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Areopagitica
Is a speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, to the Parlament of England is a 1644 prose polemical tract by the English poet and polemical author John Milton opposing licensing and censorship. It is regarded as one of the most eloquent defences of press freedom ever written because many of its expressed principles form the basis for modern justifications of that right. Areopagitica was published at 23 November 1644, at the height of the English Civil War. It is titled after Areopagitikos, a speech written by the Athenian orator Isocrates in the 5th century BC. Like Isocrates, Milton had no intention of delivering his speech orally. Instead, it was distributed via pamphlet, defying the same publication censorship he argued against. As a Protestant, Milton had supported the Presbyterians in Parliament, but in this work he argued forcefully against the Licensing Order of 1643, in which Parliament required authors to have a license approved by the government before their work could be published. Areopagitica is full of biblical and classical references which Milton uses to strengthen his argument; this is particularly fitting because it was directed toward the Calvinist Presbyterians that comprised Parliament at that time. Before presenting his argument, Milton defends the very idea of writing a treatise such as Areopagitica. He compliments England for having overcome the tyranny of Charles I and the prelates, but his purpose is to voice his grievances. Milton defends this purpose, holding that to bring forth complaints before the Parliament is a matter of civil liberty and loyalty, because constructive criticism is better than false flattery. He concludes his introduction by encouraging Parliament to obey "the voice of reason" and to be "willing to repeal any Act" for the sake of truth and upright judgment. Milton begins with historical evidence noting that Ancient Greece and Rome did not adhere to the practice of licensing. In some cases, blasphemous or libelous writings were burnt and their authors punished, but it was after production that these texts were rejected rather than prior to. Milton's point is that, if a text is to be rejected, it should first be examined, refuted, and condemned rather than prohibited before its ideas have even been expressed. Milton points out that licensing was first instituted by the Catholics with the Inquisition. This fact appealed to Parliament's religious beliefs since it was dominated by Protestants, and there were conflicts between the Protestants and Catholics in England. Milton provides historical examples of the aftermath following the Inquisition, including how there were popes in Rome beginning in the 1300s who became tyrannical licensers. For example, Pope Martin V became the first to prohibit the reading of heretical books, and then in the 1500s the Council of Trent and Spanish Inquisition prohibited texts that were not even necessarily heretical, but only unfavorable to the friars.

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Milton mentions that Moses, David, and Paul, were all learned, which reminds his Protestant audience that being learned involves reading books of all sorts. He argues that this includes even the "bad" or heretical books, because we can learn from their wrongs and discover what is true by considering what is not. Milton's point is that God endowed every person with the reason, free will, and conscience to judge ideas for themselves, so the ideas in a text should be rejected by the reader's own choice, not by a licensing authority. Also, the mind is not corrupted simply by encountering falsehood. Milton points out that encountering falsehood can actually lead to virtuous action, such as how St. Paul's converts had privately and voluntarily burned Ephesian books considered to be "magic." Although Milton recognises individual right, he is not completely libertarian in Areopagitica as he argues that the status quo ante worked best. According to the previous English law, all books had to have at least a printer's name inscribed in them. Under that system, Milton argues, if any blasphemous or libellous material is published, those books can still be destroyed after the fact. In addition, he admits his tolerance is limited: 'I mean not tolerated Popery, and open superstition, which as it extirpats all religions and civill supremacies, so it self should be extirpat.' John Milton (9 December 1608 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for theCommonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poemParadise Lost.

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Bibliography
Ryan, Jennifer. "The Rhetorical Efficacy of John Milton's Areopagitica"- online book
http://www.bartleby.com/3/3/- online book

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagitica