MONTI, Wel.% VINCENZO (1754-1525). Att poet. horn near Fusignano, in the Province of Ferrara, February 19. i731. Ile studied juris prudence very much against his will. being in clined to classical studies. In 1778 he went to 'Rome and stayed there some time as secretary lo Prince Tiraschi. In 1791 Monti's evident ing toward the ideas represented by the French Revolution brought him into had odor, and the feeling against him was hardly allayed by the composition of the Bassevilliana (1793), which seemed to show his horror of the excesses due to revolutions. Finally in 1797 .Monti tied . from Rome and accompanied the French agent, Mannont, to Florence and Bologna. Afterwards at Milan he obtained a position in the govern ment of that region, and when the Cisalpine Republic fell he betook himself to Paris. After Napoleon's victory at :Marengo he took the chair of oratory aml poetry at the University of Pavia in 1502. By Napoleon's favor he held a position at. the College de France. where he ended his tragedy, Olio Grace°, and began in Dantesque style a poem on the mathematician Slascheroni. When Napoleon beeame King of Italy. Stout; was made historiographer of the realm, an office which he lost in 1814, although lie was permitted to retain his professorship. The rest. of his life was passed in study, but was saddened by adversity. Ile died at Milan, Octo ber 13, 1S28.
The various political changes through \VII .M011 ti passed reveal themselves in his literary works. The first edition of the lyries of Monti was the Sagyio di pocsie (Leghorn. 1779) ; the next the Iersi (1788). In 1783, or thereabouts, lie began the Fcroniadc, a mythological poem in blank verse on the draining of the Pontine marshes. The work was never finished, although the poet spent the last years of his life in elaborating it. One of his most notable poems,
because of its perfection of form• was the liascheruniana (1801). in Nvhieli the spirit of Maseheroni discourses with others of the mis fortunes of Italy. To about 1525 belongs the Sermon(' sopra la milologia, a manifesto in verse in favor of elassicism and attacking romanticism. Although his temperament was not eminently dramatic, essayed the drama with some success. The _1,4,0ot/cum was printed at Parma in 1786 and performed at Valle di Roma in 1787. Aix Galeofto Manfredi is really a romantie drama ; it was published at 1Zoine in 1785. Monti's most successful dramatic composition is the Caio Grace° (Milan, 1802). This transla tions include versions of the Satires of Persius, of a fragment. of the Philartetes of Sophocles, and, most notable of all, of the /Had. This last, published at 1510 and 1812, is pretty true to the tone of the Numeric epic. Alonti's prose works are less numerous than his,,works in verse. Anamg them are the Lezioni di elm/new:a, deliv ered from his chair at Pavia: the Lettere filo loyielic: the Lettrra, addressed to Pettiledli; and the Dia/oghi, on the Italian speech. With the aid of his somin-law. Perticari, he prepared a lexicographical work. the Proposta di (arum- enzinal rd aayiunte dl: Parsi al rorabulario della Crusca 1817-26). Consult : A. Aloud, n ricerche storielic c lett, raric (Iloine. 1873) ; ('antfl. Monti c Pete, the fu sea.
(Milan, 1879) ; ineca;0 genii, le letter c la politica in Italia dal 17.;0 al 18.10, espeeially vols. vi.-viii. I raenza. 1570, and Rome. 1857)-57).