Introduction (English version)

In the “Censorship” entry published in the Encyclopedie Universalis, Julien Duval explains how complex the term is, since it refers to “the act of condemning a text or an opinion, of banning the possibility of publishing or publicizing it, just as it may refer to the institution pronouncing such a ban.” In the days of the Roman Republic, he says, the two censors were magistrates in charge of people’s census, i.e. they assessed the numbers of citizens, their wealth, etc., and they were to excl...