2. The rulers
In his Utopia, Thomas More writes about magistrates:
every 30 years the families have to elect a Filarca or
Sifogranto. 10 Filarchi are under a Protofilarca's
control. All the Filarchi (200 in total) have to elect the
supreme Magistrate between the four candidates
(one for each part of the city); however before
electing they have to swear to elect the best in their
opinion so that they do this for Republic, and not for
their own. The supreme Magistrate remains in office
for life, while Protofilarchi are elected every year.
3. The Council
The council is composed by the supreme Magistrate, the Protofilarchi, and a
couple of Filarchi which changes everyday, and they meet every 3 days.
They discuss about Republic:
● every dispute between citizens has to be solved immediately;
● to confirm every public question it has to be discussed in the council for at
least 3 days;
● is prohibited discussing about Republic out of the places used for this (the
penalty is death);
● important issues are comunicated to the Filarchi who discuss it with their
families and after that they expose their opinion to the council;
● problem aren't discussed the same day, in this way nobody can give a
wrong and hasty judice and then have time to find tesi to support it.
4. In this text we find a clear
reference to Plato: in fact,
he had been the first who
said that philosophers have
to be at the power, since
they are the only who have
the knowledge and who
can control themselves and
the others.
Plato reference
5. More's Utopia's limits
However, even if this should be the best
government, we think this type of
government has some problems: first of
all there is the danger that the supreme
Magistrate could hold too much power
and establish a tyranny. Then this politic
structure may create a classes society,
with the citizens at the base and the
supreme Magistrate at the top. So in
conclusion this is a politic model far from
democracy. Then it is also said that in the
council “every dispute between citizens
has to be solved immediately” but this is
controversial with the last point: is clear
that, solving the dispute immediately,
there is the risk that the government
punishes the right person but not the
wrong one.
6. The allegory of the good government and
the Utopia
For what concerns the last point, “problem aren't discussed the same day, in this way nobody can give
a wrong and hasty judice and then have time to find tesi to support it”, this remind us that a good
magistrate should have all that virtues which are represented in the “Allegoria del Buon Governo” of
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, all virtues which make him do the right choise. Closely linked with the Utopia
and, in particular, with the supreme Magistrate are the four cardinal virtues, Justice, Temperance,
Prudence and Fortitude. In the painting they sit in the high part on the right. The Fortitude is bigger
than the others and sits at the center and holds a shield. Then there is the Prudence, who has a
mirror on her hands to interpretate the past, understand the present and provide the future; then
there is the Temperance, who has a hourglass on her hand and finally there is the Justice, with a
sword, a crown and an head on her lap. So a Magistrate should have all these virtues and in this
way we can explain better the last point: if the council makes a decision hastily they go against the
virtue of Prudence and, since the Prudence is one of the most important feature of Justice, they
deny Justice too.
