Utopia

Use in the book

Burton’s imaginary state follows an argument with his own hopes. He first adapts Lucian’s magical rings into a wish for a universal reformer who could cure illnesses, change conduct and set distressed societies right. That fantasy also includes coercion, colonial assumptions and hostile national generalizations. The reply declares such wishes absurd and hopeless; Boccalini’s commissioners cannot cure the world, and Burton bitterly tells it to remain foolish. He then begins again: he will make a Utopia to satisfy himself. The change is from frustrated universal reform to an author’s freedom to invent, rather than a claim to have found a practicable cure for every public evil.

“A poetical Common-wealth of mine own” is therefore an imagined commonwealth. Burton will domineer, rule freely, build cities and legislate as he pleases. The word leaves artistic freedom uncomfortably close to arbitrary mastery, especially beside his later ban on officials lording it over their subordinates. He invokes poets’ liberty and the claim that Democritus was a lawgiver, keeping “as some say”. “A new Atlantis” similarly evokes an imagined island society; when New Atlantis appears again among named works, the original margin identifies Bacon as Lord Verulam.

The geography sustains the joke. The country may lie in Terra Australi Incognita, the Unknown Southern Land, on a floating island, among the Fortunate Isles, in America or near northern Asia. Burton considers both forty-five degrees latitude and the equator, then conceals the longitude. The reported southern explorer and Hall’s satirical traveller stand side by side. His supposed offer of shares, priced by an astrologer’s fee, parodies a speculative prospectus. Offices will instead go freely to merit, provided the applicant is able as well as willing to perform the work. Sanctus ambitus, holy ambition, recalls the would-be bishop of Utopia in More’s prefatory letter; Burton makes the imaginary dignity an archbishopric.

The ensuing constitution has genuine critical purposes, without losing this frame. Public provision is to meet need rather than stop at a fixed quota; officials must account for their conduct; workers are to receive support in old age and leisure without overwork. Yet the same scheme reserves city governorship to nobles and gentlemen, maintains hereditary ranks, compels work and marriage, excludes people from marriage on grounds of disability or supposed hereditary disease, and proposes severe punishments. Its rejection of hereditary slavery does not cancel its provision for penal slavery. These are features of Burton’s historical political imagination, not present prescriptions.

He openly rejects Utopian parity, equality modelled on More, as something to wish for rather than achieve. Andreae’s Respub. Christianopolitana, the Christianopolitan Republic, Campanella’s city of the Sun, and Bacon’s New Atlantis are ingenious fictions but mere chimeras in this argument. He also condemns aspects of Plato’s communal arrangements for abolishing splendour and magnificence. His alternative combines hereditary rank with advancement for merit and an explicit attack on rules that permanently exclude qualified commoners from honours. Even within the invention, perfect officials prove unobtainable: he must use the people he can get. A similar concession allows regulated lending at interest because human beings are not gods.

More is nevertheless a recurring resource for criticism. Before inventing his own state, Burton borrows the condemnation of destructive wars, deference to rich fools, punishment that leaves the causes of theft untouched, and enclosure represented as sheep devouring people. He later draws on More for restored livelihoods, a king’s duty to govern prosperous people, intelligible law and direct pleading, and the injustice of abandoning worn-out labourers. These are particular appropriations, not acceptance of every arrangement in More’s fiction. Even the attack on scholarly fault-finding cites Utopia, though its marginal “lib. 11” remains unresolved.

Burton closes his constitution with Manum de tabella, take your hand from the picture: pursuing the rest would require a volume. His final military provisions prefer peaceful means and moderation but allow defensive readiness and offensive war for an entirely just cause. The ending withdraws the author’s hand without claiming to have made the imagined country real.

Later uses change the application. Vtopia becomes a comparison against which the truth of southern discovery reports is questioned, followed immediately by renewed expectation of actual discoveries. More’s working day supplies a model of neither idleness nor exhausting labour; Burton’s body says half the day, whereas his Latin margin specifies six working hours out of twenty-four, excluding sleep and meals from the remaining discretionary time. He then distinguishes the needs of the overworked and the idle. The absolute Utopian Common-wealth is an ideal or perfected commonwealth in the praise of music for all ranks at meals; absolute here does not itself mean despotic.

Two further applications require their replies. The account of voluntary death cites More’s fictional community, not simply an unconditional personal recommendation by More. The supplied note retains its care for the sick, consent and continued care for people who decline; Burton’s subsequent argument rejects the preceding defence of self-killing, then softens judgments where reason has been lost and leaves the soul’s fate to God. In the marriage discussion, he reports bodily inspection before marriage as a Utopian practice. More’s described inspection is reciprocal, while Burton’s immediate examples centre on men choosing women. He criticizes preference for beauty over character, then also rejects wealth as the sole criterion. Neither passage should be detached into a free-standing endorsement.

