and again, Bertolla threw up his hands in despair and begged
Father Borghesi to abandon the enterprise. He protested that he was not
capable of producing such a complicated mechanism; he had neither the
tools nor the skill. The priest wished to produce a clock such as the
world had never seen before, such as the greatest scientists and
clockmakers of all time had never been able to make. But Bertolla felt
that he was only a provincial craftsman who could not hope to surpass
them all with only his simple tools and training.

In his book on the first clock, _Novissima Ac Perpetua Astronomica..._,
Father Borghesi wrote that when he had finally come within a few weeks
of the embryo stage in the development of his clock, he was faced with
the problem of bolstering the sagging enthusiasm of Bertolla. The
clockmaker's original enthusiasm had shown promise of great results, but
as the days passed and the problems of the multiplex and generally
unfamiliar apparatus to be forged for the workings of the automaton
became more complex, his ardor decreased. Finally, Bertolla became so
discouraged by the scoffers and frustrated by the fact that the work was
insufficiently organized that Father Borghesi wrote that "it almost
became a harder task for me to bolster up by daily opportunity and
importunity the failing patience of the artisan, frightened away from
the work already begun, than it was for me to extract from the inner
recesses of mathematics and astronomy, without light and without a
guide, the whole fabric of the machine itself!"

In spite of Bertolla's protests, Father Borghesi prevailed, reviving his
friend's interest once more until the two were deep in the project
again. Months passed as they worked together on the mechanism and it
seemed as if they lived for no other purpose. Inevitably, Bertolla's
health began to suffer, undermined as it was by the constant nervous
tension, and he eventually became ill from mental strain. He was forced
to spend some time in bed, and for many weeks the subject of the clock
was not discussed. Bertolla's other work, by which he made his living,
suffered and it was several months before he was able to return to his
little shop.

One year passed into another and the work progressed slowly. The first
clock, which easily should have been finished in less than a year, was
not completed until after three full years had passed. However, when the
priest and the clockmaker put the finishing touc