order a seventh part of all these goods to be freely given to the poor of
the countries to which they send them, and sell the rest at moderate
rates; and by this exchange they not only bring back those few things
that they need at home (for, indeed, they scarce need anything but iron),
but likewise a great deal of gold and silver; and by their driving this
trade so long, it is not to be imagined how vast a treasure they have got
among them, so that now they do not much care whether they sell off their
merchandise for money in hand or upon trust. A great part of their
treasure is now in bonds; but in all their contracts no private man
stands bound, but the writing runs in the name of the town; and the towns
that owe them money raise it from those private hands that owe it to
them, lay it up in their public chamber, or enjoy the profit of it till
the Utopians call for it; and they choose rather to let the greatest part
of it lie in their hands, who make advantage by it, than to call for it
themselves; but if they see that any of their other neighbours stand more
in need of it, then they call it in and lend it to them. Whenever they
are engaged in war, which is the only occasion in which their treasure
can be usefully employed, they make use of it themselves; in great
extremities or sudden accidents they employ it in hiring foreign troops,
whom they more willingly expose to danger than their own people; they
give them great pay, knowing well that this will work even on their
enemies; that it will engage them either to betray their own side, or, at
least, to desert it; and that it is the best means of raising mutual
jealousies among them. For this end they have an incredible treasure;
but they do not keep it as a treasure, but in such a manner as I am
almost afraid to tell, lest you think it so extravagant as to be hardly
credible. This I have the more reason to apprehend because, if I had not
seen it myself, I could not have been easily persuaded to have believed
it upon any man's report.