THE CITY OF THE SUN
By Tommaso Campanella
A Poetical Dialogue between a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitallers
and a Genoese Sea-Captain, his guest.
G.M. Prithee, now, tell me what happened to you during that voyage?
Capt. I have already told you how I wandered over the whole earth. In
the course of my journeying I came to Taprobane, and was compelled to go
ashore at a place, where through fear of the inhabitants I remained in
a wood. When I stepped out of this I found myself on a large plain
immediately under the equator.
G.M. And what befell you here?
Capt. I came upon a large crowd of men and armed women, many of whom did
not understand our language, and they conducted me forthwith to the City
of the Sun.
G.M. Tell me after what plan this city is built and how it is governed.
Capt. The greater part of the city is built upon a high hill, which
rises from an extensive plain, but several of its circles extend for
some distance beyond the base of the hill, which is of such a size
that the diameter of the city is upward of two miles, so that its
circumference becomes about seven. On account of the humped shape of the
mountain, however, the diameter of the city is really more than if it
were built on a plain.
It is divided into seven rings or huge circles named from the seven
planets, and the way from one to the other of these is by four streets
and through four gates, that look toward the four points of the compass.
Furthermore, it is so built that if the first circle were stormed, it
would of necessity entail a double amount of energy to storm the second;
still more to storm the third; and in each succeeding case the strength
and energy would have to be doubled; so that he who wishes to capture
that city must, as it were, storm it seven times. For my own part,
however, I think that not even the first wall could be occupied, so
thick are the earthworks and so well fortified is it with breastworks,
towers, guns, and ditches.
When I had been taken through the northern gate (which is shut with an
iron door so wrought that it can be raised and let down, and locked in
easily and strongly, its projections running into the grooves of
the thick posts by a marvellous device), I saw a level space seventy
paces (1) wide between the first and second walls. From hence can be seen
large palaces, all joined to the wall of the second circuit in such
a manner as to appear all one palace. Arches run on a level with the
middle height of the palaces, and are continued round the whole ring.
There are galleries for promenading upon these arches, which are
supported from beneath by thick and well-shaped columns, enclosing
arcades like peristyles, or cloisters of an abbey.
But the palaces have no entrances from below, except on the inner or
concave partition, from which one enters directly to the lower parts
of the building. The higher parts, however, are reached by flights of
marble steps, which lead to galleries for promenading on the inside
similar to those on the outside. From these one enters the higher rooms,
which are very beautiful, and have windows on the concave and convex
partitions. These rooms are divided from one another by richly decorated
walls. The convex or outer wall of the ring is about eight spans thick;
the concave, three; the intermediate walls are one, or perhaps one and a
half. Leaving this circle one gets to the second plain, which is nearly
three paces narrower than the first. Then the first wall of the second
ring is seen adorned above and below with similar galleries for walking,
and there is on the inside of it another interior wall enclosing
palaces. It has also similar peristyles supported by columns in the
lower part, but above are excellent pictures, round the ways into the
upper houses. And so on afterward through similar spaces and double
walls, enclosing palaces, and adorned with galleries for walking,
extending along their outer side, and supported by columns, till the
last circuit is reached, the way being still over a level plain.
But when the two gates, that is to say, those of the outmost and the
inmost walls, have been passed, one mounts by means of steps so formed
that an ascent is scarcely discernible, since it proceeds in a slanting
direction, and the steps succeed one another at almost imperceptible
heights. On the top of the hill is a rather spacious plain, and in the
midst of this there rises a temple built with wondrous art.
G.M. Tell on, I pray you! Tell on! I am dying to hear more.
Capt. The temple is built in the form of a circle; it is not girt with
walls, but stands upon thick columns, beautifully grouped. A very large
dome, built with great care in the centre or pole, contains another
small vault as it were rising out of it, and in this is a spiracle,
which is right over the altar. There is but one altar in the middle of
the temple, and this is hedged round by columns. The temple itself is on
a space of more than 350 paces. Without it, arches measuring about eight
paces extend from the heads of the columns outward, whence other columns
rise about three paces from the thick, strong, and erect wall. Between
these and the former columns there are galleries for walking, with
beautiful pavements, and in the recess of the wall, which is adorned
with numerous large doors, there are immovable seats, placed as it were
between the inside columns, supporting the temple. Portable chairs are
not wanting, many and well adorned. Nothing is seen over the altar but
a large globe, upon which the heavenly bodies are painted, and another
globe upon which there is a representation of the earth. Furthermore, in
the vault of the dome there can be discerned representations of all the
stars of heaven from the first to the sixth magnitude, with their proper
names and power to influence terrestrial things marked in three little
verses for each. There are the poles and greater and lesser circles
according to the right latitude of the place, but these are not perfect
because there is no wall below. They seem, too, to be made in their
relation to the globes on the altar. The pavement of the temple is
bright with precious stones. Its seven golden lamps hang always burning,
and these bear the names of the seven planets.
