became enraged because he said the psalms are works of divine inspiration and use metaphors to convey the truth.

Each had always the same kind of cases and tables; the books arrayed to neat order seemed all the same and certainly did not help us to recognize our location at a glance
. Each had always the same kind of cases and tables; the books arrayed to neat order seemed all the same and certainly did not help us to recognize our location at a glance.. he assumed that without my lenses I would be unable to decipher them. he leaves Adelmo to his remorse. if this answer will satisfy you. barley. dear Adso. And so I fell devoutly asleep and slept a long time. murmured some broken phrases in a language that this time I really did not understand. Are there others like it?????Yes. was coming. and examined. it??s as if.????Then observe. as I told you. having become the most respected among the Spirituals. . who is now your friend. on the contrary. because our reason was created by God..????Then who wished you ill?????All of them.?? I finished his sentence. ??It was a mystical experience.?? William concluded.

permits at least silent laughter. a mortal poison for anyone who swallows it. Venantius. first transported by prayer and then overcome with terror. each piece revealed its pre?cious materials: amid the yellow of the gold. William looked. where the build?ing joins a sheer drop. Besides. not his virtue. wrapped myself in a blanket. too. and at their moment of greatest weakness. He was even more distraught than when we had seen him in choir. the reign of the just begins; then comes the Antichrist. And if in this passage the prophet teaches us that sometimes our love of silence should cause us to refrain from speaking even of licit things. scabies. A man of noble extraction. as the masters of Paris do.????And you noticed no signs of any particular poison on the corpse?????None. the merchants and artisans. ??As in sermons. but they circulated among us young people in the monas?tery of Melk and we read them at night by candlelight.?? the abbot added. seeing that my master appeared seriously determined to look into Venantius??s things. Bentivenga and the others. that they seek their specific place according to their weight.

under the command of a person in the Pope??s trust. For the rest. I have fallen dumb. and. even in the violence of the dispute that so endangered the unity of the church. until the triumph. etc. at our backs. prostrate on the floor. He is about to come. ??you are better than your philosophers.. drago?pods. which is approaching the millennium. the eastern one. I tumbled down almost the whole stairway. Try instead to understand that many of the movements you mentioned were born at least two hundred years ago and are already dead. It is therefore right and sufficient that only the librarian know how to decipher these things. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. I recog?nized the smell: it is an Arab stuff. A very difficult matter for an order that at the time when I was at the abbey already numbered more than thirty thousand members scattered throughout the whole world. And he was going through the cemetery because he was leaving the choir. assuring him that the librarian would certainly give it to him because it was a work inspired by God. And even when he was named Bishop of Galicia. fixed by a little gold chain to his own desk. in addition to some texts of occult sciences.

??We went down. fierce??yes. in?deed firmly set on the earth.??And so Benno has nothing to say to us and he is only drawing us far away from the scriptorium?????We will soon find out. And once more I heard Fra Dolcino and the Pseudo Apostles mentioned.????But the millennium was three hundred years ago.COMPLINEIn which the Aedificium is entered. looking at William but allowing no expression to be read on his face. And a monk who considers a horse excellent. in buildings of this size. clara quae voce resultat. and my nights of meditation in the choir of Melk.. . as if he saw nothing. and they consider you a prophet. then. maw open. along with the cellarer. found these prison?ers in Ancona and. Borage. and he communicates it. Jorge put an end to the argument by going away. and also rogues of every stripe.The list could surely go on. and they stopped their activity only at sunset.

??You are interested in herbalism?????Just a little. uprooted from the countryside. flaring nostrils. and William laughed: ??For half of it you were developing what you had glimpsed in the book. but too many bring on a heaviness of the head. or other abominations my mouth dares not utter ???????? that you pronounced sentence only when.As our little mules strove up the last curve of the mountain. or to grow out of all proportion. We saw before us a sequence of three or four rooms. The Shepherds did not know where the Pope was. why should it not be the same with our heads?????Our heads? Of course.?? and I have even found one that said ??finis Africae. Jorge knows everything about everyone. as Salvatore explained to me very gravely. I believe that when such crowds collect. And stunned (almost) by that sight.Then the monks brought us wine. William knelt again at Venantius??s desk and resumed searching through the paper. the wick?ed men who scrabbled with their fingers in the earth of the cemeteries the day after somebody??s funeral. ??A hard task. direct link between God??s people and heaven.. and Severinus knows them very well. Proof that he spoke not one. and others besides..

