McWilliams, Saving Place
8
rest upon fundamental differences. “More,” failing to realize this, fails also to respond
adequately to Hythloday’s provocations. First, he overlooks Hythloday’s most rash
statements and does not respond to them at all. Then, when he does take issue with some
of Hythloday’s claims, his arguments are sporadic and unsatisfactory; they fail to
convince. Finally, he shuts aside his doubts because of the “charm and delight” of
Hythloday’s tale. He lets himself be seduced, in large part, by visions of Utopia. Though
he does continue to have questions about parts of Hythloday’s story, “More” is ultimately
responsible for publishing it. He does not pay attention to his doubts because, among
other things, he lacks time; he is too caught up in his civic engagements to see that he is
perpetuating something that challenges his own deepest convictions. He lacks the vision
and the energy to temper Hythloday’s enthusiasms in any meaningful way.
Hythloday’s Rejection of the Church
One of the first things “More” – and readers of Utopia – learn about Hythloday is
that “his only interest has been philosophy.” He has studied more Greek than Latin
because “he knew that no Roman philosophy of any consequence survives, except for
certain essays by Cicero and Seneca.”
16
Of the many intricate calculations and ironies in Utopia, this might be the most
important. Thomas More wrote his Utopia in Latin, intending for it to be read only by
16
More, 58. This was originally translated in English as “he know that there is nothing extant in the Latin
tongue that is to any purpose, saving a few of Seneca’s and Cicero’s doings” (Utopia, Ed. Ralph Robynson
(The Heritage Press: New York, 1935)). More also underscores Hytholday’s disdain for things Latin in the
prefatory “letter” from the fictional “More” to Peter Giles that opens the book. (Ostensibly, the book is
written by “More” to recount a conversation that had taken place with Hythloday a year earlier.) In the
third sentence of that letter, “More” writes that Hytholday “is, as you know, someone who knows more
Greek than Latin.” (More, 52).
Convention