A Defence of the People of England
Page 2. Salmasius (Claudius), Latinized name of Claude de Saumaise, b. 1588, d. 1653; regarded in his time, throughout Europe, as the paragon of scholarship; engaged, after the execution of Charles I., to defend the royal cause against the Commonwealth, which he endeavored to do in his Defensio Regia pro Carolo I., addressed to Charles II. In this work he defines a king (‘if that,’ says Milton, ‘may be said to be defined which he makes infinite’) ‘to be a person in whom the supreme power of the kingdom resides, who is answerable to God alone, who may do whatsoever pleases him, who is bound by no law.’
P. 4, 5. single person: Milton himself, who replied to the Eikon Basilike, and refuted its ‘maudlin sophistry’ in his Eikonoklastes; antagonist of mine: Salmasius.