by Thomas More
the Golden Age: a mythical paradisiacal age, supposedly governed by Saturn.
Aratus: a Greek poet who said that Astraea (Justice) fled the earth as a consequence of human evil.
Fortunate Isles: a mythological paradise of the Blest, like the Elysian Fields, to which the virtuous dead were thought in mythology to go.
Hagnopolis: City of the Saints; Holy City. Budé may have intended to invoke Augustine’s City of God.
conscientious scruple: see More’s letter to Peter Giles, p. 5 above.
Jehan Ruelle: Johannes Ruellis, a physician and scholar.
Minerva: the Roman goddess of wisdom.
Erasmus to . . . John Froben: Erasmus, the great Dutch humanist, was More’s great friend. Johann Froben was a printer in Basle; Erasmus was godfather to Froben’s son Johann Erasmus (hence ‘gossip’, from ‘god-sib’, ‘siblings in God’). Froben printed the third edition of Utopia, in which this letter first appeared. The translation is J. H. Lupton’s.
never gone . . . Netherlands: More had in fact also been to Louvain and Paris. The trip Erasmus mentions here was the one during which More wrote Book Two of Utopia.
Prolusions: Youthful Exercises. these were translations into Latin of Greek epigrams by More and Lily, printed with Utopia in Froben’s edition.
William Cecil . . . honour: Cecil was Robinson’s patron. This was the preface to Robinson’s first edition of Utopia. It was dropped in the second for reasons that are not clear.
Upon a time . . . all hands: the story is from Lucian; the Diogenes referred to Diogenes the Cynic (not Diogenes Laertius) who was said to have lived in an earthenware barrel
‘Forsooth . . . working’: Rabelais uses the same story to illustrate substantially the same point in his Prologue to The Third Book of . . . Pantagruel. This was published in 1546, so Robinson may well have read it.
even to the very death: Robinson refers to More’s refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy (see Chronology of More’s life).
NEW ATLANTIS
this place: the New Atlantis first appeared in 1627, at the end of the volume containing the Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Natural History.
W. Rawley: William Rawley was Bacon’s chaplain, secretary, and literary executor.
the South Sea: the Pacific.
showeth . . . deep: a quotation from Psalms 107: 24. The preceding paragraph has many more indirect allusions to the same psalm.
as in the beginning . . . dry land: see Genesis 1: 9.
foremost man: leader.
Latin of the School: university Latin, Latin of the Scholastic philosophers.
cherubins’ wings: biblical cherubim are non-human creatures, described as having various numbers of wings and faces, and associated with the ceaseless worship of God, and with his mercy.
had languages: spoke different (European) languages.
sign of the cross to that instrument: the symbol of the cross on that document.
some little store . . . chargeable unto them: some goods which, if they wished, we could offer in recompense for the services they offered us.
gilt in some part of it: painted gold in places.
accounted for . . . already done: considered the services already performed for us to be most honourable and of great humanity.
fruit . . . like an orange: oranges were used for the prevention and cure of scurvy, a disease particularly prevalent in sailors, induced by exposure and a diet too rich in salt, and caused by lack of vitamin C.
twice paid for one labour: Bacon was himself impeached for accepting bribes in 1621. There may be an allusion here to Plato, Laws, xii. 955.
prevented the hour: come early.
put their arms a little abroad: stretched their arms out a little to the side.
with handsome windows . . . cambric oiled: as in Utopia, and in early modern England, only the very rich had glass in their windows until well into the seventeenth century. Oiled cloth was used instead.
collegiate diet: institutional meal, as in a university.
as Jonas . . . whale’s belly: see Jonah 1–2.
let us not bring . . . ourselves: ‘confusion of face’ is a biblical term meaning ‘shame’. See Ezra 9: 7.
take some taste of our manners and conditions: observe our conduct and behaviour.
some divine pool of healing: the pool of Bethesda, a Biblical pool at Jerusalem whose waters sometimes healed the sick, and where Jesus made the cripple walk. See John 5: 2–4.
as looking that: believing that.
it was impossible . . . inflamed: we could not help but desire to.
our tongues . . . prayers: a direct quotation from Psalms 137: 6.