Related entries

Commonwealth: The institutional vocabulary of political communities.

Policy: Government, practical calculation and political writing.

Civil and barbarous: The historical judgments behind the fantasy of universal reform.

Law and justice: Intelligible laws, self-representation and public accountability.

Manure: Cultivation and improvement within the imagined polity.

War and peace: Unjust war, defensive readiness and qualified peace.

Honour and nobility: Hereditary rank and advancement for merit.

Poverty and riches: Public relief and the causes of recurrent destitution.

Ambition: Holy ambition and the imaginary ecclesiastical office.

Make away: The full argument about voluntary death and mitigated judgment.

Marriage: The reported inspection of prospective spouses.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 17–20More’s original marginal comparison of war with beastliness inside the denunciation of wars for private motives.
2. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 12–16; Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 18–22Utopians’ criticism of honours paid to wealth, and preventing destitution-driven theft rather than merely punishing it.
3. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 12–16More’s sheep that devour people, with the enclosure allusion in the original margin at Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 14.
4. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 3–6restored livelihoods and the distinction between governing prosperous people and keeping prisoners; the irregular marginal wording at Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 5 is explained in its note.
5. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 29–41magical reform, its rebuttal, the author’s new Utopia, poetic freedom, undecided geography, the subscription joke and merit with capacity for office. The principal announcement is Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraph 36.
6. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 1–17the beginning of the imagined constitution, public maintenance according to need, social status and the cultivation of land.
7. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 18–28Utopian parity, named political fictions, hereditary rank and merit, monarchy, regulated trades and the admission that perfect officials are unavailable.
8. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 29–38More’s original marginal argument for intelligible law, qualified self-representation, accountability and the prohibition on oppressive officials.
9. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 39–43recurring poverty, public relief, compulsory work, More’s objection to abandoning workers and recreation without overwork.
10. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 1–12severe punishment, the distinction between penal and hereditary slavery, coercive marriage rules and the qualified concession on lending at interest.
11. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 13–20limits on war, public expenditure and the command to stop painting, followed by the transition to households.
12. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 5–9the fault-finding critics and the unresolved Utopia reference printed “lib. 11.”
13. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 10–22; End · paragraph 23the reported Utopian practice, Burton’s rejection of the preceding defence and his subsequent mitigation of judgment. The source pagination jumps from 217 to 454; printed 454 corresponds to sequence page 222, not 218.
14. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 20–24Vtopia as an imaginary-discovery comparison, qualified by hope of future exploration.
15. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraphs 18–22Utopian work and leisure, with the body’s half-day and the margin’s six hours kept distinct.
16. Subsection 3 Music as a Remedy · paragraphs 18–22the ideal commonwealth and music for all ranks; the phrase itself is at Subsection 3 Music as a Remedy · paragraph 20.
17. Prevention Before or After Marriage: Plato’s Community of Wives; Marrying a Courtesan; Love Potions; Brothels; Marrying Someone Equal in Age and Fortune, From a Good Family, Well Educated and of Good Standing; Treating Wives Well; and So On · paragraphs 30–40the reported Utopian marriage practice within shifting cautions about character, beauty and wealth.

In this edition

“a poetical Common-wealth of mine own” → “an imagined commonwealth of my own” explains imaginative authorship. “Utopian parity” → “Utopian equality” keeps the proposed equality distinct from the literary country’s name. “witty fictions” → “ingenious fictions” preserves praise of invention before Burton’s adverse judgment of practicability. “his absolute Utopian Common-wealth” → “his ideal commonwealth of Utopia” gives absolute its local sense of ideal completeness.

Vtopia is retrieved as Utopia; Utopians and Latin Utopienses name inhabitants, whereas Utopian can be an adjective. The shortened title Utop. is identified as Utopia in the supplied notes without repairing every printed book-number. The Latin titles and phrases have their components explained: Respub. names a commonwealth or republic, sanctus ambitus a pious pursuit of office, and Manum de tabella a command to stop work at a picture. The modern imperative “Take” and possessive “your” in the last phrase make explicit the original’s elliptical address. The varied literary uses are selected for their role in Burton’s argument, rather than presented as a complete concordance of fiction or imagination.

absolute

Printed “absolute” (English; lemma).

Complete, perfected or ideal.

Here: The epithet praises the imagined completeness of More’s commonwealth.