At the top of the building several small and beautiful cells surround
the small dome, and behind the level space above the bands or arches of
the exterior and interior columns there are many cells, both small and
large, where the priests and religious officers dwell to the number of
forty-nine.
A revolving flag projects from the smaller dome, and this shows in what
quarter the wind is. The flag is marked with figures up to thirty-six,
and the priests know what sort of year the different kinds of winds
bring and what will be the changes of weather on land and sea.
Furthermore, under the flag a book is always kept written with letters
of gold.
G.M. I pray you, worthy hero, explain to me their whole system of
government; for I am anxious to hear it.
Capt. The great ruler among them is a priest whom they call by the
name Hoh, though we should call him Metaphysic. He is head over all,
in temporal and spiritual matters, and all business and lawsuits
are settled by him, as the supreme authority. Three princes of equal
power--viz., Pon, Sin, and Mor--assist him, and these in our tongue we
should call Power, Wisdom, and Love. To Power belongs the care of all
matters relating to war and peace. He attends to the military arts, and,
next to Hoh, he is ruler in every affair of a warlike nature. He governs
the military magistrates and the soldiers, and has the management of the
munitions, the fortifications, the storming of places, the implements of
war, the armories, the smiths and workmen connected with matters of this
sort.
But Wisdom is the ruler of the liberal arts, of mechanics, of all
sciences with their magistrates and doctors, and of the discipline of
the schools. As many doctors as there are, are under his control. There
is one doctor who is called Astrologus; a second, Cosmographus; a third,
Arithmeticus; a fourth, Geometra; a fifth, Historiographus; a sixth,
Poeta; a seventh, Logicus; an eighth, Rhetor; a ninth, Grammaticus;
a tenth, Medicus; an eleventh, Physiologus; a twelfth, Politicus; a
thirteenth, Moralis. They have but one book, which they call Wisdom,
and in it all the sciences are written with conciseness and marvellous
fluency of expression. This they read to the people after the custom of
the Pythagoreans. It is Wisdom who causes the exterior and interior,
the higher and lower walls of the city to be adorned with the finest
pictures, and to have all the sciences painted upon them in an admirable
manner. On the walls of the temple and on the dome, which is let down
when the priest gives an address, lest the sounds of his voice, being
scattered, should fly away from his audience, there are pictures of
stars in their different magnitudes, with the powers and motions of
each, expressed separately in three little verses.
On the interior wall of the first circuit all the mathematical figures
are conspicuously painted--figures more in number than Archimedes or
Euclid discovered, marked symmetrically, and with the explanation of
them neatly written and contained each in a little verse. There are
definitions and propositions, etc. On the exterior convex wall is first
an immense drawing of the whole earth, given at one view. Following upon
this, there are tablets setting forth for every separate country the
customs both public and private, the laws, the origins and the power of
the inhabitants; and the alphabets the different people use can be seen
above that of the City of the Sun.
On the inside of the second circuit, that is to say of the second ring
of buildings, paintings of all kinds of precious and common stones, of
minerals and metals, are seen; and a little piece of the metal itself
is also there with an apposite explanation in two small verses for each
metal or stone. On the outside are marked all the seas, rivers, lakes,
and streams which are on the face of the earth; as are also the wines
and the oils and the different liquids, with the sources from which the
last are extracted, their qualities and strength. There are also vessels
built into the wall above the arches, and these are full of liquids from
one to 300 years old, which cure all diseases. Hail and snow, storms and
thunder, and whatever else takes place in the air, are represented with
suitable figures and little verses. The inhabitants even have the art
of representing in stone all the phenomena of the air, such as the wind,
rain, thunder, the rainbow, etc.
On the interior of the third circuit all the different families of trees
and herbs are depicted, and there is a live specimen of each plant in
earthenware vessels placed upon the outer partition of the arches. With
the specimens there are explanations as to where they were first found,
what are their powers and natures, and resemblances to celestial things
and to metals, to parts of the human body and to things in the sea, and
also as to their uses in medicine, etc. On the exterior wall are all
the races of fish found in rivers, lakes, and seas, and their habits
and values, and ways of breeding, training, and living, the purposes
for which they exist in the world, and their uses to man. Further,
their resemblances to celestial and terrestrial things, produced both
by nature and art, are so given that I was astonished when I saw a fish
which was like a bishop, one like a chain, another like a garment, a
fourth like a nail, a fifth like a star, and others like images of those
things existing among us, the relation in each case being completely
manifest. There are sea-urchins to be seen, and the purple shell-fish
and mussels; and whatever the watery world possesses worthy of being
known is there fully shown in marvellous characters of painting and
drawing.