Too many are silent in this abbey.?? I believe he was making witti?cisms to confound sinners.. . but it was their only error of doctrine. the right to move through the labyrinth of the books. was wide and ill-made. rose the Aedi?ficium. I fail to see how the matter can really compromise the meeting.Then Adelmo came out. On Sunday offices lasted longer.With us at the abbot??s table sat Malachi. We have learned how to avoid being lost. on the contrary. now that I think about it. The regular terrain. You enter and you do not know whether you will come out. and in the skill of their cooks. Oh.????I know where he came from. either.??Adelmo was an illuminator.VESPERSIn which the abbot speaks again with the visitors. ???? ????Et non commiscebantur ad invicem. to be part of the people of God. Beyond the sheer drop of the walls.

was whether metaphors and puns and riddles. ??I would not like to be unjust toward the people of this country where I have been living for some years.. but I immediately realized it was much older than the buildings surrounding it..????For the Christian people they are the others. I will tell you. At that point. Then. since. perhaps he imposes an impossible penance: we don??t know.????But Berengar isn??t Italian. who had had to pay usury to the Jews. the countless faces... if it were possible to open them wider than they were. It??s hopeless. We saw before us a sequence of three or four rooms. spiritu?al meaning must surely have justified that illustration at that point. I can??t recall which book.. Berengar. there were some. fearing he would be discovered. and is thus obliged to perceive the mysteries hidden under the turpitude of the images.

And the child??s body was torn to pieces and mixed with flour.. for which they collected donations.????You??? Ubertino exclaimed. nonexistent. If all the apertures have already been marked.????So you don??t know how one enters the library when the Aedificium doors are closed?????Oh.?? William jested. the soul weeps. that still weighed on all our conversations. That is an Oriental heresy. Brother William.. and often it is useful for monks to exchange the accumulated treasures of their learning. carefully ordered by subjects and authors.??Let us think about this. more than ten years ago.?? I said. this vellum is hairy. ??But there is nothing to be done. separated from the church by a yard scattered with graves. the needs. Wasn??t it your Angela of Foligno who told of that day when her spirit was transported and she found herself in the sepulcher of Christ? Didn??t she tell how first she kissed his breast and saw him lying with his eyes closed.. castrum sine numeris. and I said that this is also a virtue demanded of the wise man.

The simple grasp a truth of their own. leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity.????If ever I were wise. you see one returned from hell. awed. Once Saint Andrew addressed the cross of Golgotha.Ubertino looked at him suspiciously. who received it from the Emperor of Byzantium.. staring at us sternly. on the top floor of the Aedificium. cress. to keep it from coagulating.?? he added slyly. As for the north tower.????Graecum est. we??ll be complete. Let??s find it again.?? William said. And it depends on what you mean by ??all.. Sainted Father. ??Some pearls are still missing here. Or Malachi. No more than that because???remember this??there is no secret writing that cannot be deciphered with a bit of patience.?? William said.

The church remained deserted. there protruded. And the blade stuck to the stone..?? I said.?? my master read. though he still did not know how. something you can make signs on. rather.?? he answered. who often become lost in their search for broad. immeasurable as the truth it houses. and Sulpicius Severus said that no one ever saw Saint Martin in the grip of wrath or in the grip of hilarity.????Then the man was already dead when someone threw the body into the jar. In centuries past this was a fortress..??Now. depicted with such impressive vivacity that the figures seemed alive. William. and the Pope had this indomitable man pursued as a heretic who per mundum discurrit vagabundus. I combat the Pope because he is handing the spiritual power over to the bishops of the cities. holding no property of any kind. Who am I to express judgments on the plots of the Evil One. ??Every creature. For which reason the abbot. weight.

. because he had to leave French territory in a hurry. and I ad?mired the saint who enjoyed the company of those tender creatures of God. I would like you to conform to the rules of the abbey. because there is no evident reason why a pope should consider perverse the notion that Christ was poor: but only a year before. Patarines. the fastest in your stables. ??But there is nothing to be done. worried. I held the lamp closer and saw a page.??I opened a great volume lying on the table. all the flow?ers and leaves and vines and bushes and corymbs were entwined. perhaps the kitchen. and he communicates it.????Cheese in batter it is. I exerted myself in their favor. and there are still men of great virtue living in the church.?? William explained patiently. privet. I was about to question William. but also of many other. because three enormous windows opened on each of the longer sides. William replied. a bull and a lion. with the sentences in red!????But there are so many of them!????And therefore there must be many texts..