Context: Burton invokes its reported provision of music for all ranks. The supplied note leaves the exact More passage uncollated.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his absolute Utopian Common-wealth

Modern rendering: his ideal commonwealth of Utopia

Word and construction: Absolute supplies ideal; Utopian is recast as of Utopia. The adjective here does not independently define a ruler’s unlimited authority.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

chimera

Printed “Chimera’s” (English; lemma).

A fabulous or imaginary creature, and by extension an unreal or impracticable conception.

Here: Political schemes Burton dismisses as impossible inventions despite their ingenuity.

Context: His figurative dismissal includes works from which he borrows; it is not a claim that fictional creatures govern these countries.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: meer Chimera’s

Modern rendering: mere chimeras

Word and construction: Chimera’s is a plural despite the apostrophe; meer supplies mere and the context gives the figurative sense.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

City of the Sun

Printed “city of the Sun” (English; phrase).

The City of the Sun, a title naming an imagined city; city denotes the civic settlement and of the Sun its titular association.

Here: Campanella’s political fiction, included in Burton’s list of ingenious but impracticable commonwealths.

Context: The name is an attributed literary title, not an assertion about an astronomical city.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Campanella’s city of the Sun

Modern rendering: Campanella’s City of the Sun

Word and construction: The author’s possessive is explicit; modern title capitalization does not change the construction.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

domineer

Printed “domineer” (English; lemma).

Exercise rule or mastery, with a possible force of arbitrary domination.

Here: Burton claims unrestricted control over his invented cities and laws.

Context: The author’s artistic freedom overlaps uneasily with political power; later he expressly forbids officials to oppress subordinates.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: I will freely domineer

Modern rendering: I will rule freely

Word and construction: Rule renders domineer and freely is explicit; the next clauses specify his freedom to build and legislate as he pleases.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “domineer” (English; lemma).

Citation key: domineer.

Here: Lord it over people; exercise oppressive mastery.

Context: The conduct is prohibited for predatory officials, not a command that they act this way. Burton’s fantasy forbids officials to misuse authority, while its author earlier claims free rule over the invention.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: oppresse, domineer, flea, grinde, or trample on

Modern rendering: oppressing them, lording it over them, fleecing, grinding down, or trampling on them

Word and construction: Domineer supplies lording it over; them is supplied from inferiors or subordinates in the wider prohibitive sentence.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

fiction

Printed “fictions” (English; lemma).

Invented representations or narratives.

Here: Literary constructions of imagined political societies.

Context: The adjective witty praises invention; the following but introduces Burton’s adverse judgment of practicability.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: witty fictions, but meer Chimera’s

Modern rendering: ingenious fictions, but mere chimeras

Word and construction: Fictions names the invented works; witty and the following adverse clause make separate contributions.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

manum de tabella

Printed “Manum de tabella” (Latin; phrase).

Hand away from the picture: manum is hand, de means away from and tabella a picture or painted panel; a proverbial command to stop.

Here: Burton ends the imagined constitution as a writer putting down work at a picture.

Context: He says a full continuation would require a volume and that his present limits will not allow further wandering.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Manum de tabella

Modern rendering: Take your hand from the picture

Word and construction: Take is the supplied imperative implicit in the Latin command, and your supplies the addressed person’s possessive.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

new Atlantis

Printed “new Atlantis” (English; phrase).

A newly imagined island society: new marks Burton’s renewed invention and Atlantis evokes the literary island tradition.

Here: A second name for the author’s invented commonwealth.

Context: The initial phrase is a literary comparison; the later named work explicitly connects New Atlantis with Bacon.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: a new Atlantis

Word and construction: The phrase is retained; the following poetical Common-wealth explains its imaginary political force.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “new Atlantis” (English; phrase).

Citation key: New Atlantis.

Here: Bacon’s title New Atlantis, naming an imagined society.

Context: One of the ingenious political fictions Burton calls impracticable. The original marginal Lord Verulam identifies Bacon; Burton’s dismissal coexists with his borrowing the same imaginative form.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that new Atlantis

Modern rendering: that New Atlantis

Word and construction: The modern capitalization identifies the title; that remains Burton’s pointing reference.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

parity

Printed “parity” (English; lemma).

Equality of condition or standing.

Here: The equality associated with Utopia and contrasted with Burton’s differentiated, hereditary ranks.

Context: Burton says it is to be wished for rather than achieved; his rejection is qualified by his simultaneous defence of opportunity for deserving commoners.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Utopian parity

Modern rendering: Utopian equality

Word and construction: Parity supplies equality; Utopian separately names the model.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

poetical

Printed “poetical” (English; lemma).