On the fourth interior wall all the different kinds of birds are
painted, with their natures, sizes, customs, colors, manner of living,
etc.; and the only real phoenix is possessed by the inhabitants of
this city. On the exterior are shown all the races of creeping animals,
serpents, dragons, and worms; the insects, the flies, gnats, beetles,
etc., in their different states, strength, venoms, and uses, and a great
deal more than you or I can think of.
On the fifth interior they have all the larger animals of the earth, as
many in number as would astonish you. We indeed know not the thousandth
part of them, for on the exterior wall also a great many of immense size
are also portrayed. To be sure, of horses alone, how great a number
of breeds there is and how beautiful are the forms there cleverly
displayed!
On the sixth interior are painted all the mechanical arts, with the
several instruments for each and their manner of use among different
nations. Alongside, the dignity of such is placed, and their several
inventors are named. But on the exterior all the inventors in science,
in warfare, and in law are represented. There I saw Moses, Osiris,
Jupiter, Mercury, Lycurgus, Pompilius, Pythagoras, Zamolxis, Solon,
Charondas, Phoroneus, with very many others. They even have Mahomet,
whom nevertheless they hate as a false and sordid legislator. In the
most dignified position I saw a representation of Jesus Christ and
of the twelve Apostles, whom they consider very worthy and hold to be
great. Of the representations of men, I perceived Caesar, Alexander,
Pyrrhus, and Hannibal in the highest place; and other very renowned
heroes in peace and war, especially Roman heroes, were painted in lower
positions, under the galleries. And when I asked with astonishment
whence they had obtained our history, they told me that among them
there was a knowledge of all languages, and that by perseverance they
continually send explorers and ambassadors over the whole earth, who
learn thoroughly the customs, forces, rule and histories of the nations,
bad and good alike. These they apply all to their own republic, and with
this they are well pleased. I learned that cannon and typography were
invented by the Chinese before we knew of them. There are magistrates
who announce the meaning of the pictures, and boys are accustomed to
learn all the sciences, without toil and as if for pleasure; but in the
way of history only until they are ten years old.
Love is foremost in attending to the charge of the race. He sees that
men and women are so joined together, that they bring forth the best
offspring. Indeed, they laugh at us who exhibit a studious care for our
breed of horses and dogs, but neglect the breeding of human beings. Thus
the education of the children is under his rule. So also is the medicine
that is sold, the sowing and collecting of fruits of the earth and of
trees, agriculture, pasturage, the preparations for the months, the
cooking arrangements, and whatever has any reference to food, clothing,
and the intercourse of the sexes. Love himself is ruler, but there are
many male and female magistrates dedicated to these arts.
Metaphysic, then, with these three rulers, manages all the above-named
matters, and even by himself alone nothing is done; all business is
discharged by the four together, but in whatever Metaphysic inclines to
the rest are sure to agree.
G.M. Tell me, please, of the magistrates, their services and duties, of
the education and mode of living, whether the government is a monarchy,
a republic, or an aristocracy.
Capt. This race of men came there from India, flying from the sword of
the Magi, a race of plunderers and tyrants who laid waste their country,
and they determined to lead a philosophic life in fellowship with one
another. Although the community of wives is not instituted among the
other inhabitants of their province, among them it is in use after this
manner: All things are common with them, and their dispensation is by
the authority of the magistrates. Arts and honors and pleasures are
common, and are held in such a manner that no one can appropriate
anything to himself.
They say that all private property is acquired and improved for the
reason that each one of us by himself has his own home and wife and
children. From this, self-love springs. For when we raise a son to
riches and dignities, and leave an heir to much wealth, we become either
ready to grasp at the property of the State, if in any case fear
should be removed from the power which belongs to riches and rank; or
avaricious, crafty, and hypocritical, if anyone is of slender purse,
little strength, and mean ancestry. But when we have taken away
self-love, there remains only love for the State.
G.M. Under such circumstances no one will be willing to labor, while
he expects others to work, on the fruit of whose labors he can live, as
Aristotle argues against Plato.
Capt. I do not know how to deal with that argument, but I declare to
you that they burn with so great a love for their fatherland, as I could
scarcely have believed possible; and indeed with much more than the
histories tell us belonged to the Romans, who fell willingly for their
country, inasmuch as they have to a greater extent surrendered their
private property. I think truly that the friars and monks and clergy
of our country, if they were not weakened by love for their kindred and
friends or by the ambition to rise to higher dignities, would be less
fond of property, and more imbued with a spirit of charity toward all,
as it was in the time of the apostles, and is now in a great many cases.
G.M. St. Augustine may say that, but I say that among this race of
men, friendship is worth nothing, since they have not the chance of
conferring mutual benefits on one another.
