Lea, who ought to know the Spanish field exhaustively, can only point to a few professors of theology who were persecuted and silenced for expressing unconventional views on biblical criticism.

He conjectures that others must have {424} remained mute through fear.

But, as the golden age of Spanish literature came after the law made the printing of unlicensed books punishable by death, [Sidenote: 1558] it is hard to see wherein literature can have suffered.

The Roman Inquisition did not prevent the appearance of Galileo's work, though it made him recant afterwards.
The strict English law that playwrights should not "meddle with matters of divinity or state" made Shakespeare careful not to express his religious and political views, but it is hard to see in what way it hampered his genius.
And yet the influence of the various press laws was incalculably great and was just what it was intended to be.

It affected science less than one would think, and literature hardly at all, but it moulded the opinions of the masses like putty in their rulers' hands.