We'll spend a little time, if necessary, looking for background information on the ideas of classical Rome, using the techniques we used when investigating the ideas of classical Greece.   Prepare for this by scanning Chapter 4 of  the S & S

We have completed our survey of The Democratic Idea in the classical world of Greece and Rome. By now, you should have some idea of

1. The Grecian view of the advantage of Democracy over Tyranny (Euripides)
2. The "good life" as imagined by Athenians (Pericles)
3. The difference between direct and representative democracy in the classical world (Pericles and Aristotle)
4. Two systems for dividing the body politic: by political role, and by social position (Aristotle)
5. The idea of the value of "mixed" government, both theory and method (Polybius)
6. The distinction between law and justice and the primacy of justice (Cicero)

You should also have some ideas about the similarities between those ideas expressed then and similar ideas and expressions in our time.  If you are shaky about any of these, bring questions with you to class.

We're now going to take a leap forward in time of well over 1,000 years. Our attention is also going to move from Greece and Rome northward into Italy and the rest of Europe and, in fairly short order, into the Western Hemisphere, as well.

Before we delve back into the documents we're going to need to do some background work first. Take a look first at chapters 10 through 14 of S & S, both titles and subtitles:

10: A New Spirit in the West: The Renaissance, ca. 1300-1640
11: Alone Before God: Religious Reformation and Warfare, 1500-1648
12: Faith, Fortune, and Famine: European Expansion, 1450 - 1700
13: The Struggle for Survival and Sovereignty: Europe's Social and Political Order, 1600-1715
14: A New World of Reason and Reform: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, 1600 - 1800.

What I hope you notice is that the chronology of this section of the book isn't "clean". By this I mean that while all five chapters cover a period of 500 years, the focus in them isn't linear...one chapter per hundred years, for example. Rather, there is considerable overlap throughout. There are sound reasons for this. Europe is a big place and things don't happen in the same rate or at the same time from country to country within it. We're not going to read all of any of these chapters in any great detail. We are going to spend a whole period on Chapter 10, however, because it really sets the scene for ideas we're going to explore over the next several weeks.

Chapter 10: Summary:
316-325 (to Politics of Individual Effort)
The Illustration on p. 326
332, commencing with Individualism as Self-Interest to the end of the chapter.

Read: in Idea of Democracy,

#8: "Areopagitica," by John Milton pp. 29 - 38

We spent Tuesday talking about the Renaissance, Humanism, and the idea of  Reason. Areopagitica was a speech delivered to the English Parliament arguing   against the practice of requiring books to obtain a license before publication. The speech was a failure. Parliament refused to revoke the Censorship Order against which Milton argued. Sometimes ideas appear before their time. Our Constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Speech, so precious in preserving democratic principles, was shaped by the arguments Milton used. By the 18 ^th century, colleges in the United States had copies in their libraries. By the 19 ^th century, courses in rhetoric, history, and philosophy required the study of it. Students still tackle this essay in our day, because no other text presents as passionate a defense of the ideals of a liberal education and the role of freedom of inquiry. A quick search of the Internet will reveal how important the academic community considers this document. Perhaps a dozen or more web sites reproduce it in its intirety, and many, many more quote it at length. 

I encountered Areopagitica when I was a college sophomore about 40 years ago.  IT WAS HARD!!! AAAAARRRGH IT WAS HARD!!!!!!!!   I think I sprained my brain. It also changed my life. It made me realize my responsibility to be true to my own beliefs, and to argue them as passionately as Milton argued. I place it on this syllabus in hopes that it will challenge you as it has challenged me.

You will not encounter any more difficult going in this course than you will encounter in Areopagitica. The language is archaic. It was written for an  audience used to essays which quoted   "Ancient" authors and biblical authorities. The sentences are long and complex, and sometimes I still use my finger to help me follow what I'm reading.    Don't give up!!! I'm going to cheer lead, morale build, egg on, and whatever else I can think to do to help you squeeze every bit of meaning out of it that you can. We are not going to rush through this. I'm going to devote at least  full two class sessions to it.. To begin with, I'm going to ask you to  mark up this text, to number the subdivisions represented by (****) The table below will be serve as a guide.

Section	Begins	Starting with the sentence
1	29 Left Column	Be assured, Lords and Commons....
2	30 Left Column	But some will say, What though the inventors were bad,...
3	30 Left Column	But if it be agreed we shall be tried by visions,....
4	30 Right Column	Good and evil we know in the field of this world....
5	31 Left Column	Seeing, therefore, that those books ....
6	31 Right Column	Plato, a man of high authority, indeed, but least of all for his commonwealth,....
7	33 Left Column	Another reason, whereby to make it plain that this Order....
8	33 Right Column	What advantage is it to be a man over it is to be a boy at school....
9	33 Right Column	And how can a man teach with authority, which is the life of his teaching....
10	34 Right Column	Nor it it o the common people less than a reproach
11	34 Right Column	And though I know that England was  groaning loudest under the prelatical yoke,...
12	35 Left Column	Well knows he who uses to consider....
13	35 Right Column	For if we are sure we are in the right, and do not hold the truth guiltily, ....
14	36 Left Column	Why else was this Nation chosen before any other, that out of her....
15	36 Right Column	Next, it is a lively and cheerful presage of our happy success and victory.
16	37 Left Column	And now the time in special is,...
17	38 Right Column	And if the men be erroneous who appear to be the leading schismatics...
18	38 Right Column	This I know, that errors in a good

I want you to focus on these issues:

• What value does Milton put on books? Why does he considering "killing" a book perhaps more criminal than killing a man? What is the relationship between writing and thinking? (Section 1)
• Do we have to fear the "corrupting influence" of "bad" books? Why or why not? (Sections 2-3)
• Can even "bad" books be "good for us?" How? What does Milton mean by a "cloistered" virtue? (Section 4)
• Even if one agree a book is "immoral," is there anything to be gained (in the sense of increased public goodness) by banning it? Why or why not? (Section 5)
• Should freedom to read be extended to everyone, or just to the "wise"? Why? (Section 5)
• How does Milton refute Plato's arguments in  favor of censorship in an ideal or utopian community? (Section 6)
• How does Milton define Reason, and what connection does Milton make between Reason and freedom of inquiry (Section 6)
• What about the Censor? Is it possible to find a person who can censor books appropriately? Why, or why not? (Section 7 and elsewhere)
• What is the relationship between freedom to write and read and personal maturity? (Section 8)
• How does censorship corrupt teaching? (Section 9)
• What about the practice of "expurgating" a text (taking out the bad bits) as opposed to censoring the text outright? Is this practice any less harmful? Why or why not? (Section 9)
• What about the "common people?" Are we protecting them when we ban harmful literature? Why or why not? What does censorship assume about the capabilitiesof the "man in the street" (Section 10).