This contribution retraces the story of I Neoplatonici by Italian patriot Luigi Settembrini (1813-1876). This homoerotic novella was coincidentally discovered in the form of an anonymous manuscript at the National Library of Naples by Greek scholar Raffaele Cantarella a century after the death of its author. The text is presented as the translation from Greek of the work by some Aristeo of Megara and opens with the foreword of an unnamed translator. It did not take long for the scholar to identify the translator, who turned out to be no translator at all: the text was in fact an original in disguise. Some forty years following the discovery, I Neoplatonici was finally published and the author’s alleged homosexuality overtly exposed in the editio princeps, almost called for on the wave of sexual liberation movements of the late Sixties in Italy. Many sensationalist newspaper articles appeared to comment on the clash between a revered father of the nation and the shameful content of the manuscript, in the wake of the introductory note which ridiculed the hypocrisy of the Italian patriots and the skeletons in their closets.
After detailing the circumstances of the discovery of the manuscript and the belated publication, I will analyse the paratextual devices that are aimed at presenting the text as a real translation and combine the editorial and philological incidents to discuss the relationship between anonymity, pseudotranslation and reception. I will then unfold how the disguised original text functions as a cultural artifact that explores the ideological function of language in 19th Century Italy while also building a bridge between ancient Greece and Settembrini’s times. By means of the (unspoken) analogy between Greek soldiers and Italian patriots, Settembrini can pursue his nation building agenda through literature.