Getty 34v
As the Getty writes it, this page runs [20], [15], [19], [26] — the page order and the play order have come apart. Only [20] is a sword play; the other three all begin from the same admission, that the sword alone will not do it, and set themselves to grappling with the sword still in hand.
Again I say that when a scholar has come to close quarters and, seeing that he cannot ruin his companion with his sword, he must set himself to grappling with his sword in this way: the scholar should throw his sword to the player's neck, and should put his right foot behind the player's left foot, and throw him to the ground on the right side.
- You are at close quarters and can see that the sword will not ruin him (non po guastare lo compagno cum sua spada) — the play's stated premise.
- Set yourself to grappling — "with your sword". The weapon stays in the hand and becomes part of the grip.
- Throw your sword to his neck: lay the blade across it.
- Put your right foot behind his left foot.
- Throw him to the ground on the right side, over that foot.
the Getty folio reference (34v-b) falls out of sequence with the following plays (34r); the Getty's page order here does not match the play order.
This scholar, not being able to strike the player with harm, chooses to set himself to grappling in this way: the scholar puts his sword to the inside of the player's right hand. And this the scholar does in order to enter with his sword and with his left arm under the player's right arm, to slam him to the ground, or to put him into the lower lock — that is, into the strong key (chiave forte).
- Again the premise: the scholar cannot strike him to any harm.
- He chooses grappling, and the entry is made with the sword: put your sword to the inside of his right hand.
- The stated purpose of that placement: to get your sword and your left arm under his right arm.
- From there, either slam him to the ground,
- or put him into the lower lock — that is, the strong key (chiave forte) — the same finish as [SwordArmor 12]–[SwordArmor 13].
- The verse witnesses take the same entry somewhere else entirely: to a disarm. See the comparison.
the Getty describes the entry under the arm toward the lock; the Pisani Dossi and Paris verses emphasize the disarm produced by the close turn.
Again, this play issues from the guard of the True Cross in this way: when a scholar is in that guard and someone comes against him, then immediately, in the player's strike, the scholar must pass out of the way and put the point in his face, as you see done here.
- Stand in the True Cross ([SwordArmor 3]).
- Someone comes against you. Wait for his strike.
- In that strike — in lo suo trar, not before it and not after — pass out of the way.
- Put the point in his face.
- That is all of it. The plate is [SwordArmor 9] restated with no scholar, no Bastard Cross, and no detail of the hands: "again, this play issues from the guard of the True Cross" — Fiore is re-anchoring the family, not adding to it.
This is a strong and good hold: the hold made, the scholar puts his left foot behind the player's left foot, and puts the point of his sword in his face. He can also throw him to the ground toward the right side.
- The hold is already made. Fiore describes no entry — only that it is "a strong and good hold" (una presa forte e bona).
- Put your left foot behind his left foot.
- Put the point of your sword in his face.
- Or throw him to the ground toward the right side.
- Which hold this is, the text never says; the plate is the whole of the reference.
Glossological analysis
- metter all'abrazare ([15], [19]) — "to set oneself to grappling": Fiore's formula for the deliberate switch out of swordplay. Both plays use it, and both keep the weapon — "grappling with his sword" (abrazare cum sua spada) is not a contradiction here but the normal armored resolution.
- guastare ([15]) — to ruin, to spoil, i.e. to do a man real harm; not "to waste". It is the Getty's word for exactly what the sword cannot do to an armored man, and the verse family's word for what can still be done to his hands ([SwordArmor 21]–[SwordArmor 23]).
- chiave forte ([19]) — the strong key = the lower lock, once more ([SwordArmor 12]–[SwordArmor 13], [Dagger 54]).
- dentro parte ([19]) — on the inside part of his right hand. The placement is what lets the blade and the arm travel under his arm; Fiore states the position and lets the purpose explain it.
- presa forte e bona ([26]) — "a strong and good hold". Presa carries the grappling section's exact sense: a hold worth taking is one that carries advantage ([Grappling 1]).
- in lo suo trar ([20]) — "in his throwing [of the blow]": trarre = to throw a blow. The phrase marks the tempo — the pass happens inside his strike.
- a man dritta ([15], [26]) — "to the right hand", i.e. throw him toward that side. A direction, not a hand.
Manuscript comparison
- The page order is not the play order. The Getty writes these four as 34v-a = [20], 34v-b = [15], 34v-c = [19], 34v-d = [26]. The numbering used here places [15] and [19] with the Morgan's sequence (11r-b, 11r-c) and [26] after the Morgan-only run — so [15] is numbered before [16]–[18] but written after them, and [26] is numbered after [25] but written before it. (Flagged in Sword in Armor translation at [15].)
- A real divergence at [19]: lock, or disarm. The Getty's scholar enters under the arm to throw or to lock ("to slam him to the ground, or to put him into the lower lock — that is, into the strong key"). The Morgan gives a fuller entry — pass the right foot forward, point under the player's right arm, left arm following the sword, then take his right below the elbow — and ends in the lower lock (ligadura sottana), with no throw. The Pisani Dossi and the Paris describe neither: they describe a disarm — "if I turn close on the backhand side, from your right hand your sword will be lost" (PD); "your sword will fall from your right side, if I turn myself swiftly to the left" (Paris). One entry, three destinations: throw-or-lock, lock, disarm.
- The Morgan counts its scholars; the Getty stops counting. At [19] the Morgan says "I who am the fourth scholar", and closes with a line the Getty has no equivalent for: "What he has not done, I do for him: he carries the honor, and I the trouble." The Getty leaves its scholars unnumbered after the first ([SwordArmor 9]).
- The Paris classicizes at [15]. Pisani Dossi: "on the ground I will give you a demonstration of death." Paris: "Now you will suffer the work of death; nor will the fates refuse." The Fates have no Italian original — of a piece with the Jupiter of [Axe 1] and the "consecrated" poleaxe of [Axe 10].
- Illustrations and coverage. [15] and [19] are the Pisani Dossi's (26a-b, 26a-c) and are carried by all four witnesses; [20] and [26] are Getty-only in both text and figure (34v-a, 34v-d).