Scene III. Giacomo and Bernardo discovered in the laboratory.
Gia. What say'st thou now, Bernardo?
Ber. Let me live
Or die in drawing this delicious breath,
I ask no more.
Gia. (Aside.) Mark, how with wondering eyes
He gazes on the burning crucibles,
As if to drink the rising vapor with
His every sense.
Ber. Is this the balm thou spak'st of?
Gia. Ay, sir, the same.
Ber. Oh, would that now my heart
Were torn with every grief the earth has known,
Then would this sense be sweeter by tenfold!
Where didst thou learn the secret, and from whom?
Gia. From Gebber down to Paracelsus, none
Have mentioned the discovery of this—
The need of it was parent of the thought.
Ber. How long will these small crucibles hold out?
Gia. A little while, but there are two beside,
That when thy sense is toned up to the point
May then be fired; and when thou breathest their fumes,
Nepenthe deeper it shall seem than that
Which Helen gave the guests of Menelaus.
But come, thou'lt weary of this thickening air,
Let us depart.