Made by imaginative invention.

Here: The commonwealth is an author’s imagined construction, whether or not written in verse.

Context: Burton invokes poetic freedom and the reported lawgiving of his persona’s predecessor Democritus.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a poetical Common-wealth of mine own

Modern rendering: an imagined commonwealth of my own

Word and construction: Poetical supplies imagined, not written in verse; the rest identifies the political society as Burton’s own.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Respublica Christianopolitana

Printed “Respub. Christianopolitana” (Latin; phrase).

The Christianopolitan Republic: Respub. abbreviates respublica, a commonwealth or republic; Christianopolitana identifies Christianopolis.

Here: Andreae’s imagined polity, named among ingenious but unrealizable schemes.

Context: The marginal Ioh. Valent. Andreas identifies the author; the title’s inclusion is Burton’s evaluation of a literary model.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Respub. Christianopolitana

Modern rendering: The Christianopolitan Republic

Word and construction: Both components of the abbreviated Latin title are rendered; The is supplied by English title idiom.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

sanctus ambitus

Printed “sanctus ambitus” (Latin; phrase).

Holy ambition: sanctus means holy or pious, and ambitus means canvassing or pursuit of office, here ambition.

Here: The aspirant’s pious justification for seeking an imaginary ecclesiastical dignity.

Context: Burton recalls More’s joke but changes bishopric to archbishopric; the phrase does not prove the disinterestedness of every real office-seeker.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: sanctus ambitus

Modern rendering: holy ambition

Word and construction: The two Latin components supply holy and ambition respectively.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Terra Australis Incognita

Printed “Terra Australi Incognita” (Latin; phrase).

The Unknown Southern Land: terra is land, australis southern and incognita unknown; Australi is the expected ablative of australis after in.

Here: An undecided, conjectural site for the author’s imaginary commonwealth.

Context: Burton sets a reported southern discovery beside a satirical voyage, then supplies other locations and conceals longitude.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: in Terra Australi Incognita

Modern rendering: in the Unknown Southern Land

Word and construction: The modern renders the full construction in Terra Australi Incognita as in the Unknown Southern Land; Australi is the expected ablative of australis after in.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Terra Australis Incognita” (Latin; phrase).

Citation key: Terra Australis Incognita.

Here: The Unknown Southern Land, a conjectured southern continent.

Context: Burton questions discovery reports by comparing them with Utopia, then expresses expectation of future flourishing kingdoms.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Terra Australis Incognita

Modern rendering: the Unknown Southern Land

Word and construction: The modern translates all three components; the name does not establish that the supposed continent has been surveyed.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Utopia

Printed “Utopia” (English; lemma).

An invented commonwealth, here named through the model of Thomas More’s Utopia.

Here: Burton’s own imagined political society, made to please himself after he has declared universal reform impossible.

Context: The author announces a literary invention and claims freedom to rule it; this does not identify an actual country or a fully practicable programme.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: an Utopia of mine own

Modern rendering: a Utopia of my own

Word and construction: The name invokes More’s fiction; of mine own explicitly makes this Burton’s separate invention.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utopia” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The invented country of More’s work, invoked in a joke about an ecclesiastical appointment.

Context: Burton recasts the bishop in More’s prefatory letter as an archbishop and parodies the subscription prospectus.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his Archbishoprick of Utopia

Modern rendering: his archbishopric of Utopia

Word and construction: His refers to the aspirant in the reported joke; Archbishoprick is Burton’s alteration of the earlier bishopric.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Vtopia” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s fictional commonwealth.

Context: Burton includes its reported practice in a case he subsequently rejects, then mitigates judgment of people deprived of reason. More’s fictional practice includes consent and continuing care for refusal, as the supplied note explains.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: S. Thomas Moore in his Vtopia

Modern rendering: Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia

Word and construction: S. expands to Sir, not Saint; Vtopia is the printed spelling of Utopia.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Vtopia” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: More’s imagined land, used as a comparison for uncertain discovery reports.

Context: Burton questions a southern discovery by comparing it with imaginary voyages, yet immediately admits probable future discoveries.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: or his of Vtopia

Modern rendering: or the one in Utopia

Word and construction: The one expands the elliptical his of, with discovery supplied from the preceding comparison; the location remains literary.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supplies the comparison of war with beastliness in Burton’s denunciation of wars driven by private motives.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utopia” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supplies the attack on deference to a wealthy fool; the second margin gives the Utopians as the critics.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source and modern wording: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supplies Hythloday’s argument that governors should prevent destitution-driven theft rather than merely punish it.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supplies the image of sheep devouring people, referring to displacement by enclosure for pasture.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supports the restoration of farming and occupations before punishment; the next passage draws on its distinction between governing prosperous people and keeping prisoners.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supports intelligible laws and pleading one’s own case, with Burton’s if possible retained.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s work supports the condemnation of neglecting workers in old age after exploiting their labour.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Further local use

Printed “Utop.” (Latin bibliographical title; lemma).

