William Hog (fl. 1682–1702), translator Paraphrasis poetica in tria Johannis Miltoni, viri clarissimi, poemata, viz. Paradisum amissum, Paradisum recuperatum, et Samsonem Agonisten (London: typis Johannis Darby, 1690). Ee.5.7, title page.

William Hog’s Latin translation of Milton’s three late poems, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes, was first published in 1690.  In the work’s dedicatory epistle, Hog explains that Milton’s poems were limited to an English audience by his decision to write in the vernacular. Hog’s translation into Latin—still a European lingua franca by the end of the seventeenth century—was thus an attempt to gain international recognition for Milton’s three major works.

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