The noblest and most extensive defense of freedom of the press in English. Although Milton was sufficiently practical to serve as a censor of books himself when his opposition to this practice was ignored by the government, he never lost his conviction that the best way to battle falsehood was to let it have its say and be defeated by the superior power of truth. Strangling infants in the cradle was simply not his style. In this long essay, in the form of a five-part Classical oration addressed to Parliament , he brings to bear on this subject a wide variety of arguments, including antique precedents, philosophical and religious considerations, and his own experience as a published author. The document presents the portrait of the idealistic core of the British republic struggling against the political expediency that upholds the government.
John Milton
John Milton (1608–1674) est l’un des plus grands poètes anglais, célèbre pour son engagement politique et son génie littéraire. Puritain convaincu, il fut un ardent défenseur de la liberté d’expression et un acteur majeur de la révolution anglaise aux côtés de Cromwell. Devenu aveugle en 1652, il dicta *Le Paradis perdu*, son chef-d’œuvre, entre 1658 et 1663, offrant au monde une épopée poétique d’une profondeur inégalée. Son œuvre, à la fois religieuse et humaniste, continue d’inspirer la littérature et la pensée occidentale.
