A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATIONS: Book II, Chapter XIII “On Wounding to the Outside Over the Sword, Passing with the Left Foot”1 From Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri’s La Scherma Presented by Maréchal Remy Delamontagne de Gascogne (SCA), aka Justin Aucoin (mundane)
The premise of this chapter is to teach ways in which a fencer can strike their opponent with a left foot pass instead of the traditional firm-footed lunge2 that we see in the Italian school of fencing. In both the Tom Leoni translation and the Piermarco Terminiello translation, the plays are virtually identical except for an anomaly in the text toward the end of the chapter (highlighted in yellow).
Leoni Translation: “Fix-footed attacks3 are very common and quite safe in duels. I recommend practicing this type of strike to develop agility in your foot, as well as to make your lunge longer than a natural motion. Passing, however, is also not to be overlooked. By doing so, you unsettle the opponent and throw him into disorder, and you proceed with more momentum. Passing attacks must follow a straight line all the way to the opponent’s body, without any lateral voiding and without pulling back. This illustration gives an example of such attack.
The opponent (14) is in quarta, and you (15) take the initiative and gain his debole with your forte. He attempts to beat you with a cavazione but is defeated by your thrust in seconda to the outside line, above his sword and carried by your left foot in the indivisible motion of his cavazione.
1 Alfieri, “On Wounding to the Outside Over the Sword, Passing with the Left Foot” in La Scherma: The Art of Fencing, Terminiello. 2 Italian masters often use “firm-footed” and “fixed-footed” to mean the same type of lunge, where the lead foot takes a small step and the rear foot remains in place. The Leoni translation and Terminiello translation each use these different terms to mean the same action. 3 See Note 2. A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATIONS 2
You could also feint in seconda4 along line B (to the flank under his right arm), beat his sword to the outside (making sure he doesn’t have the time for a cavazione)5 and deliver a mandritto6 or riverso tondo7 to his head from line A.”8
Terminiello Translation: “Attacking from a firm foot is very common and is extremely secure. I praise practicing this blow in order to acquire agility in the foot and to extend the thrust beyond its natural motion. Passes are not to be disparaged as they disturb and disorder the enemy and they travel with greater force, bearing in mind that you should carry on passing in a straight line until you reach your opponent’s body, without stepping offline and without retreating, which we have an example of in the figure opposite.
Turning to Gentleman 14, the wounder (Gentleman 15 in quarta) has moved with resolution to bind the enemy’s debole with his forte. Gentleman 15 wishes to perform a cavazione and beat his opponent to the blow but is wounded to the outside above the sword by a seconda, carried forward by a left foot pass during the midpoint of the cavazione.
Gentleman 15 could also feint, and wound along line B in seconda, to the flank under the right arm.
Finally, he could knock the sword to the outside, with reason as he does not have time to perform a cavazione, and from point A deliver a mandritto or riverso tondo to the head.”9
As one can see, the Terminiello translation has two separate plays, whereas the Leoni translation has combined these two moves into a single play. This drastically changes the martial interpretation of the play. This means that modern practitioners are learning slightly different maneuvers, depending on the translation being studied.
4 Seconda or second guard. In this hand position, the true edge (part of the blade facing the knuckles) is pointed to the right (if right-handed). The hand is palm down and the sword arm held extended at shoulder height. 5 Cavazione or disengage. This is a move where the fencer extracts their blade from one side of their opponent’s sword to the other side, specifically in response to their blade being found. This could be done under the sword (cavazione sotto) or above the sword (cavazione sopra). 6 Mandritto are cuts coming from the lead-hand side (from right to left, if you’re right-handed). 7 Riverso Tondo is a horizontal cut coming across the body (left to right, if you’re right-handed). 8 Alfieri, “Outside Strike above the Opponent’s Sword, Left Foot Pass” in La Scherma: on Fencing, Leoni. 9 Alfieri, “On Wounding to the Outside Over the Sword, Passing with the Left Foot” in La Scherma: The Art of Fencing, Terminiello. A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATIONS 3
Practical Synopsis & Martial Interpretation of Book II, Chapter VIII In both Leoni and Terminiello’s translation, Alfieri begins by promoting the use and practice of the lunge. He also mentions that passing steps are also effective foot work while attacking and shouldn’t be overlooked.
