to Bruges, that
during a break in the negotiations he visited Antwerp,

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and that while there he became intimate with the
town-clerk, Peter Giles, were facts, as any reader could
have ascertained for himself. Did he while in Giles's
company meet a sailor whose " yarns " gave him the
suggestion for the introduction to a work that he was
even then writing ? No one can say. We are on the
border line between fact and fiction. But even if some-
thing of the sort happened, it is highly improbable
that the sailor asserted that he was one of those that
Vespucci left in Brazil ; and of the fictitious nature of
much that More says he was told by him there is, of
course, no doubt whatever.

But More's cleverness went further than merely put-
ting his fiction into the mouth of a returned traveller,
whether real or imaginary. In all that concerns Eu-
rope, and especially England, there is neither fiction,
misstatement, nor even exaggeration in the remarks
attributed to Hythloday. Wherever More's readers
had opportunity to test him, Hythloday showed him-
self a keen, accurate observer, an intelligent critic,
and a shrewd political philosopher. Unconsciously
to themselves, the earliest readers of the Utopia were
led to respect his abilities, admire his judgment, and
credit his veracity. And then, when he had prepared
them to accept practically any statement made by

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Hythloday, More put forward his own dream as a sober,
matter-of-fact account by this traveller of the condi-
tions that he had found in one of the many countries
that he had visited.

More's cleverness is likewise shown in his explana-
tion as to how the discourse was led from the consid-
eration of conditions actually existing in Europe to
the detailed account of the political and social sys-
tems, the manners and customs, and the religious be-
liefs of the Utopians. Hythloday, who had evidently
travelled extensively before his voyages with Ves-
pucci, illustrates his criticisms of conditions in Europe
with comparisons with those in several little known or
unknown countries that he had visited, and it is in
connection with one of these that Utopia is first men-
tioned ; the Achoriens are said to live to the southeast
of it (63 : 13). This added nothing to the information
of his hearers, and could have had little appeal to their
interest. A little later the Macarians are said to live
not far from Utopia (71 : 11). This, too, could be of
little interest or practical value to Hythloday's audi-
tors or More's readers. But the repetition of the name
among others equally unknown, and in such a casual
manner, increased the chance of its being accepted as
that of an actual place. The third mention of Utopia

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a few moments later (75 : 9) would certainly pique the
curiosity of every student of the New Learning —
the Utopians are said to carry out in actual practice
the very principles that Plato had set forth as those
of his hypothetical ideal state ! More forbears break-
ing in on Hythloday's speech, and before its end still
another reference to the Utopians is introduced, —
they are said to be not only the best governed and hap-
piest people that Hythloday has seen, but also, not-
withstanding their practice of communism, the most
industrious. By this, More is led to ask for a full
account of this extraordinary people ; and this, after
they have dined, Hythloday gives him. It would be
hard to overpraise the simplicity and naturalness of
this introduction or the homely realism that More
gives to his narrative.

Possibly it was from Lucian's True History, a col-
lection of the most preposterous stories (cf. note on
25 : 23), that More learned how much more easy it is
to give credence to " the lie circumstantial " than to a
simple, unadorned untruth. Note the effect of the in-
troduction into the Utopia of the homely, unimportant
detail of their practising artificial incubation (90 : 5),
of the account of the reception of the ambassadors of
the Anemolians (126 ff.), and of the statement as to the

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cause of the war that the Utopians made against the
Alaopolitanes (171 : 18). This particularity in regard
to insignificant details is pushed to the extreme in the
letter to Giles that accompanied the manuscript of the
Utopia and was printed with it : More professes great
anxiety to know precisely what Hythloday said was
the width of the Anyder where it flowed by Amaurote
(11 : 18). Surely, the reader is unconsciously led to
think, a writer who is so scrupulously particular in
regard to such a trivial detail may safely be trusted
in his more important statements.

In his pretence that he was merely the accurate
reporter of another's observations, and in the endeavor
to give realism to his work by homely, commonplace
touches, More was ably seconded by Giles in his
letter to Busleyden. Giles is not content to say in
general terms that, while Hythloday stated the location
of Utopia, both he and More failed to catch it; he
must explain just why they failed to catch it : Hythlo-
day mentioned it only incidentally, and in a very few
words ; More's attention was distracted by a servant
who inopportunely whispered in his ear; he himself
lost some of the words by the loud coughing of one of
the company. But even this is not detailed enough —
he must explain that the cough was caused by a cold

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and that the cold was caught, he thinks, a-shipboard !
Incredulous indeed must he be who would not credit
such a particular statement.

And yet the complimentary letters and verses that
were printed with the first edition show that More's
earliest readers were not deceived by his fiction. He
is given credit for the whole work ; his ideal common-
wealth is said to surpass all those of antiquity ; and
he is hailed as the brightest ornament of London, of
England, nay, of the world! Did he then fail in an
endeavor to palm off his fiction as truth ? The very
publication with the book itself of these commenda-
tions of his ability as a thinker and writer forbids the
supposition ; and that actual deception was no part of
his purpose is shown by the names that he gave to
persons, places, peoples, and officials. Anemolius's
verses end with the somewhat obvious pun that the
name of the country described should be Eutopia (good
place) rather than Utopia (no place) (230); and this
alone was enough to put More's readers on the track of
the derivation of most of the other names that he in-
vented. These are explained in the notes ; but it may
be well here to group a number of them together to show
how thoroughly they indicate the fictitious nature of the
work. Hythloday (distributor of idle talk) gives an

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account of the institutions in Utopia (nowhere), the
capital of which, Amaurote (the dim city), is situated
on the river Anyder (waterless) and has as its chief
magistrate an ademus (one without a people) ; and he
brings these dwellers in nowhere into relations with
the Alaopolitanes (those living in the blind city), the
Achoriens (the people without a place), the Nephelo-
getes (the cloud folk), and the Anemolians (the inhabi-
tants of the winds) !

More, evidently, neither expected nor desired to de-
ceive his readers ; but he did wish to give his fiction
the appearance of truth, because he knew that this
would lead to its being more widely read and more
thoroughly enjoyed. The Utopia is a precursor, the
earliest in English literature, of Gulliver's Travels, A
Journal of the Plague Year, Robinson Crusoe, and a
whole host of more modern works.

The second part of the Utopia can hardly be praised
so highly for its literary art. The eight sections that
follow the general account of the island are not arranged
in a logical order, nor do the headings given them really
indicate the nature of their contents. In truth, not-
withstanding its appearance of orderliness, the second