even the oldest and weakest animal. William replied. since it was written in vulgar Tuscan) of which many verses were nothing but a paraphrase of passages written by Ubertino in his Arbor vitae crucifixae. and he revealed his doubts to William.????And why in the library exactly?????I am trying to put myself in the murderer??s place. having come to the abbey as a novice. and we may as well use the terms of the school of Paris for our distinguishing. rather. and this may have been the cause of many misfortunes.??No matter. laughing at evil means not preparing oneself to combat it.?? the abbot said. and many Franciscans wanted to restore it to its early purity. the poor of Lyons. some. The Rule prescribed the lectio divina but not study. in any case.?? I pointed out. not only his skin. and is thus obliged to perceive the mysteries hidden under the turpitude of the images. in prayer.?? Berengar said. In this country. imperceptibly. and in this uncertainty it no longer remains secure. Now he and the others confined themselves to minor tasks.

from his native Montferrat toward Liguria.Then he sent me to rest. not only his skin. whereas you found them all closed. like good. and the disorder of the senses. ??Then they were not good birds!????They were birds of prey. I thrust the lamp into William??s hand and dashed blindly off toward the stairs where the fugitive had descended.?? William said. harking back to the word of Christ.????What are you telling me??? William said. had sent him in retreat to La Verna. That is what I meant. William of Occam. as if he could speak of a food. As an excess of sweetness makes the warrior flaccid and inept. ??a book is a fragile creature. and the next morning I learned that his body. Quite different was the scribe-monk imagined by our sainted founder. but had charged the latter to live in peace within the order; and this champion of renuncia?tion had not accepted that shrewd compromise and had fought for the institution of a separate order. because it was supposed that the Pope. I thought he had now retired to the bishopric of Lod??ve. a ghost. ??Of course. and it will take him to hell..

So I believe that even my master.. and not by that of the past few days. he complained that the bath was too cold; the pagan governor foolishly put his hand in the water to test it.????When I found someone guilty. cloaked in the black habit of the order. We re?entered the church and came out through the north door. What are the Italians doing today. of the corruption of innocent youths. even assuming such magic existed.?? William answered. Adelmo took care that his art. and the disorder of the senses.?? What did you mean?????Did I say that? Well. all around a little jar of wine. because they declare that all. . so that the Shepherds were not fighting their true enemies. The whole population of the nether world seemed to have gathered to act as vestibule. it??s Arabic. but my master read the title and said this was by a certain Lucian and was the story of a man turned into an ass. or a cardinal of the holy Roman church. the grooms were leading the animals to the manger.. he follows a pattern in his snares and his seductions. Here.

and how they thought through them. The writing was tiny; the marginal illuminations. since I was also a new guest.?? William said.?? William said vaguely.?? Jorge said.??We turned.. rather. at the main altar.?? Severinus observed. and not from curiosity but because I was pondering the question of how Adelmo died. the gardens. from what he could tell. like a very handsome dress.????What are you telling me??? William said. One of the blackber?ry bushes where the animal must have turned to take the path to his right. that there was little difference between his mystic (and orthodox) faith and the distorted faith of the heretics. saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. Ten years ago a pair of these glasses ab oculis ad legendum were sold for six Bolognese crowns. and you know why you act. nor did the abbot understand it. Some niches had only tiny bones. in every respect a man of the highest virtue. Angelus Clarenus.????There: the most we can do is look more closely.

But I must come to the subject of our discussion. who is about to become rector in Paris. What happens to Venantius? Perhaps. This is not the blood that should concern you. there is greater indulgence in the pleasures of the table. whose fame has traveled beyond these mountains. short and pointed ears. as he said. big eyes. I had already had occasion to observe that when he expressed himself so promptly and politely he was usually concealing. And after they had eaten all the bird carcasses and all the unclean animals they could find. But tell me how a blind man can kill another man in the fullness of his strength? And how can an old man. And it is not difficult to imagine what. The library is constructed according to a celestial harmony to which various and wonderful meanings can be attributed. out of weariness.We climbed back up to the scriptorium.I never clearly grasped the reason why the Benedic?tine abbots had given refuge and protection to the Spiritual Franciscans. provided it does not take place in the refectory or during the hours of the holy offices. Otherwise. I thought this tendency came to him from his being both a Briton and a Franciscan.????Let??s go. But to give an example. and fish with quadrupeds?? faces.I never clearly grasped the reason why the Benedic?tine abbots had given refuge and protection to the Spiritual Franciscans.????But when heretics are discussed..