Capt. Nay, indeed. For it is worth the trouble to see that no one
can receive gifts from another. Whatever is necessary they have, they
receive it from the community, and the magistrate takes care that no
one receives more than he deserves. Yet nothing necessary is denied to
anyone. Friendship is recognized among them in war, in infirmity, in the
art contests, by which means they aid one another mutually by
teaching. Sometimes they improve themselves mutually with praises, with
conversation, with actions, and out of the things they need. All those
of the same age call one another brothers. They call all over twenty-two
years of age, fathers; those that are less than twenty-two are named
sons. Moreover, the magistrates govern well, so that no one in the
fraternity can do injury to another.
G.M. And how?
Capt. As many names of virtues as there are among us, so many
magistrates there are among them. There is a magistrate who is named
Magnanimity, another Fortitude, a third Chastity, a fourth Liberality,
a fifth Criminal and Civil Justice, a sixth Comfort, a seventh Truth, an
eighth Kindness, a tenth Gratitude, an eleventh Cheerfulness, a twelfth
Exercise, a thirteenth Sobriety, etc. They are elected to duties of that
kind, each one to that duty for excellence in which he is known from
boyhood to be most suitable. Wherefore among them neither robbery nor
clever murders, nor lewdness, incest, adultery, or other crimes of
which we accuse one another, can be found. They accuse themselves of
ingratitude and malignity when anyone denies a lawful satisfaction to
another of indolence, of sadness, of anger, of scurrility, of slander,
and of lying, which curseful thing they thoroughly hate. Accused persons
undergoing punishment are deprived of the common table, and other
honors, until the judge thinks that they agree with their correction.
G.M. Tell me the manner in which the magistrates are chosen.
Capt. You would not rightly understand this, unless you first learned
their manner of living. That you may know, then, men and women wear the
same kind of garment, suited for war. The women wear the toga below the
knee, but the men above; and both sexes are instructed in all the arts
together. When this has been done as a start, and before their third
year, the boys learn the language and the alphabet on the walls by
walking round them. They have four leaders, and four elders, the first
to direct them, the second to teach them, and these are men approved
beyond all others. After some time they exercise themselves with
gymnastics, running, quoits, and other games, by means of which all
their muscles are strengthened alike. Their feet are always bare, and so
are their heads as far as the seventh ring. Afterward they lead them to
the offices of the trades, such as shoemaking, cooking, metal-working,
carpentry, painting, etc. In order to find out the bent of the genius of
each one, after their seventh year, when they have already gone through
the mathematics on the walls, they take them to the readings of all the
sciences; there are four lectures at each reading, and in the course of
four hours the four in their order explain everything.
For some take physical exercise or busy themselves with public services
or functions, others apply themselves to reading. Leaving these studies
all are devoted to the more abstruse subjects, to mathematics, to
medicine, and to other sciences. There are continual debate and studied
argument among them, and after a time they become magistrates of those
sciences or mechanical arts in which they are the most proficient; for
everyone follows the opinion of his leader and judge, and goes out to
the plains to the works of the field, and for the purpose of becoming
acquainted with the pasturage of the dumb animals. And they consider him
the more noble and renowned who has dedicated himself to the study of
the most arts and knows how to practise them wisely. Wherefore they
laugh at us in that we consider our workmen ignoble, and hold those to
be noble who have mastered no pursuit, but live in ease and are so many
slaves given over to their own pleasure and lasciviousness; and thus, as
it were, from a school of vices so many idle and wicked fellows go forth
for the ruin of the State.
The rest of the officials, however, are chosen by the four chiefs, Hoh,
Pon, Sin and Mor, and by the teachers of that art over which they are
fit to preside. And these teachers know well who is most suited for
rule. Certain men are proposed by the magistrates in council, they
themselves not seeking to become candidates, and he opposes who knows
anything against those brought forward for election, or, if not, speaks
in favor of them. But no one attains to the dignity of Hoh except him
who knows the histories of the nations, and their customs and sacrifices
and laws, and their form of government, whether a republic or a
monarchy. He must also know the names of the lawgivers and the inventors
in science, and the laws and the history of the earth and the heavenly
bodies. They think it also necessary that he should understand all
the mechanical arts, the physical sciences, astrology and mathematics.
Nearly every two days they teach our mechanical art. They are not
allowed to overwork themselves, but frequent practice and the paintings
render learning easy to them. Not too much care is given to the
cultivation of languages, as they have a goodly number of interpreters
who are grammarians in the State. But beyond everything else it is
necessary that Hoh should understand metaphysics and theology; that he
should know thoroughly the derivations, foundations, and demonstrations
of all the arts and sciences; the likeness and difference of things;
necessity, fate, and the harmonies of the universe; power, wisdom,
and the love of things and of God; the stages of life and its symbols;
everything relating to the heavens, the earth, and the sea; and the
ideas of God, as much as mortal man can know of him. He must also be
well read in the prophets and in astrology. And thus they know long
beforehand who will be Hoh. He is not chosen to so great a dignity
unless he has attained his thirty-fifth year. And this office is
perpetual, because it is not known who may be too wise for it or who too
skilled in ruling.
