Editing Areopagitica (section)

===Origins of licensing system===
Milton begins with historical evidence noting that [[Ancient Greece]] and [[Roman Republic|Rome]] did not adhere to the practice of licensing. In some cases, blasphemous or libellous writings were burnt and their authors punished, but it was after production 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 examination. Milton points out that licensing was first instituted by the Catholics with the [[Inquisition]]. This fact appealed to Parliament's religious beliefs since it was dominated by Protestants, and there were [[Reformation|conflicts between the Protestants and Catholics in England]]. Milton provides historical examples of the aftermath following the Inquisition, including how there were popes in Rome beginning in the 14th century who became tyrannical licensers. For example, [[Pope Martin V]] became the first to prohibit the reading of heretical books, and then in the 16th century the [[Council of Trent]] and [[Spanish Inquisition]] prohibited texts that were not even necessarily heretical, but only unfavourable to the friars.