Author(s): John Milton; C. E. Vaughan (Introduction by)

Social & Cultural Notes

1927. The immediate occasion of the Areopagitica was the order of June 1643, by which Parliament reestablished the censorship of the Press. Milton's main object is to show the absurdity and iniquity of this measure, and to press for its repeal. But he does not confine himself within these comparatively narrow limits. Again and again, particularly in the latter part of the treatise, he deliberately breaks through them, to prove that freedom of speech and freedom of action are not evils to be tolerated, but blessings essential to the life and progress of any nation. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.