Utopians hate war, regarding it as inhuman, something not practiced by any wild beasts. What is often called the glory achieved in war seems to them inglorious. Nevertheless, they train constantly in the disciplines of war, both men and women, to be ready for any exigency. The causes for which they will engage in war are: first, to defend their country; second, to defend their friend; and, third, to deliver a weak nation from oppression or tyranny.
In battle they do not seek to gain victory through great bloodshed but prefer to overcome the enemy through strategy. Once war has been declared, they circulate leaflets through the enemy's country, offering a huge reward to anyone who kills the king or other leaders, aiming by that means to sow suspicion and dissension through the nation.
Their great treasures of gold and silver are reserved for use in wars. With it they are enabled to offer huge rewards to enemy defectors and to employ mercenaries at a handsome rate of pay. There is a race in a nearby country, the Zapoletes, who are brutish but strong, brave fighters, whom they employ to send into battle. They know that those hirelings have no principles of loyalty and could be persuaded to defect to the enemy for a promise of higher fees, but the Utopians are generally in a position to outbid their competitors, which they do readily, calculating shrewdly that a good many of the mercenaries will be killed and will not collect their pay.
