Utopia

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• Publisher: Alma Classics
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780714548210
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Altertumswissenschaften

In Thomas More's hugely influential Utopia, a traveller recounts his discovery of an island nation in which the inhabitants enjoy unprecedented social cohesion and justice. The book imagines a community in which laws, personal relations and professional ambition are based on reason, in contrast with the tradition-bound superstitions of Europe, which were, in More's eyes, impediments to equality and peaceful coexistence.One of the indicators of the profound cultural and political influence of More's masterpiece is today's common use of the word "e;Utopia"e; - a term he invented. This extraordinary treatise on the values of rationality and reason - here presented in a sparkling new translation by Roger Clarke and accompanied by copious notes and additional texts - questions what a philosopher can do to enact change in society, and how idealized visions can inform political practice.

Foreword

Thomas More’s Utopia first appeared in print in December 1516, half a millennium ago. Since then it has surprised and fascinated readers by the originality of its thinking, the clarity and ingenuity of its imagination and the acuity and passion of its commentary on political, social and moral issues. Many of these issues – crime and punishment, war and peace, poverty and inequality, wealth and its fair distribution, discrimination and human rights, human welfare and fulfilment, the productive integration of society – are still topical today. But More was known in his time, not only for his intellect, but also for his humour and charm; and Utopia was written to tease and entertain as well as to instruct.

The purpose of this edition is to present today’s reader with a translation of Utopia from More’s Latin into an English that is accurate, clear, readable and idiomatic – and true to the spirit of More’s writing.

Though authored by an Englishman, Utopia is a European work. It was conceived and largely written in Flanders, for a European readership. Its setting is in Antwerp; its main narrator is Portuguese. Its language, Latin, was the lingua franca of educated Europe; its five printings during More’s lifetime were in Brabant, France, Switzerland and Italy; and its first sponsors were Dutch, Flemish, French and German.

In its five lifetime editions the text of Utopia was accompanied by other documents in varied combinations – jeux d’esprit in the form of letters written by More and his friend Pieter Gillis, a map of the island, letters of endorsement from eminent humanist scholars, and short celebratory verses by members of the same circle. The present edition contains all this material and more.

First, by way of introduction, comes a letter of More’s friend Erasmus, written only a few years after Utopia was written, that gives a remarkably full and candid pen picture of More. Then comes the translation of Utopia, prefaced, as More intended, by his first letter to Pieter Gillis. After Utopia there follows a section on ‘Correspondence and Other Contributions from More’s Contemporaries’; this contains translations from the original Latin of other surviving letters relevant to Utopia written by More, Erasmus and their friends between 1516 and 1518. These letters are arranged in chronological order, with brief linking narratives. The intention is to show, in the words of More and his circle, how the composition and publication of Utopia unfolded and how the work was received. They serve too to fill out the characters and attitudes of More and his fellow humanists and to give a brief impression of the world in which they lived. Section II of this ‘Correspondence and Other Contributions’ section also brings together the verses by More’s and Erasmus’s friends that appeared in lifetime editions.

There are detailed endnotes, identified by page numbers, explaining literary and historical allusions and other points of interest. Short biographical notes on contemporary personalities in England and continental Europe are supplied in an alphabetical ‘Index to Contemporary European Names’. There is a separate alphabetical index explaining More’s Utopian vocabulary and other names of imaginary peoples he invented.

Under ‘Extra Material’ there is an article on More’s life and times, focusing on the years leading up to Utopia’s publication, and on the genesis and nature of the work. The reader who is new to More and to Utopia might do well to start here.

– Roger Clarke, June 2017

A Pen Portrait of Thomas More by His Friend Desiderius Erasmus

The German humanist Ulrich von Hutten had written to the pre-eminent Dutch scholar Erasmus, in a letter now lost, asking him for a description of Thomas More, who had been Erasmus’s friend now for twenty years. In response Erasmus wrote Hutten the following letter, which gives the fullest and clearest contemporary account of More that we have.

