The Poor Knight I

From Dostoevsky's Idiot, Book 2, Chapter 6:

"Deepest respect," Aglaia went on gravely and earnestly, "because that poem simply describes a man who is capable of an ideal, and what is more, a man who having once set an ideal before him has faith in it, and having faith in it gives up his life to it. This does not always happen in our day. We are not told directly what the 'poor knight's' ideal was, but one can see it was some vision, and the knight in loving devotion has put a rosary around his neck instead of a scarf...anyway, it's clear that the poor knight did not care what his lady was, or what she did. It was enough for him that he had chosen her and put faith in her pure beauty and then did homage to her forever.

That's just his merit; if she were to become a thief afterwards, he would still be bound to believe in her and be ready to break a spear for her. He seems to be, in one striking figure, the grand conception of chivalry's Platonic love. Of course that is all an ideal- in the poor knight that feeling reaches its utmost limit in asceticism. It must be admitted that to be capable of such a love means a great deal, and that such love leaves behind a profound impression."