Works Cited, The Spanish Labyrinth

One of the chief distinctions between the social philosophy of the Middle Ages and that of modern times lies in its attitude towards utopias. The mediaeval utopia lay in the past. ‘In the beginning’, said Grotius, ‘all things were common and indivisible: they were the patrimony of everyone.’ The Biblical Eden and the classical Golden Age were merged, and the corruption of human nature made return impossible. The discovery of America did something to shake this view, partly because it opened to the mind such unimagined prospects, but also because it showed a civilized race, the Peruvians, living in a state of communism which seemed to be almost as perfect and as ‘Christian’ as that of the Golden Age. Perhaps indeed these Indians were survivors from that happy period! Certainly the missionaries, charmed by their simplicity and by the readiness with which they imbibed Christian doctrines, did not hide their opinion that they were less ‘corrupted’ than Europeans. Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, which was widely read in Spain, and the new translations of Plato helped to provide the literary and philosophic background by which the State communism of the Incas might be interpreted.

Brenan, Gerald. The Spanish Labyrinth (Canto Classics) (pp. 552-553). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.