I am not sure why I am just now noticing this portion of the reading, but I am especially drawn to More’s usage of adjectives. He calls Raphael Hythloday an “exceptional man,” himself “the illustrious man,” and refers to London as “the glorious city.” First, I just think it is quite audacious of More to begin his book with such adjectives, but it also indicates how highly he thinks of himself, Raphael, and London and how he would like readers to think of them. Was this included to increase readers’ confidence in More? Was this included for More’s personal confidence?

Peter Giles lived from 1486 to 1533 and was a friend and supporter of Desiderius Erasmus. He was a magistrate of Antwerp, a humanist, and a printer. More and Giles meet in Antwerp while More is visiting as an ambassador for King Henry VIII of England. Because of his humanist education and viewpoints, More uses their dialogue and conversations as representative of humanist tradition, and he is a good choice for a character because he shared very similar opinions as More. Because of his occupation as a printer, Giles helped More print Utopia in a time of strict printing laws.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines vagabond in the 16th century, when More was writing, as “One who has no fixed abode or home, and who wanders about from place to place; spec. one who does this without regular occupation or obvious means of support; an itinerant beggar, idle loafer, or tramp.” Based on context alone, one may easily determine the meaning of vagabond because it is placed near the term beggar, but it is significant to note that a vagabond differs slightly from a beggar in that he or she does not have a place to reside. In today’s terms, a vagabond would be the equivalent of a homeless individual or someone who lives a nomadic life.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines philosophy in the early 16th century (when More was writing Utopia) as “Knowledge, learning, scholarship; [...] advanced knowledge or learning, to which the study of the seven liberal arts was regarded as preliminary in medieval universities.” I think the last sentence is significant in this context: “to which the study of the seven liberal arts was regarded as preliminary in medieval universities.” The Oxford English Dictionary does not take into account that defining a word from this time period also means defining it in terms of the author who used the word. In this situation, the author plays a very important role in determining the definition of philosophy. More was a humanist, which meant that his knowledge and reference to philosophy would be indicative of the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, whose primary focus was on the role of emotions and focusing on positive emotions rather than negative ones. In this definition and the other definitions provided by the OED, there is failure to include the popular philosophers being studied, and because More lived throughout the rise of humanism and had a humanist education, the use of the term philosophy would have been referencing works dealing with human emotion, while other authors may have been studying and writing on scholastic philosophers, which wrote primarily on reason, truth/Truth, and Church dogma.

This reference to Seneca and Cicero further exemplifies the humanist theme throughout Utopia. Seneca was an ancient Roman philosopher, and he is seen as one of the greatest contributors to Stoic philosophy, which focuses on positive emotions rather than negative ones and is centralized on the idea that one's mindset can overpower external circumstances when creating the world one lives in. Cicero was also from ancient Rome, and he is seen as the most famous and influential of all Stoic philosophers. Cicero lived during a time of political unrest, and he wrote many, many pieces on government, which he believed should represent equality throughout society, and one of his strongest beliefs was about education, specifically that education was vital for a good political leader. Humanist teachings strayed away from medieval scholasticism and turned its focus to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and it is clear in this quotation that More was very fond of the writings of both Seneca and Cicero and believed that they were the greatest of Roman philosophers.