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Old 22nd September 2019, 03:49 PM   #12
Jim McDougall
Arms Historian
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 9,719
Default Knowledge and courtesy in perspective

In the past week I have been deeply engrossed in research concerning Renaissance swords and famed makers of blades, which often of course crosses paths with the art of fence and dueling, and a reference on the art and science of western martial art.

In this I found a treatise written by a 16th c soldier and master of fence who was also known as a philosopher, his name was Vincentio Saviolo, and it was written in 1595. In the pages I read, I found a passage which rang resoundingly toward our topic at hand in perhaps an oblique sort of way.

"...the more skill a man hath of his weapon, the more gentle and courteous should he shewe himself".

While in a seemingly odd context as pertaining to our discussion here, what brought this to mind is that in my time of many years studying arms as well as collecting them, I do recall this sort of philosophy from previous reading on fence.
On these pages, I recall noting on many occasions that our study of arms here was in order to benefit ourselves and others by learning as much as we can on the weapons to avoid unfortunate mistakes in acquisition.
I noted that for a collector, the most sound and important weapon in his collection is that of knowledge.

Therefore, here, our weapon is knowledge in this analogy, and we all become ever more skilled in its use through our discussions, research and ideas.
The use of philosophy in martial arts as with this comparison brings to mind the well known Chinese work, "The Art of War", by Sun Tzu, while ancient, is often employed today in business practice.

I believe this is as much as I can say on this topic, so will close with it.

Back to work on research and discussion on arms for me!!!

Thanks everybody!
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