The discovery of the manuscripts of Titus Livius is a good deal

M Simon Arbellot tells in the "Figaro" how Professor di Martino found the manuscripts of Titus Livius on the island of San Salvador, which became Castell dell'Ovo, where there is a military prison.

At the time of Charles of Anjou, the monks of San Salvador, fearing pillage by the French, had walled up a number of precious pieces in the vaults of the monastery.
The German doctor Max Funke, a friend of Mr. di Martino, thus tells the story of how the Italian scholar made his discovery.

About twenty months ago, Mr. di Martino met a colonel of the 3rd Italian infantry regiment, then serving in the fortress of San Salvador. The officer wanted to show the professor the honors of the garrison and show him the Greco-Roman frescoes that decorated the walls. M. di Martino, amazed, claimed to see everything, the crypt of the old monastery did not fail to attract him especially. Greek paintings of the golden columns, the embalmed bodies of the monks of the old monastery of San Pietro di Castello made him cry out in admiration. In the midst of so much wealth, the trained eye of the professor noticed in a small niche pierced in the wall, a bundle of documents. It was the complete works of Titus Livius.

At this revelation, Doctor Funke, as the good German citizen that he is, interrupted M. di Martino:
Then these manuscripts do not belong to you. They are, quite obviously, the property of the State.

Not at all, he replied sharply. I found these papers not in a room of a fortress, but in the foundations of a disused monastery. Legally, they are my property!

And our two men talk about something else Professor di Martino, who knows the value of a manuscript well, seems to know even better that of money.
He will agree to give the original manuscript of Titus Livius only to England or America for a million pounds. He will authorize its publication in Latin for prices that vary according to the country. From the Germans, he will ask, without batting an eyelid, for a million gold marks. These last words cast a chill, one can imagine. Doctor Funke did not insist.

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