Page 76 - UTOPIA

when he comes into any of the country houses, if he expects
to be entertained by them, he must labour with them and
conform to their rules; and if he does this, he may freely go
over the whole precinct, being then as useful to the city to
which he belongs as if he were still within it. Thus you see
that there are no idle persons among them, nor pretences
of excusing any from labour. There are no taverns, no ale-
houses, nor stews among them, nor any other occasions of
corrupting each other, of getting into corners, or forming
themselves into parties; all men live in full view, so that all
are obliged both to perform their ordinary task and to em-
ploy themselves well in their spare hours; and it is certain
that a people thus ordered must live in great abundance of
all things, and these being equally distributed among them,
no man can want or be obliged to beg.
‘In their great council at Amaurot, to which there are
three sent from every town once a year, they examine what
towns abound in provisions and what are under any scar-
city, that so the one may be furnished from the other; and
this is done freely, without any sort of exchange; for, accord-
ing to their plenty or scarcity, they supply or are supplied
from one another, so that indeed the whole island is, as it
were, one family. When they have thus taken care of their
whole country, and laid up stores for two years (which they
do to prevent the ill consequences of an unfavourable sea-
son), they order an exportation of the overplus, both of
corn, honey, wool, flax, wood, wax, tallow, leather, and cat-
tle, which they send out, commonly in great quantities, to
other nations. They order a seventh part of all these goods

76 Utopia