G.M. Who indeed can be so wise? If even anyone has a knowledge of the
sciences it seems that he must be unskilled in ruling.
Capt. This very question I asked them and they replied thus: "We,
indeed, are more certain that such a very learned man has the knowledge
of governing, than you who place ignorant persons in authority, and
consider them suitable merely because they have sprung from rulers or
have been chosen by a powerful faction. But our Hoh, a man really the
most capable to rule, is for all that never cruel nor wicked, nor a
tyrant, inasmuch as he possesses so much wisdom. This, moreover, is not
unknown to you, that the same argument cannot apply among you, when you
consider that man the most learned who knows most of grammar, or logic,
or of Aristotle or any other author. For such knowledge as this of
yours much servile labor and memory work are required, so that a man is
rendered unskilful, since he has contemplated nothing but the words of
books and has given his mind with useless result to the consideration of
the dead signs of things. Hence he knows not in what way God rules the
universe, nor the ways and customs of nature and the nations. Wherefore
he is not equal to our Hoh. For that one cannot know so many arts and
sciences thoroughly, who is not esteemed for skilled ingenuity, very apt
at all things, and therefore at ruling especially. This also is plain to
us that he who knows only one science, does not really know either
that or the others, and he who is suited for only one science and has
gathered his knowledge from books, is unlearned and unskilled. But this
is not the case with intellects prompt and expert in every branch of
knowledge and suitable for the consideration of natural objects, as it
is necessary that our Hoh should be. Besides in our State the sciences
are taught with a facility (as you have seen) by which more scholars are
turned out by us in one year than by you in ten, or even fifteen. Make
trial, I pray you, of these boys."
In this matter I was struck with astonishment at their truthful
discourse and at the trial of their boys, who did not understand my
language well. Indeed it is necessary that three of them should be
skilled in our tongue, three in Arabic, three in Polish, and three in
each of the other languages, and no recreation is allowed them unless
they become more learned. For that they go out to the plain for the
sake of running about and hurling arrows and lances, and of firing
harquebuses, and for the sake of hunting the wild animals and getting a
knowledge of plants and stones, and agriculture and pasturage; sometimes
the band of boys does one thing, sometimes another.
They do not consider it necessary that the three rulers assisting Hoh
should know other than the arts having reference to their rule, and so
they have only a historical knowledge of the arts which are common to
all. But their own they know well, to which certainly one is dedicated
more than another. Thus Power is the most learned in the equestrian art,
in marshalling the army, in the marking out of camps, in the manufacture
of every kind of weapon and of warlike machines, in planning stratagems,
and in every affair of a military nature. And for these reasons, they
consider it necessary that these chiefs should have been philosophers,
historians, politicians, and physicists. Concerning the other two
triumvirs, understand remarks similar to those I have made about Power.
G.M. I really wish that you would recount all their public duties, and
would distinguish between them, and also that you would tell clearly how
they are all taught in common.
Capt. They have dwellings in common and dormitories, and couches and
other necessaries. But at the end of every six months they are separated
by the masters. Some shall sleep in this ring, some in another; some in
the first apartment, and some in the second; and these apartments are
marked by means of the alphabet on the lintel. There are occupations,
mechanical and theoretical, common to both men and women, with this
difference, that the occupations which require more hard work, and
walking a long distance, are practised by men, such as ploughing,
sowing, gathering the fruits, working at the threshing-floor, and
perchance at the vintage. But it is customary to choose women for
milking the cows and for making cheese. In like manner, they go to the
gardens near to the outskirts of the city both for collecting the plants
and for cultivating them. In fact, all sedentary and stationary pursuits
are practised by the women, such as weaving, spinning, sewing, cutting
the hair, shaving, dispensing medicines, and making all kinds of
garments. They are, however, excluded from working in wood and the
manufacture of arms. If a woman is fit to paint, she is not prevented
from doing so; nevertheless, music is given over to the women alone,
because they please the more, and of a truth to boys also. But the women
have not the practise of the drum and the horn.
And they prepare their feasts and arrange the tables in the following
manner. It is the peculiar work of the boys and girls under twenty to
wait at the tables. In every ring there are suitable kitchens,
barns, and stores of utensils for eating and drinking, and over every
department an old man and an old woman preside. These two have at once
the command of those who serve, and the power of chastising, or causing
to be chastised, those who are negligent or disobedient; and they also
examine and mark each one, both male and female, who excels in his or
her duties.
