at the head is a prince who is elected for life, but can be deposed for tyranny.
Family life is patriarchal; married sons live in their father's house, and are governed by him,
unless he is in his dotage. If any family grows too large, the surplus children are moved into
another family. If a town grows too large, some of the inhabitants are moved into another town. If
all the towns are too large, a new town is built on waste land. Nothing is said as to what is to be
done when all the waste land is used up. All killing of beasts for food is done by bondmen, lest
free citizens should learn cruelty. There are hospitals for the sick, which are so excellent that
people who are ill prefer them. Eating at home is permitted, but most people eat in common halls.
Here the "vile service" is done by bondmen, but the cooking is done by women and the waiting by
the older children. Men sic at one bench, women at another; nursing mothers, with children under
five, are in a separate parlour. All women nurse their own children. Children over five, if too
young to be waiters, "stand by with marvellous silence," while their elders eat; they have no
separate dinner, but must be content with such scraps as are given them from the table.
As for marriage, both men and women are sharply punished if not virgin when they marry; and the
householder of any house in which misconduct has occurred is liable to incur infamy for
carelessness. Before marriage, bride and groom see each other naked; no one would buy a horse
without first taking off the saddle and bridle, and similar considerations should apply in marriage.
There is divorce for adultery or "intolerable waywardness" of either party, but the guilty party
cannot remarry. Sometimes divorce is granted solely because both parties desire it. Breakers of
wedlock are punished by bondage.
There is foreign trade, chiefly for the purpose of getting iron, of which there is none in the island.
Trade is used also for purposes connected with war. The Utopians think nothing of martial glory,
though all learn how to fight, women as well as men. They resort to war for three purposes: to
defend their own territory when invaded; to deliver the territory of an ally from invaders; and to
free an oppressed nation from tyranny. But whenever they can, they get mercenaries to fight their
wars for them. They aim at getting other nations into their debt, and letting them work off the debt
by supplying mercenaries. For war purposes also they find a store of gold and silver useful, since