Greetings again, one and all. I have been away for quite some time, most of it spent reading. Anyway, I wanted to donate this nugget of anti-statism I found in Utopia as translated by Paul Turner, Penguin 2003.
quote: "In short, it's a pretty poor doctor that can't cure one disease without giving you another, and a king who can't suppress crime without lowering standards of living should admit that he just doesn't know how to govern free men. He should start by suppressing one of his own vices - either his pride or his laziness, for those are the faults most liable to make a king hated or despised. He should live on his own resources, without being a nuisance to others. He should adapt his expenditure to his income. He should prevent crime by sound administration rather than allow it to develop and then start punishing it. He should hesitate to enforce any law which has long been disregarded - especially if people have got on perfectly well without it. And he should never invent a crime as an excuse for imposing a fine - no private person would be allowed to do anything so dishonest."
Now, I realize that Utopia is cited by Bolsheviks and Liberation Theologistas, but I think they were fairly selective with their praise of the text.
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
That Thomas More had quite a head on his shoulders.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Did I mention that Thomas More manuscript I found on eBay?
I'm afraid that reading the photographed pages actually made me lose a little respect for him.
(BTW, did I mention that I will be eternally grateful to anyone who buys that for me?)
[ June 16, 2004, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by Robespierre (Member # 5779) on :
Apparently in the original latin script, and in some translations, there are all sorts of little asides written in the margins. It was meant to be humorous. The translator which I have just read actually translated some of the character and place names. Raphael Hythlodeus becomes Rapheal Nonsenso (hythlodeus meaning "speaker of nonsense").