Janka's log

This is a short one. Translation question of the day: when the translators say “well-ordained”, do they mean “ordained” in the sense of having been dictated from above by some divine power, or in the sense of being in good order? My guess is the latter, but you never know with these 17th Century folks.

24)⁽¹⁾ Fencing is an art of defending oneself well with a sword.⁽²⁾

25) It is an art, because it is an assembly of true facts in a clear order, advantageous to civil converse.

26) Some people teach and write books about martial arts based only on having done them a lot. This is no good.
You end up making rules out of exceptions and a big mess of random concepts that don’t fit together.
Instead, you also have to think about it a lot and to have a clear theory.

27) Swordsmanship is awesome, as can be daily seen.
It works on the natural distance where both parties can both attack and defend. This makes it just and honest.⁽³⁾
It also causes both parties to prefer defense.
Combatants usually only attack as a last remedy, to save their lives.

28) How fencing is different from other arts is that it uses a sword.⁽⁴⁾

(1) Sic. The translation lacks number 23.
(2) Direct quotes will be italicized (how fitting!) from this on.
(3) The way he goes on about that…
(4) This is less stupid a sentence if you read is as an introduction to the next chapter, which is about the sword itself.