All the young people wait upon the older ones who have passed the age of
forty, and in the evening when they go to sleep the master and mistress
command that those should be sent to work in the morning, upon whom in
succession the duty falls, one or two to separate apartments. The
young people, however, wait upon one another, and that alas! with some
unwillingness. They have first and second tables, and on both sides
there are seats. On one side sit the women, on the other the men; and
as in the refectories of the monks, there is no noise. While they are
eating a young man reads a book from a platform, intoning distinctly
and sonorously, and often the magistrates question them upon the more
important parts of the reading. And truly it is pleasant to observe in
what manner these young people, so beautiful and clothed in garments so
suitable, attend to them, and to see at the same time so many friends,
brothers, sons, fathers, and mothers all in their turn living together
with so much honesty, propriety, and love. So each one is given a
napkin, a plate, fish, and a dish of food. It is the duty of the medical
officers to tell the cooks what repasts shall be prepared on each day,
and what food for the old, what for the young, and what for the sick.
The magistrates receive the full-grown and fatter portion, and they from
their share always distribute something to the boys at the table who
have shown themselves more studious in the morning at the lectures and
debates concerning wisdom and arms. And this is held to be one of the
most distinguished honors. For six days they ordain to sing with music
at table. Only a few, however, sing; or there is one voice accompanying
the lute and one for each other instrument. And when all alike in
service join their hands, nothing is found to be wanting. The old men
placed at the head of the cooking business and of the refectories of the
servants praise the cleanliness of the streets, the houses, the vessels,
the garments, the workshops, and the warehouses.
They wear white under-garments to which adheres a covering, which is at
once coat and legging, without wrinkles. The borders of the fastenings
are furnished with globular buttons, extended round and caught up here
and there by chains. The coverings of the legs descend to the shoes and
are continued even to the heels. Then they cover the feet with large
socks, or, as it were, half-buskins fastened by buckles, over which they
wear a half-boot, and besides, as I have already said, they are clothed
with a toga. And so aptly fitting are the garments, that when the toga
is destroyed, the different parts of the whole body are straightway
discerned, no part being concealed. They change their clothes for
different ones four times in the year, that is when the sun enters
respectively the constellations Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, and
according to the circumstances and necessity as decided by the officer
of health. The keepers of clothes for the different rings are wont to
distribute them, and it is marvellous that they have at the same time
as many garments as there is need for, some heavy and some slight,
according to the weather. They all use white clothing, and this is
washed in each month with lye or soap, as are also the workshops of the
lower trades, the kitchens, the pantries the barns, the store-houses,
the armories, the refectories, and the baths.
Moreover, the clothes are washed at the pillars of the peristyles, and
the water is brought down by means of canals which are continued as
sewers. In every street of the different rings there are suitable
fountains, which send forth their water by means of canals, the water
being drawn up from nearly the bottom of the mountain by the sole
movement of a cleverly contrived handle. There is water in fountains
and in cisterns, whither the rain-water collected from the roofs of the
houses is brought through pipes full of sand. They wash their bodies
often, according as the doctor and master command. All the mechanical
arts are practised under the peristyles, but the speculative are carried
on above in the walking galleries and ramparts where are the more
splendid paintings, but the more sacred ones are taught in the temple.
In the halls and wings of the rings there are solar time-pieces and
bells, and hands by which the hours and seasons are marked off.
G.M. Tell me about their children.
Capt. When their women have brought forth children, they suckle and rear
them in temples set apart for all. They give milk for two years or more
as the physician orders. After that time the weaned child is given into
the charge of the mistresses, if it is a female, and to the masters,
if it is a male. And then with other young children they are pleasantly
instructed in the alphabet, and in the knowledge of the pictures, and in
running, walking, and wrestling; also in the historical drawings, and
in languages; and they are adorned with a suitable garment of different
colors. After their sixth year they are taught natural science, and then
the mechanical sciences. The men who are weak in intellect are sent
to farms, and when they have become more proficient some of them are
received into the State. And those of the same age and born under the
same constellation are especially like one another in strength and in
appearance, and hence arises much lasting concord in the State, these
men honoring one another with mutual love and help. Names are given
to them by Metaphysicus, and that not by chance, but designedly, and
according to each one's peculiarity, as was the custom among the
ancient Romans. Wherefore one is called Beautiful (Pulcher), another
the Big-nosed (Naso), another the Fat-legged (Cranipes), another Crooked
(Torvus), another Lean (Macer), and so on. But when they have become
very skilled in their professions and done any great deed in war or in
time of peace, a cognomen from art is given to them, such as Beautiful
the Great Painter (Pulcher, Pictor Magnus), the Golden One (Aureus),
the Excellent One (Excellens), or the Strong (Strenuus); or from their
deeds, such as Naso the Brave (Nason Fortis), or the Cunning, or the
Great, or Very Great Conqueror; or from the enemy anyone has overcome,
Africanus, Asiaticus, Etruscus; or if anyone has overcome Manfred or
Tortelius, he is called Macer Manfred or Tortelius, and so on. All these
cognomens are added by the higher magistrates, and very often with a
crown suitable to the deed or art, and with the flourish of music.
