“Like will draw to like”

“Like will draw to like” is a maxim about affinity: people of similar character or standing gravitate toward one another. Its clearest application comes when Sir Tristram intervenes on behalf of Sir Launcelot’s twenty kinsmen, turning the saying into a principle of knightly recognition and support.

The Saying in Action

Sir Tristram has watched a force led by the King with the Hundred Knights attack Sir Launcelot’s twenty companions. He judges the contest unequal: the larger party can gain no honor by killing so few, while the smaller company appears determined to hold together rather than leave the field. Sir Tristram therefore asks the king to stop the fighting and announces that he will ride to the twenty and help them.

The King with the Hundred Knights refuses to let Sir Tristram join the opposing side. Yet, recognizing his courage and courtesy, he agrees to withdraw his own knights for Sir Tristram’s sake. He then explains the concession through the maxim, adding that a good knight will favor another. Here likeness is not merely resemblance: it is an ethical affinity expressed in action. Sir Tristram’s conduct identifies the quality he honors in the beleaguered company, and the saying makes that recognition a reason to show them mercy.

Fellowship and Recognition

The scene gives the maxim force through contrast. Twenty knights remain together against a much larger force; Sir Tristram reads their constancy as evidence of noble character, then risks his own standing by offering them aid. The opposing king, instead of insisting on numerical advantage, recognizes Sir Tristram’s courtesy and responds by ending the attack. The phrase thus describes a bond that crosses the immediate division between combatants: shared standards can prompt respect even between men on opposing sides.

The surrounding narrative repeatedly makes identity, loyalty, and fellowship consequential, while the maxim offers a compact way to name the pull of affinity. Its most concrete meaning, however, rests in this encounter: a knight recognizes conduct resembling the ideals he values, and that recognition changes what happens on the field. The saying turns likeness into a social principle of favor and restraint, rather than a claim that similar people merely keep company.