Our spoils he kick’d at,
And look’d upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.
(iI. ii. 128.)
He “rewards his deeds with doing them,” without thought of ulterior profit or of anything beyond the worthy occupation of the moment. This leads to the next point, his cult of honour; and it must be confessed that he conceives it in a very lofty and noble way. His view of it reminds one of Arthur’s saying in Tennyson’s Idylls:
For the deed’s sake my knighthood do the deed,
Not to be noised of.