No posture will come to you that is so good; in the Nach you will hit him with free mettle.
Master Meyer explains:
"Concerning this you shall note, although there are many good postures...you learn from these verses that it is always better not to entirely settle into a posture, since from the postures your opponent can easily deduce what kind of stück you have in mind to execute, something that cannot be deduced from the cuts." - Meyer (1570) “Grundtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens”, 1.46r
This is why we move about; transitioning in the Zufechten through many guards. This is the chess match of fencing and why we do not linger overlong in any particular guard. It is also why it looks silly to view a fencing match where one or both fencers stabilize in a guard, Tag for example, and inch forward, tipy-toeing into Kreig distance to engage in a sad shootfighting, strike fest version of HEMA.
Master Meyer explains further:
"Also you learn from these verses how, when an opponent stands in front of you in a posture, you shall hit him or come to the opening, which may be accomplished through the Nach. Understand this thus: if your opponent stands in a posture, then cut opposite it to the other opening..." - Meyer (1570) “Grundtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens”, 1.46r
"...it is always better to not settle into a guard. It guards you not at all, to show someone with your guard, what you will do amid the fight, that may your cutting through not be brought so far. In this, learn from the rhyme, when you should do it. Namely in the Nach that is when you should take him, when he keeps his guard, or stays in a guard, then cut him to the opposite opening, as soon as he goes towards your strike with his displacing, and is out of his Guard, and whether it connects or doesn’t connect, then pull around your head and strike, especially to the part or quarter Line from where he has struck from." - Meyer (1560) MS A.4o.2, 1.11v
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