By: A.B. Timothy
Discourses of Raphael Hythloday, Of the Best State of a Commonwealth (Cont. again)
We continue reading the introduction on the sixth page of my copy, beginning with the words, “While I was talking this, the Counsellor, who was present, had prepared an answer…”
In this section, the Counsellor is about to speak up to debate Hythloday, but the Cardinal speaks him down, saying that they can debate if they have time to meet up tomorrow, as there is not enough time to have that debate today. Instead, the Cardinal asks, essentially, “What should we do then? If we lessen the punishment of criminals and stop killing thieves, then that will only embolden them to commit more crimes, right? If death already doesn’t stop them, wouldn’t things get worse if we loosen up?”
Hythloday responds by disagreeing. He doesn’t think that taking someone’s life from them for something as petty as money is working. This is because it treats all crimes the same as the Stoics may wish to do. But the reality, Hythloday argues, is that if people realize the punishment for theft is the same as murder, they would rather kill the person they are stealing from than leave them alive after the theft to testify against them. The same principle that Hythloday argues should restrain the death penalty for them, that being money is not worth the same as a human life, would work in reverse here to save the lives of those persons who have been killed during a robbery. If the thief fears not for their lives, they are more likely to leave the person alive and take their money only.
In the next paragraph, Hythloday answers the question, “What more convenient way of punishment can be found?” He goes on to describe a people he encountered during his travels in Persia. They are a content people with set borders that are not rich but are not poor, and don’t have to worry about invasion due to their geography and a tribute they pay to the Persian King every year. They are called the “Polylerits.” This name, should the reader understand the Greek roots, will tell the reader that this is a fictional people used as a prop by More to describe a political idea. Hythloday explains that these people, instead of killing their thieves, enslave them. This slavery is not what we today think of when we think of slvaes, rather this slavery is more of a Civil Service paid by the criminal to atone for their crimes. A thief must pay retribution to the victim of their crime, and if they can’t pay it, they are put to work by the state to earn the money that goes to the person they wronged. Giving one of these slaves anything is fine, so long as you don’t give them money. Giving them money, weapons, or aiding them in their escape is punishable by death. Escape itself is also punishable by death. To encourage the slaves to behave, they entice them to tell on slaves who have escaped or are planning to, by offering anyone who gives them information either money, if they are a free man, or liberty, if they are a slave.
The slaves are also forbidden from speaking with slaves from other counties in the state. This prevents a wide conspiracy towards rebellion. The Punishment for discovery being death, and the reward for betrayal being freedom, helps maintain this system. There are also several that are set at liberty every year because of good behavior on their part. The Counsellor says that this could never happen in England, as it would be too much of a risk and require too much upheaval. Then the Cardinal speaks up and says they could try it on a smaller scale, where a prince could condemn a thief to death and then forgo their punishment while keeping them in this “slave” state to test the idea. If it helped reform the criminal, then all the better; if not, they could just kill him. The cardinal also says this could be a good way to deal with some of the vagabonds on the streets, too, which many voices at the table agree with.
Interstingly Hythloday points out that the table seemed to disagree when the slavery concept was only in regard to criminals, but as soon as the Cardinal threw vagabonds in the mix, they all jumped on board.
Conclusion
I ended my reading on page 29 of the story as a whole. Slowly but surely, I will have the whole of this book notated here on my blog. It will be interesting to see if I get the chance to turn these notes into some kind of essay during my college career, but we will have to wait and see. If this intrigues you and you feel inspired to go read some old literature, consider subscribing to my WordPress so you get emails whenever I post a new part of this series or any other I am currently working on. Or sign up for my Newsletter to get updates every week on Saturday.