Citation key: Utopia.

Here: The title of More’s invented commonwealth, abbreviated where printed Utop.

Context: More’s title is cited for the attack on fault-finders; the printed lib. 11 is unresolved and is not silently changed to book 2.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utop.

Modern rendering: Utopia

Alignment scope: title identification within the wider supplied note

Word and construction: The supplied note expands or identifies the bibliographical title; this is a title-to-title retrieval, not an equal-scope translation of the entire marginal argument.

Modern container: note

Utopian

Printed “Utopian” (English; lemma).

Belonging to, or modelled on, More’s invented commonwealth.

Here: The adjective identifies the equality Burton regards as desirable but impracticable.

Context: Burton borrows from More while rejecting complete equality and defending hereditary rank and magnificence.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Utopian parity

Modern rendering: Utopian equality

Word and construction: Utopian identifies the model; parity independently supplies equality.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utopian” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Utopian.

Here: Belonging to More’s imagined commonwealth.

Context: Burton borrows the balance of work and leisure while his English half the day differs from the margin’s six hours out of twenty-four.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his Utopian Common-wealth

Modern rendering: his Utopian commonwealth

Word and construction: His refers to More; Common-wealth is the political society. The unchanged adjective carries no assertion that the society existed.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utopian” (English; lemma).

Citation key: Utopian.

Here: Belonging to More’s fictional commonwealth.

Context: Burton reports prospective spouses’ bodily inspection while criticizing the preference for appearance over character. The supplied note distinguishes the reciprocal practice in More from Burton’s male-centred examples.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his Utopian Commonwealth

Modern rendering: his Utopian commonwealth

Word and construction: His refers to More, called Morus in the original; the phrase identifies a literary society within an attributed argument.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Utopian · Utopians

Printed “Utopians” (English; lemma).

An inhabitant of the invented country Utopia; the plural names its people.

Here: More’s fictional workers are excepted from the overwork Burton attributes to workers elsewhere.

Context: The comparison is Burton’s use of fiction for criticism of actual labour conditions.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: excepting his Utopians

Modern rendering: apart from his Utopians

Word and construction: The noun means the country’s people, distinct from the adjective in Utopian Common-wealth.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Utopienses

Printed “Utopienses” (Latin; lemma).

The Utopians, inhabitants of More’s imagined country.

Here: The people said to condemn divine honours paid to the base and greedy merely for wealth.

Context: More’s fictional people supply a critical perspective, reported by Burton in his original margin.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Eorumque detestantur Utopienses insaniam

Modern rendering: The Utopians detest the madness of those

Word and construction: Utopienses is the plural subject, not the people whose wealth is worshipped; the modern segment leads into the defining relative clause.

Modern container: note

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utopienses” (Latin; lemma).

Citation key: Utopienses.

Here: The inhabitants of More’s fictional country.

Context: Burton condenses and rearranges More’s legal arrangements; the body’s own proposal is qualified by if possible.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: Utopienses causidicos excludunt

Modern rendering: The Utopians exclude lawyers

Word and construction: Utopienses supplies the Utopians; causidicos is lawyers and excludunt is exclude. The following relative clause specifies crafty handling of cases.

Modern container: note

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Utopiensibus” (Latin; lemma).

Citation key: Utopienses.

Here: The Utopians, in the case required by the exception.

Context: The margin expressly gives six working hours out of twenty-four, with the remainder apart from sleep and food left to choice; the body loosely says half the day.

Source: original marginal quotation

Source wording and original alignment: exceptis Utopiensibus

Modern rendering: except among the Utopians

Word and construction: Utopiensibus supplies the Utopians and exceptis the exception; among is the modern idiomatic construction.

Modern container: note

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

witty

Printed “witty” (English; lemma).

Ingenious or intellectually inventive.

Here: An approving judgment of the ingenuity of imagined political schemes even while their practicability is denied.

Context: Burton can admire invention while calling its result a chimera.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: witty fictions

Modern rendering: ingenious fictions

Word and construction: Witty supplies ingenious, not merely humorous; fictions independently means invented representations.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.