P. [30]. Alexander Gill, Jr.: Gill was Milton's tutor in St. Paul's School, of which his father, Alexander Gill, was head-master. Milton was sent to this school in his twelfth year (1620), and remained there till his seventeenth year (1625). He was entered very soon after at Christ's College, Cambridge, beginning residence in the Easter term of 1625.
To Thomas Young. (Familiar Letters, No. IV.)
P. [31]. Thomas Young: Young had been Milton's tutor before he entered St. Paul's School, and later; he was one of the authors of the Smectymnuan pamphlet; was appointed Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1644.
P. [31]. Stoa of the Iceni (Lat. Stoam Icenorum): a pun for Stowmarket in Suffolk, the Iceni having been the inhabitants of the parts of Roman Britain corresponding to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, etc.—Masson. Their queen was Boadicea, who led their revolt against the Romans.
P. [31]. Zeno: Greek philosopher (about 358-260 B.C.), father of the Stoic philosophy, so called from his teaching in the Stoa Pœcile, in Athens, in which were the frescoes of Polygnotus (about 480-430 B.C.).
P. [31]. Serranus: an agnomen, or fourth name, given to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus; Roman consul 460 B.C.; in 458 called from the plough to the dictatorship, whence called by Florus, Dictator ad aratro; the agnomen is said to have been derived from serere, to sow; 'Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? . . . vel te sulco, Serrane, serentem' (Who can leave thee unmentioned, great Cato, or thee, Cossus? . . . or thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow).—Æneid, vi. 844.
P. [31]. Curius: M'. Curius Dentatus, noted for his fortitude and frugality; consul B.C. 290; a second time 275, when he defeated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; consul a third time, 274; afterward retired to his small farm, which he cultivated himself.
To Charles Diodati, making a Stay in the Country
P. [32]. Erato: the muse of erotic poetry.
P. [32]. the fierce dog: Cerberus.