Utopia's slavery

Slavery in Utopia is presented not as a fully explained social system but through several concrete settings: rural households, the treatment of defeated enemies, and the penalties attached to violations of law. These instances reveal both the institution’s practical uses and the boundaries the Utopians claim to place around it. The account does not provide a general description of enslaved people’s rights or their prospects for release, so its evidence lies chiefly in who may be enslaved, what work they perform, and how their status differs from other forms of labor.

Places and Forms of Enslavement

In the rural economy, each farmhouse holds a family of at least forty men and women, besides two slaves. These households are part of a system in which inhabitants from the cities take turns living and working in the countryside. The stated account of this arrangement identifies the slaves as part of the household’s composition, but does not explain how they entered that status, what work they are assigned, or whether their condition can change.

The narrative distinguishes slavery from compulsory labor in its account of Utopus’s conquest. After taking Abraxa, Utopus ordered a fifteen-mile channel dug to separate the territory from the mainland. He required both the inhabitants and his own soldiers to work on it, but the account explicitly says this was intended to show that the inhabitants were not being treated like slaves. The distinction does not erase the coercion of the labor order; it does show that the narrative treats forced work and enslavement as different conditions.

War and the Treatment of the Defeated

The clearest account of wartime enslavement concerns the Aleopolitanes. After the Utopians aided the Nephelogetes in a war over alleged injuries to merchants, the conflict ended in the Aleopolitanes’ conquest and enslavement. The Utopians claimed no share of the spoils, although they had taken part in the campaign. The episode places enslavement among the consequences of defeat while separating Utopian participation in the war from direct possession of its gains.

The account also describes limits on the treatment of a captured city. When a town surrenders, the Utopians take it under their protection; when they capture one by storm, they do not plunder it. They put to death only those who oppose its surrender, enslave the remaining garrison, and leave the other inhabitants unharmed. People who advised surrender receive rewards drawn from the estates of those condemned, while the remaining property is distributed among auxiliary troops. These rules distinguish combatants from the broader population and prescribe different outcomes for each, even as enslavement remains a recognized consequence for captured defenders.

Law, Religious Toleration, and Punishment

Slavery also appears as a possible legal penalty. Utopus’s law allows people to follow and advocate different religions through argument and modest persuasion, but forbids reproach and force; those who violate this rule may be condemned to banishment or slavery. The law is described as a response to earlier religious conflict that had divided the inhabitants and made them easier to conquer. Its purpose is to preserve public peace and allow religious truth, if there is one, to prevail through argument rather than coercion.

The narrative’s example of enforcement clarifies that the penalty was not applied simply for rejecting or criticizing a religion. A newly baptized man repeatedly denounced other forms of worship and inflamed the population. After trial, he was banished for inciting sedition, not for disparaging another religion. Thus the account records slavery as one possible sanction under the law, but the specific case it recounts ends in exile instead.

Labor and the Limits of the Account

A comparison with religious devotees gives a further, indirect indication of enslaved people’s work. Some Utopians voluntarily take on demanding public and private tasks, including repairing roads and bridges, clearing ditches, and carrying supplies. They serve private individuals more than slaves do, according to the account, because they willingly undertake difficult or unpleasant work. This comparison places enslaved labor within the society’s broader division of work, while sharply distinguishing it from the devotees’ self-chosen service.

Taken together, these passages show slavery as an established part of Utopian life, present in rural households, wartime outcomes, and the range of legal penalties. They also show the narrative drawing distinctions among slavery, compulsory labor, voluntary service, exile, and protection of civilians. Those distinctions define the institution’s documented limits, but do not amount to a complete account of enslaved people’s daily lives or legal standing.