Saltationes: A Notebook on Ancient Dance by Angelo Poliziano

MS Magliabechianus VIII. 1420 of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence is a zibaldone of the Italian humanist Angelo Ambrogini, better known as Poliziano (1454-1494). Folia 1-6 contain a so far unpublished compilation of ancient sources on the dance, which presumably dates back to the 1470s. The initial and longer section of this compilation is an epitome of Lucian’s De saltatione, the original text of which is mostly rendered in Latin. Poliziano’s abridgment, and the more or less contemporary Latin version of the whole opuscule by Athanasius Chalkeopoulos, are the earliest attempts at translation of the De saltatione in Western Europe. Both texts are unpublished. This article provides a small addendum to the history of the fortuna of Lucian in Quattrocento Italy, by publishing an integral transcription of Poliziano’s cento as well as a few extracts of the version of the De saltatione by Athanasius Chalkeopoulos (from MS Parisinus graecus 3013).