THE GREEKS AND BROWNING 
411 
again, in liberating the desires from worldly strivings and 
seeking refuge in the domain of thought, the soul becomes 
strong in distinguishing good from evil, truth from error: — 
“And, as in moments when the past 
Gave partially enfranchisement, he [Sordello] cast 
Himself quite through mere secondary states 
Of his soul’s essence, little loves and hates, 
Into the mid-deep yearnings overlaid 
By these; as who should pierce hill, plain, grove, glade, 
And on into the very nucleus probe 
That first determined there exists a globe. 
As that were easiest, half the globe dissolved, 
So seemed Sordello’s closing truth evolved 
By his flesh-half’s break up; the sudden swell 
Of his expanding soul showed Ill and Well, 
Sorrow and Joy, Beauty and Ugliness, 
Virtue and Vice, the Larger and the Less.” 
Browning’s standpoint, besides embracing the use of this 
world’s means, includes also the comprehension of the living 
death of the philosopher, the living beyond the dominion of 
bodily pleasures and of the senses. And with Plato he would 
rid himself of eyes and ears and with the light of the mind only 
behold the light of Truth. For truthfulness is the quality 
a philosopher should possess and falsehood should be held in 
detestation. 
There are the two kinds of knowledge, one derived from 
without, the other from within, the two halves of the perfect 
whole. 
“Thus: I possess 
Two sorts of knowledge, — one vast, shadowy, 
Hints of the unbounded aim I once pursued; 
The other consists of many secrets, caught 
While bent on noble prize, perhaps a few 
Prime principles which may conduct to much. . . . 
And I betake myself to study 
Till patient searchings after hidden lore 
Half wring truth from its prison.” 
