to buy the most
valuable goods at too high a rate. And in no victory do they glory so
much as in that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without
bloodshed. In such cases they appoint public triumphs, and erect
trophies to the honour of those who have succeeded; for then do they
reckon that a man acts suitably to his nature, when he conquers his enemy
in such a way as that no other creature but a man could be capable of,
and that is by the strength of his understanding. Bears, lions, boars,
wolves, and dogs, and all other animals, employ their bodily force one
against another, in which, as many of them are superior to men, both in
strength and fierceness, so they are all subdued by his reason and
understanding.

"The only design of the Utopians in war is to obtain that by force which,
if it had been granted them in time, would have prevented the war; or, if
that cannot be done, to take so severe a revenge on those that have
injured them that they may be terrified from doing the like for the time
to come. By these ends they measure all their designs, and manage them
so, that it is visible that the appetite of fame or vainglory does not
work so much on there as a just care of their own security.

"As soon as they declare war, they take care to have a great many
schedules, that are sealed with their common seal, affixed in the most
conspicuous places of their enemies' country. This is carried secretly,
and done in many places all at once. In these they promise great rewards
to such as shall kill the prince, and lesser in proportion to such as
shall kill any other persons who are those on whom, next to the prince
himself, they cast the chief balance of the war. And they double the sum
to him that, instead of killing the person so marked out, shall take him
alive, and put him in their hands. They offer not only indemnity, but
rewards, to such of the persons themselves that are so marked, if they
will act against their countrymen. By this means those that are named in
their schedules become not only distrustful of their fellow-citizens, but
are jealous of one another, and are much distracted by fear and danger;
for it has often fallen out that many of them, and even the prince
himself, have been betrayed, by those in whom they have trusted most; for
the rewards that the Utopians offer are so immeasurably great, that there
is no sort of crime to which men cannot be drawn by them. They consider
the risk th