Areopagitica — John Milton

Areopagitica: A speech of Mr John Milton for the liberty of
unlicensed printing to the Parliament of England is a prose tract
or polemic by John Milton, published November 23, 1644, at the height of the
English Civil War. Milton's Areopagitica is titled after a speech written
by the Athenian orator Isocrates in the 5th century BC. (The Areopagus is a hill
in Athens, the site of real and mythical tribunals. Isocrates hoped to restore
the Council of the Areopagus.) 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.

-- Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.