Erasmus of Rotterdam to the illustrious knight Ulrich von Hutten, greetings.

I know how devotedly – I nearly said, distractedly – you love Thomas More. He’s a gifted man, and naturally you’re fired up by his writings, which are, as you rightly say, as learned and witty as any can be. In this – believe me, my most excellent Hutten – you’re but one among many. And More reciprocates your feelings: he in turn takes such pleasure in the brilliance of your writings that I’m almost jealous of you. This must be what Plato meant by the wisdom most of all to be desired, which arouses among humankind a love far more ardent than does any physical beauty, however captivating. This wisdom is not, it’s true, discerned by bodily eyes. But the soul has its own eyes – which only goes to confirm the truth of that Greek saying: “Loving comes to folk from seeing.”* Sometimes it’s through these inner eyes that people are drawn together by the warmest affection, even though they’ve never spoken to each other or even met. And just as in ordinary life different folk are unaccountably entranced by different forms of outward beauty, there also seems to exist a mysterious affinity at an intellectual level that causes us to take far more delight in some intellects than in others.

As for what you demand of me – that I depict the whole More for you, as in a full-length portrait – if only I could offer something that in its completeness would match the strength of your desire! Not that I myself shall find it at all uncongenial to spend time reflecting on a friend so superlatively charming. But there are difficulties: in the first place, “it’s not for every man” (as the Greeks say)* to take the measure of all More’s gifts; and I doubt if he would tolerate being depicted by any common artist. Neither do I rate it an easier task to portray More than Alexander the Great or Achilles, nor were those men worthier than our friend of being immortalized. A sitter like this really calls for the hand of an Apelles*; but I fear that it’s Fulvius and Rutuba* more than Apelles that I resemble. Nonetheless, our long and intimate acquaintance has given me some opportunity to observe and to remember, and to this extent I’ll try to give you a picture of the whole man – it’ll be a sketch, though, rather than a portrait. If in future some overseas mission should happen to bring the two of you together, then you’ll certainly realize what an inept artist you’ve chosen for this task, and I very much fear that you’ll accuse me of jealousy or poor eyesight: you’ll think me either too bleary-eyed to observe or too grudging to record more than a few good qualities when More has so many.

Let me begin with the aspect of More you’ll know least. In height and bearing he’s less than tall, though not noticeably short. Indeed, the proportions of his body in all its parts are all that could be desired. His complexion glows throughout with the faintest tinge of colour, though it’s far from being florid; and, since he’s fair-skinned, his appearance tends to fairness more than pallor. His hair is blackish brown or, if you prefer, brownish black; beard a bit sparse;* eyes of a greyish blue, with a kind of fleck in them – a feature that commonly denotes the happiest of natures and is regarded among the British as particularly attractive, though our own folk find dark eyes more fetching. No sort of eye, they say, is less prone to defects. His face corresponds to his nature, with an aspect always pleasant, friendly and jovial, and an expression that suggests someone used to laughing; indeed, to be honest, it’s a face closer to affability than to severity or self-importance, but utterly remote from foolishness and impertinence. His right shoulder seems a little higher than the left, especially when he walks – a trait that comes not from nature but from habit, the origin of many of our idiosyncrasies. In the rest of his physique there’s nothing untoward. His hands, mind you, are a little coarse, but only when compared with the rest of his body. From boyhood he has utterly disregarded his personal appearance, to the point that he’s never been one to attend much even to those matters that, according to Ovid, are the only ones a man need attend to.* How good-looking he was as a young man one can still gauge “from the stubble”,* as the Greeks say – though he wasn’t more than twenty-three when I made his acquaintance and he’s now barely into his forties.

More’s constitution is satisfactory rather than strong, but it’s susceptible to few if any illnesses, and quite adequate for any exertions fit for an honest citizen. The hope is that he’ll be long-lived, as he has a father of advanced years who’s amazingly fresh and lively for his age.*

I’ve yet to see anyone less fussy in his choice of foods. Till adulthood he p...

Table of contents

• Foreword