For no man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go close against the enemy and fight with his hands. Here is courage, mankind's finest possession, here is the finest prize that a young man can endeavor to win.

Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was obliged to Leave that perfectly good piece of equipment behind under a bush. But I got away, so what does it matter? Let the shield go; I can buy another one equally good.

Razo the steward, the man who was castellan of that castle and whose castle had before that been burnt and whose men had been killed, moved with grief for his men and for his loss, and trembling with fear, sent messengers by night to the castle of Ystrad Meurig, which his lord Gilbert [de Clare] had built before that, to bid the garrison that was there to come swiftly to his aid. And the keepers of the castle sent him as many as they could find. And they came to him by night.