Fittingly, the most imaginative and densely suggestive of the classic arguments for free speech was written by a poet. Had his career unfolded as he wished, John Milton would never have produced his renowned Areopagitica of 1644. It was only with great reluctance that he undertook to engage in prose polemics during the English CivilWar, sacrificing his “calm and pleasing solitariness” to “embark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes.”He described pamphleteering as something he did “with the left hand” all the while “knowingmyself inferior to myself.” Posterity, always a Miltonic concern, has begged to differ with this self-assessment.Wherever the Areopagitica ranks on Milton’s daunting list of enduring creations, it has proved to be the foundational essay of the Anglo-American free speech tradition.

中文翻译：

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约翰·米尔顿 (John Milton) 的《Areopagitica》读者指南，第一修正案传统的基础论文

恰如其分地，对于言论自由的经典论点而言，最具想象力和最强烈暗示的作者是一位诗人。如果他的职业生涯如他所愿，约翰·米尔顿 (John Milton) 永远不会创作出他著名的 1644 年的《Areopagitica》。他只是非常不情愿地在英国内战期间从事散文辩论，牺牲了他“平静而令人愉悦的孤独”来“开始在一片嘈杂的喧嚣和嘶哑的争论中。”他将宣传册描述为他一直“用左手”做的事情，同时“知道自己不如自己”。后世一直是弥尔顿的关注点，但与这种自我评估不同。无论在弥尔顿令人生畏的经久不衰的创作清单上，无论Areopagitica 排在何处，它都已被证明是英美言论自由传统的基础论文。