this island of Bensalem: ‘Bensalem’ could derive either from Hebrew or from Arabic. In Hebrew, ben means ‘son’ or ‘offspring’ and Salem is the early name for Jerusalem (see Genesis 14: 18, and Psalms 76). This would make the name mean ‘Son of Jerusalem’. Etymologically, Salem derives from the root shlm, whose primary meaning is ‘peace’. A similar connotation would be present given the possible Arabic roots of the word. In Arabic ben also means ‘son of’, and salem, ‘safety’ or ‘peace’. This would make ‘Bensalem’ indicate ‘someone who has been granted peace’. ‘Salem’ is also a man’s name in Arabic, however, which might suggest that Bacon is playing with the similarity between ‘Salem’ and ‘Solomon’. Such a view is given support by the fact that elsewhere in the text Bacon uses words which appear to be Arabic in structure, if not in meaning. See the notes to ‘Altabin’ and ‘Tirsan’ below.
for the entertainment of the time: for the efficient use of time.
we were met . . . of the world: we came from the opposite ends of the earth.
we were . . . Christians: we were on both sides Christians.
first seek the kingdom of heaven: a biblical injunction: in return for its fulfilment, God will clothe and feed the faithful. See Matthew 6: 33.
Renfusa: Weinberger suggests that the name is derived from the Greek rhen (‘sheep’) and phusis (‘life’, ‘growth’), thus ‘sheep-like’, ‘raised like sheep’.
pillar of light: God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt in the form of a pillar of fire (by night; by day a pillar of cloud). See Exodus 13: 21–2.
those of our order: of the order of Salomon’s House.
impostures and illusions of all sorts: magical or deceptive ways of creating things, as opposed to divine, natural, or human ways.
thy Finger: thy own work.
cast itself . . . stars: dispersed itself into many tiny points of light.
a small green branch of palm: palm leaves are a biblical symbol of happiness and blessedness; they were waved by the people on Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.
canonical books . . . not at that time written: the ‘canonical books’ are those scriptures deemed authentic (the decision as to which these were had been controversial well into the Reformation); the ‘Apocalypse’ is ‘The Revelation of St John’, the last book in the Bible. Vickers points out that ‘not yet written’ would be true, since at the date at which this event is supposed to be happening (AD 49) most of the New Testament had not been written, although Bacon would not have known this.
Bartholomew: one of the twelve Apostles, reputed to have taken St Matthew’s Gospel to the Indians.
Gift of Tongues: speaking in tongues. At Pentecost the Apostles, inspired by God, spoke to a crowd made up of many nationalities; each individual in the crowd heard the Apostles’ words in his own particular language. See Acts 2: 1–11.
which he formerly spake: which he said before:
discoveries and navigations of this last age: just a few of these were: Dias rounding Africa and entering the Indian Ocean in 1487; Cabot rediscovering Newfoundland in 1497; Vasco da Gama reaching India in 1498; Cabral seeing the coast of Brazil in 1500; Magellan reaching the Philippines in 1521. Columbus discovered the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola in 1492, whilst searching for a western route to the Moluccas (the Spice Islands); it was not until Verr
azzano’s expedition in 1524 that America was understood to be a continent.
with a countenance taking knowledge: with an expression indicating.
how much it is increased . . . six-score years: see note on ‘the discoveries . . . of the last age’ above. Counting from 1492, this would make 1612 the date of the discovery of Bensalem.
abounded then in tall ships: in this and the following passages Bacon mentions a number of nations, both legendary and real, famous for their shipping and/or for their empires. The ‘ark’ is Noah’s. The Phoenicians were great maritime traders between the twelfth and the sixth centuries BC, and much of the coastlines of what are now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya were under their control, as well as part of the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. The Tyrians were natives of Tyre, a Phoenician town; Carthage (now Tunis) was reputedly one of their colonies. Egypt was a major ancient power, as were China, Persia, and Mesopotamia (whose inhabitants were the Chaldeans).
Straits . . . East Tartary: the ‘Straits’ were those of Gibralter. Paguin and Cambaline were former names for Beijing (which Bacon apparently believed to be a seaport). Quinzy is Hangchow, and was visited by Marco Polo. East Tartary stretched from Turkey to Mongolia.
narration and description which is made by a great man with you: see Plato’s Timaeus, 21–5, Critias, 113–21.
Neptune: the Roman god of the sea.
which, as so many chains, environed the same site: which, like chains of jewellery, encircled the location.
Peru . . . Tyrambel: Bacon invented these alternative names, though ‘Coya’ was the name for the chief wife of an Inca sovereign.
Egyptian priest . . . citeth: see Plato’s Timaeus, 22.
Neither had . . . if they had not: the Coyan voyage would have fared no better had they not.
Altabin: Weinberger suggests that this is from the Latin alta (‘high’) and bi (‘twice’), thus ‘twice high’, ‘twice lofty’. But the word also has an Arabic structure: ‘Al-tabin’ could be an Arabic name.