For gold and silver are reckoned of little value among them except as
material for their vessels and ornaments, which are common to all.
G.M. Tell me, I pray you, is there no jealousy among them or
disappointment to that one who has not been elected to a magistracy, or
to any other dignity to which he aspires?
Capt. Certainly not. For no one wants either necessaries or luxuries.
Moreover, the race is managed for the good of the commonwealth, and not
of private individuals, and the magistrates must be obeyed. They deny
what we hold--viz., that it is natural to man to recognize his offspring
and to educate them, and to use his wife and house and children as his
own. For they say that children are bred for the preservation of the
species and not for individual pleasure, as St. Thomas also asserts.
Therefore the breeding of children has reference to the commonwealth,
and not to individuals, except in so far as they are constituents of
the commonwealth. And since individuals for the most part bring forth
children wrongly and educate them wrongly, they consider that they
remove destruction from the State, and therefore for this reason, with
most sacred fear, they commit the education of the children, who, as it
were, are the element of the republic, to the care of magistrates;
for the safety of the community is not that of a few. And thus they
distribute male and female breeders of the best natures according to
philosophical rules. Plato thinks that this distribution ought to be
made by lot, lest some men seeing that they are kept away from the
beautiful women, should rise up with anger and hatred against the
magistrates; and he thinks further that those who do not deserve
cohabitation with the more beautiful women, should be deceived while the
lots are being led out of the city by the magistrates, so that at all
times the women who are suitable should fall to their lot, not those
whom they desire. This shrewdness, however, is not necessary among the
inhabitants of the City of the Sun. For with them deformity is unknown.
When the women are exercised they get a clear complexion, and become
strong of limb, tall and agile, and with them beauty consists in
tallness and strength. Therefore, if any woman dyes her face, so that it
may become beautiful, or uses high-heeled boots so that she may
appear tall, or garments with trains to cover her wooden shoes, she is
condemned to capital punishment. But if the women should even desire
them they have no facility for doing these things. For who indeed would
give them this facility? Further, they assert that among us abuses of
this kind arise from the leisure and sloth of women. By these means they
lose their color and have pale complexions, and become feeble and small.
For this reason they are without proper complexions, use high sandals,
and become beautiful not from strength, but from slothful tenderness.
And thus they ruin their own tempers and natures, and consequently those
of their offspring. Furthermore, if at any time a man is taken captive
with ardent love for a certain woman, the two are allowed to converse
and joke together and to give one another garlands of flowers or leaves,
and to make verses. But if the race is endangered, by no means is
further union between them permitted. Moreover, the love born of eager
desire is not known among them; only that born of friendship.
Domestic affairs and partnerships are of little account, because,
excepting the sign of honor, each one receives what he is in need of.
To the heroes and heroines of the republic, it is customary to give
the pleasing gifts of honor, beautiful wreaths, sweet food, or splendid
clothes, while they are feasting. In the daytime all use white garments
within the city, but at night or outside the city they use red garments
either of wool or silk. They hate black as they do dung, and therefore
they dislike the Japanese, who are fond of black. Pride they consider
the most execrable vice, and one who acts proudly is chastised with the
most ruthless correction. Wherefore no one thinks it lowering to wait
at table or to work in the kitchen or fields. All work they call
discipline, and thus they say that it is honorable to go on foot, to do
any act of nature, to see with the eye, and to speak with the tongue;
and when there is need, they distinguish philosophically between tears
and spittle.
Every man who, when he is told off to work, does his duty, is considered
very honorable. It is not the custom to keep slaves. For they are
enough, and more than enough, for themselves. But with us, alas! it is
not so. In Naples there exist 70,000 souls, and out of these scarcely
10,000 or 15,000 do any work, and they are always lean from overwork
and are getting weaker every day. The rest become a prey to idleness,
avarice, ill-health, lasciviousness, usury, and other vices, and
contaminate and corrupt very many families by holding them in servitude
for their own use, by keeping them in poverty and slavishness, and by
imparting to them their own vices. Therefore public slavery ruins them;
useful works, in the field, in military service, and in arts, except
those which are debasing, are not cultivated, the few who do practise
them doing so with much aversion.
But in the City of the Sun, while duty and work are distributed among
all, it only falls to each one to work for about four hours every day.
