The narrative was first printed at Pesaro in 1513, in what Apostolo Zeno calls lingua inculta e rozza.
The Lucanians were a southern branch of the Samnite or Sabelline race, who spoke the Osca Lingua.
What was true of the antiquities would be true also, he argued, of the Etruscan language, and the object of the Saggio di lingua Etrusca was to prove that this language must be related to that of the neighbouring peoples - Romans, Umbrians, Oscans and Greeks.
His notices of ancient sculpture and its various styles appeared as an appendix to the Saggio di lingua Etrusca, and arose out of his minute study of the treasures then added to the Florentine collection from the Villa Medici.