Divine Revenge: nemesis.
not by a great earthquake . . . part of the old world: in Plato’s account, Atlantis was destroyed by an earthquake (see Timaeus, 21–5); Bacon substitutes a flood of almost biblical proportions (although not the actual biblical flood, mentioned below as the ‘universal flood’). See Bacon’s essay ‘On the Vicissitude of Things’ for similar attempts to account for the differing technological expertise of various peoples, and for his contention that South America and the West Indies had no earthquakes.
your inhabitants of America: the inhabitants of America.
not able to leave . . . civility: not able to leave writings, skills, or civilization. See Plato’s Laws, iii. 676–9.
tigers, bears, and great hairy goats: there are no tigers in the Americas though there are pumas and jaguars, as well as goats and bears. By ‘great hairy goats’ Bacon may have been thinking of the alpaca, or of llamas.
the feathers of birds: reports of native peoples’ wearing of birds’ feathers were common in the travel narratives of the early modern period. They may also, as noted earlier, have influenced Utopian ritual dress codes (see note to p. 117 above).
in respect of: because of.
a natural revolution of time: see Bacon’s essay ‘Of the Vicissitude of Things’, for the Baconian concept of cyclical temporality.
and specially . . . left and omitted: and especially long voyages were not undertaken, since now they were only embarked upon by those in galleys and other ships which were hardly capable of sailing in the high seas.
So then . . . sail to us: so then, that contact with other nations that might come from others visiting us.
draw nearer . . . question: come closer to answering your main question.
his name was Solamona . . . inscrutable for good: the name of the King invokes the biblical Solomon, the lawgiver said to own ‘largeness of heart’, and ‘wisdom and understanding exceeding much’, in 1 Kings 4: 29ff. Proverbs 25: 3 states that ‘the heart of kings is unsearchable’: by ‘inscrutable for good’ Bacon means that the king’s goodness cannot be gauged or delimited. Solomon was described elsewhere by Bacon as the king who ‘excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigations of service and attendance, of fame and reknown . . . yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, “The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the King is to find it out” as if, according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out; and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s playfellows in that game’ (The Advancement of Learning ed. Brian Vickers (see Select Bibliography), 151–2). But the precise relation between the biblical Solomon and King Salomona is left opaque in the text, as is the relation of the name of Salomon’s House to both Solamona and Solomon.
how sufficient . . . of the foreigner: how the land was self-sufficient, and capable of being independent (economically and agriculturally) of any other country.
doubting novelties . . . of manners: frightened of (the potentially disruptive effect of) new ideas and the mixing of customs.
the like law . . . foolish nation: the Chinese were famous for their isolationism; they had little contact with the outside world, laws restricting the entry of foreigners had been in operation since ancient times, and they were supposedly profoundly ignorant of both the cultures and the geographies of the world beyond their borders. In fact though, and as Bacon notes below, the Chinese had in the past participated in the discovery of a complicated network of sea routes in South East Asia, and a couple of centuries previously, under the direction of Admiral Cheng-Ho, had sent out maritime expeditions which found their way through the Straits of Malacca to the Malabar coast of India, Persia, East Africa, and finally into the Red Sea, to Jedda in Arabia.
as reason was: as courtesy required.
Solamona’s House . . . King of the Hebrews: see note to p. 165 above for the relation between Salomon’s House, Solamona, and Solomon.
cedar of Libanus . . . life and motion: see 1 Kings 4: 33.
commodity of matter: material commodity.
God’s first creature . . . of the world: see Genesis 1: 3. In Bacon’s essay ‘Of Truth’ he describes God’s ‘first creature’ as the ‘light of sense’ and his last as ‘the light of reason’.
in great courtesy . . . and descended: politely changed the subject, and condescended.
think with ourselves: consider amongst ourselves.
Tirsan: as far as I know ‘Tirsan’ has no meaning. But it is, again, structured like an Arabic word.
distressed or decayed: fallen into poverty.
true ivy: real ivy.
streamed with gold: striped with gold lines.
and though such charters . . . of the family: and although these charters are issued in such cases as a matter of course, they are nevertheless varied in their natures, according to the size of the family and its importance in the community.
the subject . . . Father of the Faithful: Adam gave issue to the human race in the beginning; Noah to the human race after the flood. For the story of Abraham see Genesis 11–25; for his description as the Father of the Faithful see Romans 4: 16 and Galatians 3: 7.