The remaining hours are spent in learning joyously, in debating, in
reading, in reciting, in writing, in walking, in exercising the mind and
body, and with play. They allow no game which is played while sitting,
neither the single die nor dice, nor chess, nor others like these. But
they play with the ball, with the sack, with the hoop, with wrestling,
with hurling at the stake. They say, moreover, that grinding poverty
renders men worthless, cunning, sulky, thievish, insidious, vagabonds,
liars, false witnesses, etc.; and that wealth makes them insolent,
proud, ignorant, traitors, assumers of what they know not, deceivers,
boasters, wanting in affection, slanderers, etc. But with them all the
rich and poor together make up the community. They are rich because they
want nothing, poor because they possess nothing; and consequently they
are not slaves to circumstances, but circumstances serve them. And on
this point they strongly recommend the religion of the Christians, and
especially the life of the apostles.
G.M. This seems excellent and sacred, but the community of women is a
thing too difficult to attain. The holy Roman Clement says that wives
ought to be common in accordance with the apostolic institution, and
praises Plato and Socrates, who thus teach, but the Glossary interprets
this community with regard to obedience. And Tertullian agrees with
the Glossary, that the first Christians had everything in common except
wives.
Capt. These things I know little of. But this I saw among the
inhabitants of the City of the Sun, that they did not make this
exception. And they defend themselves by the opinion of Socrates, of
Cato, of Plato, and of St. Clement; but, as you say, they misunderstand
the opinions of these thinkers. And the inhabitants of the solar city
ascribe this to their want of education, since they are by no means
learned in philosophy. Nevertheless, they send abroad to discover the
customs of nations, and the best of these they always adopt. Practice
makes the women suitable for war and other duties. Thus they agree
with Plato, in whom I have read these same things. The reasoning of our
Cajetan does not convince me, and least of all that of Aristotle.
This thing, however, existing among them is excellent and worthy of
imitation--viz., that no physical defect renders a man incapable of
being serviceable except the decrepitude of old age, since even the
deformed are useful for consultation. The lame serve as guards, watching
with the eyes which they possess. The blind card wool with their hands,
separating the down from the hairs, with which latter they stuff the
couches and sofas; those who are without the use of eyes and hands give
the use of their ears or their voice for the convenience of the State,
and if one has only one sense he uses it in the farms. And these
cripples are well treated, and some become spies, telling the officers
of the State what they have heard.
G.M. Tell me now, I pray you, of their military affairs. Then you
may explain their arts, ways of life and sciences, and lastly their
religion.
Capt. The triumvir, Power, has under him all the magistrates of arms,
of artillery, of cavalry, of foot-soldiers, of architects, and of
strategists; and the masters and many of the most excellent workmen
obey the magistrates, the men of each art paying allegiance to their
respective chiefs. Moreover, Power is at the head of all the professors
of gymnastics, who teach military exercise, and who are prudent
generals, advanced in age. By these the boys are trained after their
twelfth year. Before this age, however, they have been accustomed to
wrestling, running, throwing the weight, and other minor exercises,
under inferior masters. But at twelve they are taught how to strike at
the enemy, at horses and elephants, to handle the spear, the sword, the
arrow, and the sling; to manage the horse, to advance and to retreat, to
remain in order of battle, to help a comrade in arms, to anticipate the
enemy by cunning, and to conquer.
The women also are taught these arts under their own magistrates and
mistresses, so that they may be able if need be to render assistance
to the males in battles near the city. They are taught to watch the
fortifications lest at some time a hasty attack should suddenly be made.
In this respect they praise the Spartans and Amazons. The women know
well also how to let fly fiery balls, and how to make them from lead;
how to throw stones from pinnacles and to go in the way of an attack.
They are accustomed also to give up wine unmixed altogether, and that
one is punished most severely who shows any fear.
The inhabitants of the City of the Sun do not fear death, because they
all believe that the soul is immortal, and that when it has left the
body it is associated with other spirits, wicked or good, according to
the merits of this present life. Although they are partly followers
of Brahma and Pythagoras, they do not believe in the transmigration of
souls, except in some cases by a distinct decree of God. They do not
abstain from injuring an enemy of the republic and of religion, who
is unworthy of pity. During the second month the army is reviewed, and
every day there is practice of arms, either in the cavalry plain or
within the walls. Nor are they ever without lectures on the science of
war. They take care that the accounts of Moses, of Joshua, of David, of
Judas Maccabaeus, of Caesar, of Alexander, of Scipio, of Hannibal, and
other great soldiers should be read. And then each one gives his own
opinion as to whether these generals acted well or ill, usefully or
honorably, and then the teacher answers and says who are right.
G.M. With whom do they wage war, and for what reasons, since they are so
prosperous?