Aeon has recently published an excellent essay on John Milton’s Areopagitica, the Puritan poet’s great defense of the freedom of speech and of the press. Written at the height of the English Civil War, when the political tempers of both sides were long past frayed, the tract is a shining example of principle triumphing over passion. It’s worth revisiting as a reminder of how difficult it has always been for our species to resist the temptation towards the censorship when the opportunity to censor arises.