 Petrarch and Pope Nicholas V launched a search for the now missing books.Laurentius Valla published an amended text initiating the field of Livy scholarship.Dante speaks highly of him in his poetry, and Francis I of France commissioned extensive artwork treating Livian themes; Niccolò Machiavelli's work on republics, the "Discourses on Livy" is presented as a commentary on the "History of Rome".