The religion of the City of the Sun conforms to Christianity with respect to piety and morality, but there is an absence of excessive mysticism and purity of conduct among the clergy. The sun figures prominently in the decoration of their temple, as well as in the other symbols of their worship, for it is taken as the sign of God.
Christianopolis by the German Johann Valentin Andreae likewise resembles Utopia in many respects. It is presented as told by one who was shipwrecked on a distant island whose capital city was Christianopolis. The citizens there use no money or own no property; thus all are on an equal basis economically and socially. Houses, furniture, food, and clothing are provided by the state without any discrimination. Men are married at 24, women at 18. Children are under their parents’ care until they are of school age. After that they are reared by the community. Housekeeping arrangements are adequate but somewhat spartan. Husbands share in cooking, washing dishes, and making clothes.
Equity is exercised in the field of labor. Everyone shares in work of a community nature—harvesting, building houses and roads—but on a short-term schedule. The chief occupation of each individual is in a trade for which he displays an aptitude. There is a strong emphasis throughout the book on the development of industries and more talk about trades and group organizations than any other single element except religion, which receives constantly recurring attention throughout.
Considerable emphasis is given to scientific experimentation, aimed at improving industry, health, and general living conditions. To that end a great laboratory for the natural sciences is operated, and an exhibition hall of science, industry, and the arts offers educational opportunities through scale models of machinery and mural paintings similar to those in the City of the Sun.
The pattern of the community is succinctly described as a “republic of workers, living in equality, desiring peace, and renouncing riches.”
Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis was probably written in 1624, but was not published until 1627, a year after the author’s death. Like the work of his contemporaries, Campanella and Andreae, Bacon’s book shows the influence of More in certain broad aspects. It purports to relate the discovery by an exploring expedition in the Pacific Ocean of an island where the natives have developed a society offering much to admire. The goal of the common good is sought through learning and justice. The principal attention of the account is focused on an elaborate academy of science. Bacon has incorporated in this society the basic ideas that he developed more elaborately in his longer philosophical and scholarly treatises; namely, that the advancement of human welfare can best be achieved through the systematic exploration of nature. His famous “scientific method” is founded on painstaking observation of natural phenomena and constructing, through inductive reasoning, a body of knowledge based on those observations. He urges experimentation to improve general knowledge and to develop inventions for human comfort and pleasure. The central institute in the capital of New Atlantis, called Solomon’s House, is a huge academy which foreshadows the later creation of scientific laboratories and academies, such as the English Royal Society.
This emphasis on the sciences marks a major departure from More and the humanist utopians and aligns Bacon with the direction of thought prevailing in the seventeenth century. Similar attitudes, it will be recalled, were observed in The City of the Sun and Christianopolis.
Bacon left this work unfinished, and it is impossible to say how he planned to treat other aspects of life in New Atlantis. He did not discuss the social and governmental systems of the islanders; hence, we do not know what his attitude toward communism was. Marriage was held sacred. His Atlantians exhibited a love of finery in costumes and jewelry that sets them apart from the typical utopians.
The importance of More’s Utopia in the history of utopian literature begins to be clear as we examine the documents published in the century following its publication. Patterns of uniformity and occasional divergences have been displayed. The utopian societies described—without exception—develop systems aiming toward equality and justice. Equality is attained in nearly every instance through community of property and the elimination of money, also through equitable sharing of labor, community rearing of children, and often community dining. Plain, uniform clothing is usually prescribed, and any kind of luxury or ostentation is discouraged, Bacon’s New Atlantis excepted. The governments are made up of carefully selected elders of demonstrated character and competence. Variations appear in connection with the question of community of women, proposed by Plato but rejected by More. Campanella and some later writers follow Plato but most follow More. The acceptance of slavery in the community, approved by both Plato and More, is not adopted by their followers.
The history of utopian literature from the mid-seventeenth century to the present cannot be treated in detail here, since there are more than 50 works that ought to be included in such a study. A brief survey will have to suffice for present purposes. A few of the better known and more influential works will be analyzed briefly and classified according to the main directions of development of the theme.
