ariondas/full_text_dataset · Datasets at Hugging Face

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glory in them during their childhood; but when they grow to years, and
see that none but children use such baubles, they of their own accord,
without being bid by their parents, lay them aside, and would be as much
ashamed to use them afterwards as children among us, when they come to
years, are of their puppets and other toys.

"I never saw a clearer instance of the opposite impressions that
different customs make on people than I observed in the ambassadors of
the Anemolians, who came to Amaurot when I was there. As they came to
treat of affairs of great consequence, the deputies from several towns
met together to wait for their coming. The ambassadors of the nations
that lie near Utopia, knowing their customs, and that fine clothes are in
no esteem among them, that silk is despised, and gold is a badge of
infamy, used to come very modestly clothed; but the Anemolians, lying
more remote, and having had little commerce with them, understanding that
they were coarsely clothed, and all in the same manner, took it for
granted that they had none of those fine things among them of which they
made no use; and they, being a vainglorious rather than a wise people,
resolved to set themselves out with so much pomp that they should look
like gods, and strike the eyes of the poor Utopians with their splendour.
Thus three ambassadors made their entry with a hundred attendants, all
clad in garments of different colours, and the greater part in silk; the
ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility of their country, were
in cloth-of-gold, and adorned with massy chains, earrings and rings of
gold; their caps were covered with bracelets set full of pearls and other
gems--in a word, they were set out with all those things that among the
Utopians were either the badges of slavery, the marks of infamy, or the
playthings of children. It was not unpleasant to see, on the one side,
how they looked big, when they compared their rich habits with the plain
clothes of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to see them
make their entry; and, on the other, to observe how much they were
mistaken in the impression which they hoped this pomp would have made on
them. It appeared so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred out
of their country, and had not seen the customs of other nations, that
though they paid some reverence to those that were the most meanly clad,
as if they had been the ambassadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors
themselves so full of gold and chains, they looked upon them as slaves,
and forbore to treat them with reverence. You might have seen the
children who were grown big enough to despise their playthings, and who
had thrown away their jewels, call to their mothers, push them gently,
and cry out, 'See that great fool, that wears pearls and gems as if he
were yet a child!' while their mothers very innocently replied, 'Hold
your peace! this, I believe, is one of the ambassadors' fools.' Others
censured the fashion of their chains, and observed, 'That they were of no
use, for they were too slight to bind their slaves, who could easily
break them; and, besides, hung so loose about them that they thought it
easy to throw their away, and so get from them." But after the
ambassadors had stayed a day among them, and saw so vast a quantity of
gold in their houses (which was as much despised by them as it was
esteemed in other nations), and beheld more gold and silver in the chains
and fetters of one slave than all their ornaments amounted to, their
plumes fell, and they were ashamed of all that glory for which they had
formed valued themselves, and accordingly laid it aside--a resolution
that they immediately took when, on their engaging in some free discourse
with the Utopians, they discovered their sense of such things and their
other customs. The Utopians wonder how any man should be so much taken
with the glaring doubtful lustre of a jewel or a stone, that can look up
to a star or to the sun himself; or how any should value himself because
his cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever that thread may
be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and that sheep, was
a sheep still, for all its wearing it. They wonder much to hear that
gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much
esteemed that even man, for whom it was made, and by whom it has its
value, should yet be thought of less value than this metal; that a man of
lead, who has no more sense than a log of wood, and is as bad as he is
foolish, should have many wise and good men to serve him, only because he
has a great heap of that metal; and that if it should happen that by some
accident or trick of law (which, sometimes produces as great changes as
chance itself) all this wealth should pass from the master to the meanest
varlet of his whole family, he himself would very soon become one of his
servants, as if he were a thing that belonged to his wealth, and so were
bound to follow its fortune! But they much more admire and detest the
folly of those who, when they see a rich man, though they neither owe him
anything, nor are in any sort dependent on his bounty, yet, merely
because he is rich, give him little less than divine honours, even though
they know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding all
his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as long as
he lives!

"These and such like notions have that people imbibed, partly from their
education, being bred in a country whose customs and laws are opposite to
all such foolish maxims, and partly from their learning and studies--for
though there are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from
labour as to give themselves entirely up to their studies (these being
only such persons as discover from their childhood an extraordinary
capacity and disposition for letters), yet their children and a great
part of the nation, both men and women, are taught to spend those hours
in which they are not obliged to work in reading; and this they do
through the whole progress of life. They have all their learning in
their own tongue, which is both a copious and pleasant language, and in
which a man can fully express his mind; it runs over a great tract of
many countries, but it is not equally pure in all places. They had never
so much as heard of the names of any of those philosophers that are so
famous in these parts of the world, before we went among them; and yet
they had made the same discoveries as the Greeks, both in music, logic,
arithmetic, and geometry. But as they are almost in everything equal to
the ancient philosophers, so they far exceed our modern logicians for
they have never yet fallen upon the barbarous niceties that our youth are
forced to learn in those trifling logical schools that are among us. They
are so far from minding chimeras and fantastical images made in the mind

glory in them during their childhood; but when they grow to years, and

see that none but children use such baubles, they of their own accord,

without being bid by their parents, lay them aside, and would be as much

ashamed to use them afterwards as children among us, when they come to

years, are of their puppets and other toys.

