Page 81 - UTOPIA

when they compared their rich habits with the plain clothes
of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to
see them make their entry; and, on the other, to observe
how much they were mistaken in the impression which they
hoped this pomp would have made on them. It appeared
so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred out of
their country, and had not seen the customs of other na-
tions, that though they paid some reverence to those that
were the most meanly clad, as if they had been the ambas-
sadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors themselves so
full of gold and chains, they looked upon them as slaves,
and forbore to treat them with reverence. You might have
seen the children who were grown big enough to despise
their playthings, and who had thrown away their jewels,
call to their mothers, push them gently, and cry out, ‘See
that great fool, that wears pearls and gems as if he were yet
a child!’ while their mothers very innocently replied, ‘Hold
your peace! this, I believe, is one of the ambassadors’ fools.’
Others censured the fashion of their chains, and observed,
‘That they were of no use, for they were too slight to bind
their slaves, who could easily break them; and, besides,
hung so loose about them that they thought it easy to throw
their away, and so get from them.’ But after the ambassadors
had stayed a day among them, and saw so vast a quanti-
ty of gold in their houses (which was as much despised by
them as it was esteemed in other nations), and beheld more
gold and silver in the chains and fetters of one slave than all
their ornaments amounted to, their plumes fell, and they
were ashamed of all that glory for which they had formed

81