The gems and ambassadors

Real world context

the king of England
loves clothes (and the
good life generally)
he was a spendthrift
just look at him over
there (in the 1520s)
absolute monarch
The gems and ambassadors
Utopia context
gold, gems and fine
clothes have no value to
adult Utopians
they're children's toys
the Anemolians are
sending ambassadors
along with slaves
The gems and the ambassadors
totus ille splendor apparatus pudendus
uidebatur, et inIimum quemque pro dominis
reuerenter salutantes, legatos ipsos ex
aurearum usu catenarum pro seruis habitos,
sine ullo prorsus honore praetermiserunt. quin
pueros quoque uidisses, qui gemmas ac
margaritas abiecerant, ubi in legatorum pileis
aIIixas conspexerunt, compellare matrem ac
latus Iodere.
All oI that splendor seemed to be shameIully
elaborate. They greeted each oI the lowly as lords
and with overlooked the ambassadorswithout any
honor at allmistaking them Ior slaves, since they
wore chains oI gold. And iI you had also seen the
boys, who had thrown away the gems and pearls,
when they saw them Iixed to the hats oI the
ambassadors, call their mothers and dig their sides.
The gems and the ambassadors
'en mater, quam magnus nebulo margaritis
adhuc et gemmulis utitur, ac si esset
puerulus! at parens serio etiam illa, 'tace
inquit 'Iili, est opinor quispiam e morionibus
legatorum. alii catenas illas aureas
reprehendere, utpote nullius usus, quippe tam
graciles, ut eas Iacile seruus inIringere, tam
laxas rursus, uti cum Iuerit libitum possit
excutere, et solutus ac liber quouis auIugere.
'Hey, mom, this big clown still uses gems and pearls,
just as iI he were a boy! But that parent says
earnestly, 'Be quiet son, he is, I think, one oI the
Iools oI the ambassadors. Others passed judgment on
the golden chains, since they were oI no use,
obviously so thin that a slave could break them, and
also so loose that he could run Iree whenever he
wanted to break them.