Areopagi ca; A speech of Mr.
John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Prin ng, to the Parlament of Milton then argues that Parliament's licensing order will fail in its purpose to suppress scandalous,
England is a 1644 prose polemic by the English poet, scholar, and polemical author John
Milton opposing licensing and censorship. Areopagi ca is among history's most influen al and
impassioned philosophical defences of the principle of a right to freedom of speech and expression.
Many of its expressed principles have formed the basis for modern jus fica ons of that right.
Areopagi ca was published on 23 November 1644 at the height of the English Civil War. It takes its
tle in part from Areopagi kos ,a speech wri en by Athenian orator Isocrates in the 4th century BC.
The Areopagus is a hill in Athens, the site of real and legendary tribunals, and was the name of a
council whose power Isocrates hoped to restore. Some argue that it is more importantly also a
reference to the defence that St Paul made before the Areopagus in Athens against charges of
promulga ng foreign gods and strange teachings, as recorded in Acts 17:18–34.
Like Isocrates, Milton ,who was not a member of parliament, did not mean his work to be an oral
speech to that assembly. Instead, it was distributed via pamphlet, thus defying the same publica on
censorship which he argued against. As a radical, Milton had supported
the Presbyterians in Parliament, and would later work as a civil servant for the new republic, but in
this work he argued forcefully against Parliament's 1643 Ordinance for the Regula ng of Prin ng, also
known as the Licensing Order of 1643, in which Parliament required authors to have a licence
approved by the government before their work could be published.
According to the Bri sh Library, "State control of prin ng was introduced by Henry VIII and con nued
into the 17th century. In April 1638, poli cal agitator John Lilburne was arrested for impor ng
subversive books. He was fined £500 and flogged for the two miles between the Fleet Prison and the
pillory. Milton wrote his pamphlet as a protest against Lilburne's treatment." This issue was personal
for Milton, as he had suffered censorship himself in his efforts to publish several tracts defending
divorce . In par cular, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), which he published anonymously
and unlicensed, was condemned by the Puritan clergy as being here cal and intending to foster
sexual liber nism, and it was cited in pe ons to parliament as evidence of the need to reinstall a
system of prepublica on licensing. Areopagi ca is full of Biblical and classical references which Milton
uses to strengthen his argument. This is par cularly fi ng because it was being addressed to
the Calvinist Presbyterians who composed Parliament at that me.
According to George H. Sabine, the Areopagi ca presumed and was wri en for an engaged public:
Its basic principle was the right and also the duty of every intelligent man as a ra onal being, to know
the grounds and take responsibility for his beliefs and ac ons. Its corollary was a society and a state in
which decisions are reached by open discussion, in which the sources of informa on are not
contaminated by authority in the interest of party, and in which poli cal unity is secured not by force
but by a consensus that respects variety of opinion.
Before presen ng his argument, Milton defends the very idea of wri ng a trea se such
as Areopagi ca. 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 ma er of civil liberty and loyalty, because construc ve
cri cism is be er than false fla ery. He concludes his introduc on 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 no ng that Ancient Greece and Rome did not adhere to the
prac ce of licensing. In some cases, blasphemous or libellous wri ngs were burnt and their authors
punished, but it was a er produc on that these texts were rejected rather than prior to it. Milton
argues that a work should be "examined, refuted, and condemned" rather than prohibited before
examina on. Milton points out that licensing was first ins tuted by the Catholics with the Inquisi on.
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 a ermath following the Inquisi on, including how there were popes in Rome beginning in the
14th century who became tyrannical licensers. For example, Pope Mar n V became the first to prohibit
the reading of here cal books, and then in the 16th century the Council of Trent and Spanish
Inquisi on prohibited texts that were not even necessarily here cal, but only unfavourable to the
friars.
