In any case, his words momentarily bring to the surface the deeply rooted popular origins of the utopias, both of the scholarly and popular varieties, which all too often have been considered to be purely literary exercises Perhaps that image of a "newworld"had a core that was ancient and tied to mythical tales of a remote age of prosperity. In other words, it didn't break the cyclical view of human history, typical of an age that had seen the establishment of the myths of renaissance, reformation, and of the New Jerusalem. None of this can be ruledout. But the fact remains that the image of a more just society was consciously projected into a noneschatological future. It wasn't the Son of Man high up in the clouds, but men like Menocchio-the peasants of Montereale, whom he had vainly tried to convince--who, through their struggles, would have to be the bearers of this "new world.