Ethical and Theoretical Implications of Patterns of Hypocrisy: Artifice as a Species Constant or a Variable

John Milton sold Paradise Lost to Samuel Simmons on April 27, 1667 for five pounds, with the provision of an additional five pounds when successive editions of 1,300 items were sold. Milton’s widow received payment, following sales of a third edition, on December 21, 1680, which was six years after Milton’s death. The initial release from Simmons for five pounds was the equivalent of an amount today for 714 pounds or $1194, for the most famous of Milton’s books, and by consent one of the most important books ever of English literature.