Monti, Vincenzo

Monti, Vincenzo (vēnchān`tsō mōn`tē), 1754–1828, Italian poet and dramatist. Under French rule he became official historiographer of the Italian kingdom and later accommodated himself to Austrian rule as well. Among his many works the best known is the epic Bassvilliana (1793), on the assassination of the French envoy Hugo Basseville at Naples. He is also remembered for his tragedies, among them Aristodemo (1787; tr. by Fanny Burney, 1818), and for the epic Il bardo della Selva Nera (1806), dedicated to Napoleon. His translation of the Iliad (1810) was greatly admired in his day. It is the more remarkable because Monti knew hardly any Greek. He was called the "great translator of the translator of Homer."