The opening of Act 1
SCENE 1.--Manfred alone.--Scene, a Gothic Gallery.[107]--
Time, Midnight.Man. The lamp must be replenished, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch:
My slumbers--if I slumber--are not sleep,
But a continuance, of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not: in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But Grief should be the Instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is Knowledge: they who know the most 10
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs[108]
Of Wonder, and the wisdom of the World,
I have essayed, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself--
But they avail not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men--
But this availed not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me-- 20
But this availed not:--Good--or evil--life--
Powers, passions--all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the sands, …