BONFINI, ANTHONY, a Latin historian, born at Ascoli, in the marquisate of Ancona, in December 1472. His literary fame induced Matthias Hunyadi, king of Hungary, to invite him to his court, where he was retained and pensioned by that sovereign, as well as by his successor Vladislaus. He wrote by royal command the early history of Hungary, which he brought down to the year 1495. It is a well-executed work, and has gone through several editions. Bonfini died in 1502. He has left, 1. Rerum Ungaricarum decades tres, Basle, 1545, fol.; 2. Flavii Philostrati Lemnii Libri ii. de Vitis Sophistarum, 1516, 4to; 3. Hermogenis Libri de Arte Rhetorica et Aphthonii Sophista Prognostastica, Lyons, 1538; 4. In Horatium Flaccum Commentarii, Rome, without date, 4to; and, 5. Symposion Beatricis, Basle, 1572 and 1621, 8vo.