Brief explanations are included in the gloss. In addition, the gloss includes comments on diGrasse's intent or observations from the experience of modern fencing or martial arts. In the second edition, I supplemented this material with video clips of selected rapier techniques. The original translation was likely performed by Jerenimo, a student and successor to Rocco Bonetti, and associate of Vincentio Saviolio. Saviolio would, within a few years, author his own manual on the Art of Defense.
Clearly safety is a relative concept based on small steps taken to bias the odds.
DiGrasse and his peers advocated a style of fencing that emphasized the thrust with light-weight point weapons and high speed movement. This style rendered obsolete the earlier form of heavy backsword play which relied on the cut. It is interesting to note that Saviolo writing in English freely uses Italian terminology such as imbrocatta, squalanbrato, etc., while di Grasse's translator was careful to use only common English terms. George Silver, a contemporary champion of the good old fashioned English way of things, mocks both the Italian words and the very concept of rapier play. However, even he uses some Italian jargon by the time of his second work, and certainly the use of Italian was common and fashionable by 1600.