Hi,
First of all, I want to say thank you for the Giganti translation. I had been waiting for something like this for some time, and it was everything that I hoped it would be and more. There are a couple of areas I've run into so far that are a little unclear to me though, and I was hoping that perhaps some of the people here could help me better understand what is going on.

1. In plate 3, Gaining the opponent's sword to the outside, it appears that the fencers' swords are each on the inside of the other. If the fencer on the left has gained to the outside, then shouldn't his sword be behind the opposing fencer's sword and not in front of it? Could this be an error in the plate or am I just missing something simple?

2. In plate 4 (and also 5), in the explanation of the strike in tempo, the distance does not seem right to me. If I were to set this type of action up myself, I would do the following:
Fencer A gains on the inside from out of measure and advances into distance
If Fencer B attacks with a cavazione, Fencer A defeats it with a strike while turning the hand
If fencer B does nothing Fencer A makes a thrust with opposition

However, it looks like Giganti is setting the distance up rather differently:
Fencer A gains on the inside from out of distance
If fencer B does a cavazione, A strikes
If fencer B does not do a cavazione, A advances into measure and strikes

What seems odd to me is that B appears to be initiating an attack from out of distance. If he is going to reach fencer A, he must make a step forward and a lunge in order to make the hit. Wouldn't this seem like a bad idea? This doesn't really seem right to me, am I reading the text correctly here?

I guess I am making an assumption about what he means by measure. I'm assuming that when he defines measure as "that distance from which you can reach the opponent with your sword" he means reaching them with a lunge, as opposed by just extending the arm. If that's not what he means I guess that would make for a different interpretation of the plate.

3. In, "The correct way to perform a cavazione" he starts by telling you to "proceed to gain your opponent's sword while he is situated in whatever guard..." and that if your opponent is as knowledgeable as you, an attack from this position will end with the blades in parity. So, in this case, you should do a cavazione. What's interesting to me is that he appears to telling you to do a cavazione by starting from your own engagement, and not from the opponent's engagement or attempted engagement. If this is what he is saying, the opponent would need to be giving some kind of counterpressure (perhaps from starting to parry too soon?) against your blade in order for you to do the cavazione right? This seems pretty reasonable to me, but I'm worried that it's a bit of a stretch.
Does this make any sense at all, or am I again just missing something?

Thanks
David

Without having the book in front of me, I recall having the same exact question (#2) about the attacks seeming to begin out of measure when reading these plays. My thought was, this being a beginner's curriculum, maybe it is just a drill? Maybe someone can shed some light for us...

David,

A bit pressed, so I can only remark on your first point, at the moment...

Plate 3 - Gaining on the outside - is correct, however, I agree that the original is a bit hard to make out. Unfortunately, this was the best reproduction of the plate we had access to, and didn't want to make "corrections" to the period art, as we wanted it to be the best representation of the original(s) we could.

To help, if you look closely at our fencer (on the left), his body/foot position on the floor grid is quite clear, and definitely on the outside of the other swordsman. Compare it directly to where he's "standing" in plate 2—clearly on the inside.

Again: when in doubt, believe the text, not the image.

Cheers,

Adam