"I never saw a clearer instance of the opposite impressions that

different customs make on people than I observed in the ambassadors of

the Anemolians, who came to Amaurot when I was there. As they came to

treat of affairs of great consequence, the deputies from several towns

met together to wait for their coming. The ambassadors of the nations

that lie near Utopia, knowing their customs, and that fine clothes are in

no esteem among them, that silk is despised, and gold is a badge of

infamy, used to come very modestly clothed; but the Anemolians, lying

more remote, and having had little commerce with them, understanding that

they were coarsely clothed, and all in the same manner, took it for

granted that they had none of those fine things among them of which they

made no use; and they, being a vainglorious rather than a wise people,

resolved to set themselves out with so much pomp that they should look

like gods, and strike the eyes of the poor Utopians with their splendour.

Thus three ambassadors made their entry with a hundred attendants, all

clad in garments of different colours, and the greater part in silk; the

ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility of their country, were

in cloth-of-gold, and adorned with massy chains, earrings and rings of

gold; their caps were covered with bracelets set full of pearls and other

gems--in a word, they were set out with all those things that among the

Utopians were either the badges of slavery, the marks of infamy, or the

playthings of children. It was not unpleasant to see, on the one side,

how they looked big, when they compared their rich habits with the plain

clothes of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to see them

make their entry; and, on the other, to observe how much they were

mistaken in the impression which they hoped this pomp would have made on

them. It appeared so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred out

of their country, and had not seen the customs of other nations, that

though they paid some reverence to those that were the most meanly clad,

as if they had been the ambassadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors

themselves so full of gold and chains, they looked upon them as slaves,

and forbore to treat them with reverence. You might have seen the

children who were grown big enough to despise their playthings, and who

had thrown away their jewels, call to their mothers, push them gently,

and cry out, 'See that great fool, that wears pearls and gems as if he

were yet a child!' while their mothers very innocently replied, 'Hold

your peace! this, I believe, is one of the ambassadors' fools.' Others

censured the fashion of their chains, and observed, 'That they were of no

use, for they were too slight to bind their slaves, who could easily

break them; and, besides, hung so loose about them that they thought it

easy to throw their away, and so get from them." But after the

ambassadors had stayed a day among them, and saw so vast a quantity of

gold in their houses (which was as much despised by them as it was

esteemed in other nations), and beheld more gold and silver in the chains

and fetters of one slave than all their ornaments amounted to, their

plumes fell, and they were ashamed of all that glory for which they had

formed valued themselves, and accordingly laid it aside--a resolution

that they immediately took when, on their engaging in some free discourse

with the Utopians, they discovered their sense of such things and their

other customs. The Utopians wonder how any man should be so much taken

with the glaring doubtful lustre of a jewel or a stone, that can look up

to a star or to the sun himself; or how any should value himself because

his cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever that thread may

be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and that sheep, was

a sheep still, for all its wearing it. They wonder much to hear that

gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much

esteemed that even man, for whom it was made, and by whom it has its

value, should yet be thought of less value than this metal; that a man of

lead, who has no more sense than a log of wood, and is as bad as he is

foolish, should have many wise and good men to serve him, only because he

has a great heap of that metal; and that if it should happen that by some

accident or trick of law (which, sometimes produces as great changes as

chance itself) all this wealth should pass from the master to the meanest

varlet of his whole family, he himself would very soon become one of his

servants, as if he were a thing that belonged to his wealth, and so were

bound to follow its fortune! But they much more admire and detest the

folly of those who, when they see a rich man, though they neither owe him

anything, nor are in any sort dependent on his bounty, yet, merely

because he is rich, give him little less than divine honours, even though

they know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding all

his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as long as

he lives!

"These and such like notions have that people imbibed, partly from their

education, being bred in a country whose customs and laws are opposite to

all such foolish maxims, and partly from their learning and studies--for

though there are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from

labour as to give themselves entirely up to their studies (these being

only such persons as discover from their childhood an extraordinary

capacity and disposition for letters), yet their children and a great

part of the nation, both men and women, are taught to spend those hours

in which they are not obliged to work in reading; and this they do

through the whole progress of life. They have all their learning in

their own tongue, which is both a copious and pleasant language, and in

which a man can fully express his mind; it runs over a great tract of

many countries, but it is not equally pure in all places. They had never

so much as heard of the names of any of those philosophers that are so

famous in these parts of the world, before we went among them; and yet

they had made the same discoveries as the Greeks, both in music, logic,

arithmetic, and geometry. But as they are almost in everything equal to

the ancient philosophers, so they far exceed our modern logicians for

they have never yet fallen upon the barbarous niceties that our youth are

forced to learn in those trifling logical schools that are among us. They

are so far from minding chimeras and fantastical images made in the mind