In this chapter, the Agent is Fencer 15 and the Patient is Fencer 14 as shown in the plate.
• Starting position: to the inside--patient in quarta and agent in terza10.
Tom Leoni Translation Piermarco Terminiello Translation Sequence A Sequence A 1. Agent: gains the opponent’s sword with 1. Agent: gains the opponent’s sword with their hand in terza. their hand in terza. 2. Patient: performs a cavazione and 2. Patient: performs a cavazione and attempts to attack in terza/seconda11. attempts a lunge in terza/seconda. 3. Agent: strikes opponent in seconda to 3. Agent: strikes opponent in seconda to the outside line & above the opponent’s the outside line & above the opponent’s sword, while making a passing step of the sword, while making a passing step of the rear foot, and grasping the opponent’s rear foot, and grasping the opponent’s hilt. hilt.
Sequence B Sequence B 1. Agent: feints low to the opponent’s flank 1. Agent: gains the opponent’s sword with just under the sword arm. their hand in terza, and feint to the inside 2. Patient: moves to parry the attack.12 line. 3. Agent: beats opponent’s sword to the 2. Patient: moves to parry the attack. agent’s outside line, and deliver’s a 3. Agent: performs a mezzo cavazione13 and mandritto or riverso tondo to the strike under the opponent’s sword arm, opponent’s head, while making a passing while making a passing step of the rear step of the rear foot. foot and grasping the opponent’s hilt.
Sequence C 1. Agent: gains the opponent’s sword with their hand in terza. 2. Patient: performs a cavazione and attempts a lunge in terza/seconda. 3. Agent: beats opponent’s blade to the outside line, and deliver’s a mandritto or riverso tondo to the opponent’s head, while making a passing step of the rear foot.
10 Alfieri doesn’t define the starting position of Fencer 15 in this chapter, however, one can easily conclude they begin in terza since they are finding their opponent’s sword. 11 Alfieri doesn’t define what guard Fencer 14 uses when attacking, however, both seconda and terza are guards used to attack and defend on the outside line in the Italian school. Based on the accompanied illustration, terza seems to be the more accurate guard for this play. 12 Alfieri doesn’t state what the patient does, but feints are only effective if the opponent moves to parry them. 13 Mezza cavazione or half-disengage. Unlike a “full” cavazione, which brings a fencer’s sword from one side of their opponent’s blade to another, the mezza cavazione frees the fencer’s blade but keeps the point low, below their opponent’s sword. Alfieri doesn’t use this term at all in Book II, but does mention it in Book I, Chapter XII. The motion described in Book II, Chapter VIII fits this definition. A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATIONS 4
Which Translation is Correct? To answer this, we can look at a few items. The first is the original text by Alfieri14. Running it through a Google Translate provides a translation much closer to Terminiello’s version.
“He can still [feint], and wound by line B, in seconda [under his opponent’s] right arm in the side, and finally, [beating] the sword out of the way, but with reason [his opponent] has no time [to perform a cavazione], and from line A, unload a [mandritto or riverso] tondo [to the head].”
Obviously, Google Translate should be taken with a grain of salt. However, we see plays similar to Terminiello’s translation in other 17th Century Italian fencing masters.
The first is Plate 40 of Salvator Fabris’s treatise Scienza d’Arme which has two fencers squaring off on the inside line. The agent feints on the inside line and then strikes below their opponent’s sword with a passing step of the rear foot as their opponent moves to parry the feint.15
The second is a maneuver described in Vienna Anonymous on Fencing16 in which the author/student notes how to use a feint to create a tempo17 to attack.18 The third is a play in Nicoletto Giganti’s second book which states, “On lunging to the inside, if your enemy parries, disengage your sword toward the outside, and in that same tempo pass with your left foot.”19 In Giganti’s first book, too, we see several chapters in which he describes striking an opponent under the sword in the chest after feinting to the inside line20, such as shown in Sequence B of Terminiello’s La Scherma translation.
We can also turn to other chapters in Alfieri’s La Scherma to see the internal logic to his system. Book II, Chapter IX—entitled “Outside Strike Under the Opponent’s Sword, Left-foot Pass”21 —Alfieri notes that we can use a feint to provoke a tempo to attack under our opponent’s sword via a mezzo cavazione.
