How we cite our quotes: Chapter, Paragraph
Quote #7
"Surely, my lord, a bow would have been better luck."
"An iron-tipped arrow, it's true, but where's the courage in killing with an arrow?" (25.14-15)
This is all about honor. Edmund tells Rannulf that killing with a bow and arrow might be more effective than using a sword, but the knight argues that there's something kind of dishonorable about using a bow and taking a life with so little effort on your part. He thinks that fighting with principles requires you to swing a weapon with your own arm and be there to witness the consequences.
Quote #8
"There was your chance to run a pagan through to the heart," said Hubert, "and you traded by-your-leaves, like two wives at a fair."
"He was a knight-at-arms, at his ease," I said, using the lines from a lay about a knight outside his lady's garden, one of Miles's favorites.
Hubert urged his mount forward, and I did not follow him. (25.55-57)
Hubert's principle here is simple: Kill the infidels. But Edmund sees that things aren't so black-and-white. It's not honorable to kill someone while you're watering your horses off the battlefield, and even though the Saracen is from the opposing army, the battle isn't personal—it's not about individuals. So individual respect can't go out the window just because you're at war.
Quote #9
"Rannulf told Hubert he has all the sense of a pig's farrow. Rannulf told him that you and the Saracen knight were well met, and that in every way you acted like a man-at-arms." (26.21)
Rannulf defends Edmund in the Saracen ordeal, saying Edmund showed solid principles in being polite to the foreign knight. Hubert, on the other hand, doesn't have any sense to realize that you can't just kill an enemy soldier randomly.