Milton precedes his argument by discussing the purpose of reading. He men ons 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 here cal books, because we can
learn from their wrongs and discover what is true by considering what is not true. 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 ac on, such as how St. Paul's converts had privately and
voluntarily burned Ephesian books considered to be "magick".
sedi ous, and libellous books: "this order of licencing conduces nothing to the end for which it was
fram'd". The order was meant to rec fy manners by preven ng the spread of an "infec on" caused by
bad books. Milton objects, arguing that the licensing order is too sweeping, because even the Bible
itself had been historically limited to readers for containing offensive descrip ons of blasphemy and
wicked men. Milton also points out that Parliament will not protect the ignorant from bad books by
this order, because the books would more likely have been read by the learned anyhow. Furthermore,
whatever bad ideas were wri en can s ll be taught through word of mouth or otherwise, so "infec on"
or corrup on is not prevented. Milton's point is that licensing books cannot possibly prevent societal
corrup on (it is "far insufficient to the end which it intends"), so there is no viable stopping point: "If
we think to regulate Prin ng, thereby to rec fy manners, we must regulate all recrea ons and
pas mes, all that is deligh ul to man". Finally, Milton also points out that, if there are even licensers
fit for making these judgments, then the possibility of error in licensing books is s ll great, and the
amount of me that the job would take is imprac cal.
Milton argues that licensing is "a dishonour and deroga on to the author, to the book, to the privilege
and dignity of Learning". This is because many authors will produce a wri en work with genuinely
good inten ons only to have it censored by what amounts to a subjec ve, arbitrary judgment of the
licenser.Milton also thinks that England needs to be open to truth and understanding, which should
not be monopolised by the government's standards. Faith and knowledge need exercise, but this order
will lead to conformity and laziness. Licensing will hinder discovery of truth by the government's
prejudice and custom, because there will always be more truth to be found that we do not yet know
of. Milton thinks that licensing could poten ally hinder God's plans, since it gives the licenser the
power to silence others.
Areopagi ca did not persuade the Presbyterians in Parliament to invalidate the prepublica on
censorship component of the Licensing Order of 1643; freedom of the press in this sense was not
achieved un l 1695, when the Parliament chose not to renew the order. However, as Milton's trea se
has been overwhelmingly praised, but it was unsuccessful because the objec ve did not appeal to the
target audience. Milton and the Presbyterians had together abolished the Star Chamber under Charles
I, but now that they were not being oppressed and they held the power, the Presbyterians in
Parliament no longer held to their defence of freedom of the press. Through the Licensing Order of
1643, they were set on silencing the more radical Protestants, the Independents as well as works
suppor ng the King which had begun to appear in London. Milton's trea se is his response to that
licensing order, which clearly came at a me when he and the Parliament were already at odds.
In addi on, by the me Milton wrote Areopagi ca he had already unsuccessfully challenged
Parliament in other areas of privilege and right. Milton's divorce tracts proved too radical for his
immediate day, as did this work. Milton's ideas were ahead of his me in the sense that he an cipated
the arguments of later advocates of freedom of the press by rela ng the concept of free will and choice
to individual expression and right. Milton's trea se "laid the founda ons for thought that would come
a er and express itself in such authors as John Locke and John Stuart Mill".
However, although Milton's ideas were ini ally resisted by the Puritans, they were incorporated into
the official charter of the Puritan church within a few years. The Westminster Confession of Faith,
wri en between 1643 and 1650, allows for divorce on two grounds: infidelity and abandonment. The
Westminster Confession of Faith states: "Adultery or fornica on, commi ed a er a contract, being
detected before marriage, giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In the
case of adultery a er marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce, and a er the
divorce to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.
Milton recognises individual rights, but he is not completely libertarian in Areopagi ca 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 (and preferably an author's name) inscribed in them. Under that system, Milton
argues, if any blasphemous or libellous material is published, those books can s ll be destroyed a er
the fact. "Those which otherwise come forth, if they be found mischievous and libellous, the fire and
the execu oner will be the meliest and the most effectual remedy, that man’s preven on can use."
Milton seeks a means by which to ensure that authors and publishers remain culpable for any
"mischievous" or "libellous" work that they produce. Regardless, Milton certainly is not without
remorse for the libellous author, nor does he promote unrestricted free speech. In addi on, he admits
that his tolerance is limited:
I mean not tolerated Popery, and open supers on, which as it ex rpats all religions and civill
supremacies, so itself should be ex rpate, provided first that all charitable and compassionate
means be used to win and regain the weak and the misled.
According to Nicholas McDowell, the second part of the forecited statement is usually le out by those
quo ng the first part to show that Milton was, at heart, a religious bigot, and that his ideas about free
speech and intellectual liberty have li le to teach us about liberalism today.