In Book II, Chapter XXVI22 of La Scherma, Alfieri does mention a blade beat and then an attack. However, nowhere in La Scherma, nor in other Italian rapier manuals of the time, do we see a feint followed by a blade beat, as Leoni’s translation suggests.
In the end, it would appear that the Terminiello translation is more accurate translation of the original text when compared to the greater Italian school at-large. This also demonstrates why cross-referencing as many sources and translations as possible is useful for accurate martial interpretation.
14 Alfieri, Francesco Ferdinando. “DEL FERIR L'INIMICO DI FUORA sopra la Spada passando col Piè manco. CAP. VIII”, “COME SI DEBBA FERIR L'INIMICO, che tenti di vantaggiarsi in giro. CAP. XIII.”, “DEL FERIR DI PASSATA COL PIE MANCO. CAP. XXXI.” La Scherma, (Padua, 1640), Transcription by Andrea Conti. Accessed September 15, 2019. 15 Fabris, Salvator. Scienza d’Arme (The Art of the Italian Rapier), Leoni, 74. 16 Vienna Anonymous, originally titled Della Scherma (“On Fencing”; MS 381), is an anonymous Italian fencing manual written in 1614. The manuscript is based on Salvator Fabris’s and Ridolfo Capoferro’s teachings. The manuscript is the work of three unknown scribes and includes annotations in the margins and footnotes as well as specific references to plates in both Fabris’s and Capoferro’s treatises. 17 Tempo is the measurement of motions between stillness and stillness between motions. An “in tempo” action is an attack or action that happens while an opponent is moving or fixed. An “out of tempo” action is an attack or action that happens while an opponent is in wait. 18 Vienna Anonymous on Fencing: A Rapier Masterclass from the 17th Century. Based on Fabris & Capoferro, Leoni. 19 Giganti, Nicoletto. “The Method of Coming to Grips and Wounding with a Thrust to the Chest” in The ‘Lost’ Second Book of Nicoletto Giganti, Terminiello and Pendragon, 99. 20 Giganti, Nicoletto. “The Way of Wounding in the Chest with the Single Sword When They Are in Measure with the Swords Equal” and “The Pass with the Feint at a Distance” in Scola, Overo Teatro, Translated by Jeff Vansteenkiste, https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Nicoletto_Giganti. Accessed on November 12, 2019. 21 Alfieri, “Outside Strike under the Opponent’s Sword, Left-foot Pass” in La Scherma: on Fencing, Leoni. 22 Alfieri, “Striking with a Left-foot Pass” in La Scherma: on Fencing, Leoni. A TALE OF TWO TRANSLATIONS 5
Bibliography Alfieri, Francesco Ferdinando. La Scherma: The Art of Fencing. Padua, 1640. Translated and edited by Caroline Stewart, Phil Marshall, and Piermarco Terminiello. Fox Spirit Books, 2017.
Alfieri, Francesco Ferdinando. La Scherma: on Fencing, 1640 Rapier Treatise. Padua, 1640. Translated and edited by Tom Leoni. Self-published: Lulu, 2018.
Alfieri, Francesco Ferdinando. “DEL FERIR L'INIMICO DI FUORA sopra la Spada passando col Piè manco. CAP. VIII”, “COME SI DEBBA FERIR L'INIMICO, che tenti di vantaggiarsi in giro. CAP. XIII.”, “DEL FERIR DI PASSATA COL PIE MANCO. CAP. XXXI.” La Scherma. Padua, 1640. Transcription by Andrea Conti. Accessed September 15, 2019. https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Francesco_Fernando_Alfieri#Second_Part
Fabris, Salvator. Scienza d’Arme (The Art of the Italian Rapier). Copenhagen, 1606. Translated and edited by Tom Leoni. Highland Village, TX: Chivalry Bookshelf, 2005.
Giganti, Nicoletto. The ‘Lost’ Second Book of Nicoletto Giganti (1608). Pisa, 1608. Translated and edited by Piermarco Terminiello and Joshua Pendragon. Fox Spirit Books, 2013.
Giganti, Nicoletto. Scola, Overo Teatro. Pisa, 1606. Translated by Jeff Vansteenkiste. Accessed on November 12, 2019. https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Nicoletto_Giganti.
Vienna Anonymous on Fencing: A Rapier Masterclass from the 17th Century. Based on Fabris & Capoferro. Transcribed, translated, annotated, and edited by Tom Leoni. Self- published: Lulu, 2019.