In sheer physical courage dive has never been
surpassed, and Browning, who loved the manly virtues, saw in this
corrupt and cruel man a great hero.
The poem _Muleykeh_, which is one of the oldest of Oriental stories,
is really an analysis of love. The mare was dearer to her owner than
life itself: yet he intentionally surrendered her to his rival
rather than have her disgraced. His friends called him an idiot and
a fool: but he replied, "You never have loved my Pearl." And indeed,
from his point of view, they did not know the meaning of love. What
is love? Simply the desire for possession, or the desire that the
beloved object should be incomparably pure and unsullied by defeat
and disgrace? The man who owned Muleykeh really loved her, since her
honor was more precious to him than his own happiness.
The short poem _Which_? published on the last day of Browning's life,
is a splendid paradox. In the Middle Ages, when house-parties
assembled, an immense amount of time was taken up by the telling of
stories and by the subsequent discussions thereupon.
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