Page:The Waning of the Middle Ages (1924).djvu/87

Rh so elated, that he does not know where he is. Truly he is afraid of nothing.”

These sentiments have nothing specifically chivalrous or medieval. The words might have been spoken by a modern soldier. They show us the very core of courage: man, in the excitement of danger, stepping out of his narrow egotism, the ineffable feeling caused by a comrade’s bravery, the rapture of fidelity and of sacrifice.—in short, the primitive and spontaneous asceticism, which is at the bottom of the chivalrous ideal.