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Difference between revisions of "Ridolfo Capo Ferro da Cagli"

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| 18) But turning to our matter, I say that the sword is the most useful and just arm, because it is proportioned to the distance in which offense is naturally made, and all arms, as much more as they differ from this distance of natural defense and offense, so much more are they bestial, more adverse to nature, and but useless to civic converse; one is the way of virtue, and of true reason, and that other one burdensome and rough, from which nature never departs; to sin and ignorance, one runs to and fro and glides by many routes; one is the straight line, which the other does not know to do; if not, the artifice, the oblique lines, are infinite, and they can make each one.
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| 18) But turning to our matter, I say that the sword is the most useful and just arm, because it is proportioned to the distance at which offense is naturally performed, and all arms, to the degree that they differ from this distance of natural defence and offense, are to that extent more bestial and adverse to nature, and therefore useless to civic converse; the one is the way of virtue and of true reason, and the other burdensome and coarse, from which nature never departs, keeping company with sin and ignorance, and sliding about by many routes; one is the straight line, which none but the artful knows how to do; the oblique lines are infinite, and anyone can do them. Whence in our times we see offenses and defences multiply themselves and the art unto infinity, human endeavour imitating nature from principles; and while it follows the traces thereof it is useful and advantageous to the human life, but as soon as it departs from the footprints of nature, it begins to degenerate from the nobility of its origin, and hurls itself into the snares of harmful fancy, and plunges human kind into the abyss of ignorance, leading it from the age of gold into the filthiness of mud.
 
| 18 Ma tornando alla nostra materia, dico che la spada sia arme utilissima & giustissima, perchè è proportionata alla distantia nella quale naturalmente si fa l’offesa & tutte l’arme quanto più si discostano da questa distanza della difesa & offesa naturale, tanto sono più bestiali & più avverse alla natura & però inutili alla conservation Civile: una è la strada della virtù & della vera ragione, è quella faticosa & aspra, dalla quale la Natura mai si diparte; al vitio & all’ignorantia si discorre e sdrucciola per molte vie; una è la linea retta, la quale non sa fare se non l’artefice, le linee oblique sono infinite & le può fare ogn’uno. Onde vediamo a’ nostri tempi multiplicarsi l’offese e le difese in infinito; l’arte & l’industria humana da principio imita la Natura & mentre che seguita l’orme sue è utile & giovevole al vivere humano, ma subito ch’esce dalle pedate della Natura incomincia a tralignare dalla nobiltà della sua origine & si precipita per li trabucchi della nocevol curiosità e sprofonda la generation humana nell’abisso dell’ignoranza, conducendola dal secolo d’Oro nella bruttura del fango.
 
| 18 Ma tornando alla nostra materia, dico che la spada sia arme utilissima & giustissima, perchè è proportionata alla distantia nella quale naturalmente si fa l’offesa & tutte l’arme quanto più si discostano da questa distanza della difesa & offesa naturale, tanto sono più bestiali & più avverse alla natura & però inutili alla conservation Civile: una è la strada della virtù & della vera ragione, è quella faticosa & aspra, dalla quale la Natura mai si diparte; al vitio & all’ignorantia si discorre e sdrucciola per molte vie; una è la linea retta, la quale non sa fare se non l’artefice, le linee oblique sono infinite & le può fare ogn’uno. Onde vediamo a’ nostri tempi multiplicarsi l’offese e le difese in infinito; l’arte & l’industria humana da principio imita la Natura & mentre che seguita l’orme sue è utile & giovevole al vivere humano, ma subito ch’esce dalle pedate della Natura incomincia a tralignare dalla nobiltà della sua origine & si precipita per li trabucchi della nocevol curiosità e sprofonda la generation humana nell’abisso dell’ignoranza, conducendola dal secolo d’Oro nella bruttura del fango.
  

Revision as of 19:11, 9 May 2014

Ridolfo Capo Ferro da Cagli
200px
Born 16th century
Died 17th century
Occupation Fencing master
Patron Federico Ubaldo della Roevere
Influences Camillo Aggrippa
Influenced Sebastian Heußler
Genres Fencing manual
Language Italian
Notable work(s) Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma (1610)
Concordance by Michael Chidester

Ridolfo Capo Ferro da Cagli (Ridolfo Capoferro, Rodulphus Capoferrus) was a 17th century Italian fencing master. He seems to have been born in the town of Cagli in Urbino and was a resident of Siena, Tuscany. Little is known about the life of this master, though the dedication to Federico Ubaldo della Roevere, the young son of Duke Francesco Maria Feltrio della Roevere, may indicate that he was associated with the court at Urbino in some capacity. The statement at the beginning of Capo Ferro's treatise describing him as a "master of the great German nation"[1] likely signifies that he was faculty at the University of Siena, either holding a position analogous to dean of all German students, or perhaps merely the fencing master who taught the German students.

Capo Ferro authored a fencing manual on the rapier entitled Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma ("Great Representation of the Art and Use of Fencing"); it was published in Siena in 1610 and refers to Federico by the ducal title. Though this treatise is highly praised by modern fencing historians, it is neither comprehensive nor particularly innovative and does not seem to have been terribly influential in its own time.

Treatise

Additional Resources

  • Capo Ferro, Ridolfo. Italian Rapier Combat: Ridolfo Capo Ferro's 'Gran Simulacro'. Ed. Jared Kirby. London: Greenhill Books, 2004. ISBN 978-1853675805
  • Capo Ferro, Ridolfo. Rapier: The Art and Use of Fencing by Ridolfo Capo Ferro. Trans. Nick S. Thomas. SwordWorks, 2007. ISBN 978-1906512279
  • Leoni, Tom. Ridolfo Capoferro's The Art and Practice of Fencing: A Practical Translation for the Modern Swordsman. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9825911-9-2
  • Garcia-Salmones, Eugenio. Ridolfo Capoferro, "Gran simulacro del arte y del uso de la esgrima", Traduccion al castellano. Editorial Sacauntos, 2009. ISBN 978-84-937207-0-4

References