A thief in Rome was arrested after stopping to read a book on Greek mythology in the middle of a robbery.
The 38-year-old is believed to have entered a flat in the Italian capital’s Prati district via a balcony but became distracted after picking up a book on Homer’s Iliad from the bedside table.
The 71-year-old homeowner is said to have woken up and confronted the burglar who was engrossed in a book.
News of the failed robbery caught the attention of the book’s author, who told Italian media that he wanted to send the man a copy so he could “read the whole thing”.
After being caught red-handed, the robber is said to have attempted to flee quickly by escaping through the same balcony, but was caught shortly afterwards.
It is said that he told the police that he climbed the building to visit an acquaintance.
“I think I was in a B&B, saw the book and started reading it.”
“It’s fantastic,” Giovanni Nucci, author of The Gods at Six O’Clock, which interprets the Iliad from the perspective of the gods, told Il Messaggero.
“I want to find the person who was caught and give him the book, because he will be caught reading it. I want him to be able to read the whole book.
“It’s a surreal story but also very human.”
The thief was believed to be in possession of an expensive bag of clothes that was allegedly stolen from another home earlier that evening.
Mr. Nucci said his favorite god was Hermes, the god of thieves.
“He’s also the god of literature. It all fits together, obviously,” he joked.
