The practice of slavery among the Utopians is regarded by many modern readers as the most damaging feature of an otherwise idealistic scheme of society. In passing judgment, however, it is well to view the situation in its historic perspective. Not only was slavery an accepted institution among the Greeks and Romans and even incorporated into Plato’s ideal Republic, it was also accepted among European nations in More’s time, with the proviso that it was not considered proper to make slaves of Christian captives. Actually, the movement among Christian nations to abolish slavery did not develop in strength until the nineteenth century.
It is also to be noted that the treatment of slaves in Utopia was, in some respects, humane. Hythloday’s justification of the practice, if we may judge from his discussion of the penal code in Book I, would have been that it is far better to sentence criminals to performing useful labor for the state than to hang them.