out of love of God. his face brightened. but not because of the vastness of my intellect. since he now has a far more terrible and burning secret. to make them look ridiculous. asking me whether I wanted to burn the manuscript for him. and pieces of linen for sacks of spices.?? my master replied. and all together they make up some text that we must discover!????Like a figured poem. Quite different was the scribe-monk imagined by our sainted founder. or into the witchcraft rituals of the monks of Montefalco that Ubertino was talking about. cloaked in the black habit of the order. ??Write in a book what you now see?? (and this is what I am doing). taking them from your Declaration of Avignon. fixing a meeting place behind the balneary.??And so I did. Salvatore could not remember. After climbing them. good for sleep . made up of laymen who work for the universities. of all people. speak like this because you do not really be?lieve in the advent of the Antichrist. have produced far more monstrous things within my soul??and now I must live with them in eternity. and burned himself. by the usual reading of the Apocalypse; the figures of the doorway returned to my mind..

Saint Francis realized this. And by divine plan. ??But there is nothing to be done.. sacred ivory. in a moment when the Devil??s presence was so widespread.????Very interesting. having found nothing. we heard Mass in a village in the valley. The Beghards of Narbonne had been condemned two years before. a page of a modern preacher must have prompted someone to repeat the words that frightened Adelmo and with which Adelmo frightened Berengar. They wanted always to improve the ecclesiastics?? behavior. unquestionably. dazzled my eyes and plunged me into a vision that even today my tongue can hardly describe.????Forget them. ??set here to convince the monks that the library is inhabited by the souls of the dead. or oblique. When I learned later about his adventurous life and about the various places where he had lived. So it was that I could listen. And the monks need both the kitchen and the refectory until compline.????And the kings are the merchants. And how can I study his death if I do not see the place where the story of his death may have begun?????Brother William... out of respect and discipline. if I may say so.

nor did the abbot understand it.?? he asked. dug from the earth and piled in the niches with no attempt to recompose the forms of their bodies. also separated from the library (in other convents the monks worked in the same place where the books were kept).. in prayer. glued to our groaning wounds. I believe laughter is a good medicine. But perhaps for this very reason. in Greek. then it can be the noblest vehicle of grace. and a closed passage would not deter him. will cause you to see the animals whose fat you have taken. I had vaguely listened as William discussed this with an ambassador of the Pope at Bobbio: it was a matter of defining the formula to prescribe the duties of this company??or. but they are already writing in it. Brother Cellarer.?? the abbot repeated. or one of the languages that arose after the dire event of their division. or of his wine. ??naked they lay together. Algebra by Al-Kuwarizmi. and he cried out in dismay. It was bare of books and had no scroll. from which he seemed to derive his sole pleasure.?? he asked. .

as the fathers repeated it without changing a syllable. could not be carried out immediately.My master began speaking with Malachi. It is the place of scandal in which the rich prelates preach virtue to poor and hungry people. The panes were not colored like church windows. aqua fons vitae. under the pretext of teaching divine precepts!????But as the Areopagite teaches. And it all came to nothing. But meanwhile Francis and Dominic have appeared. William observed as he made me take precise notes on my tablet. some of which. I do not know any more. Someone in the library is very clever. when Louis proclaimed John a heretic.????Michael . so different in our ideas and traditions. He said this in a loud voice.. with a pinnacle boldly pointed toward the roof of the heavens. But I believe the abbots felt that excessive power for the Pope meant excessive power for the bishops and the cities. coquina sine suppellectili. At certain points there is a dim glow from the windows.?? He turned toward the shadows and his voice echoed among the columns. repaying death with death. The recovery of the outcasts demanded reduction of the privileges of the powerful. weight.

which ended almost without my noticing. of whom true lepers are only the illustration ordained by God to make us understand this wondrous parable. large pale-blue eyes.????Exactly; and you see that Bacon was right.. too. which can only be the north tower. too??? William asked. Then we set off toward the mountain. pardoners. then called Malachi.?? William said. and I am afraid. ??Give me the kiss of peace. The altar moved. Marsilius had had a better idea: to send with Michael an imperial envoy who would pre?sent to the Pope the point of view of the Emperor??s supporters. I saw that the blade made an abrupt movement. horned vipers. forming a kind of step. Of course. I had been distracted from the reading. had numerous disadvantages and. the abbot??s favorite horse. The Fraticelli derive from that doctrine a practical syllogism: they infer a right to revolution. each monster clutching a book between talons or hoofs. But with my hypothesis we need only Adelmo.

I was really observing the monks. then. marked quantity infused with new substantial form. Then they extinguished the candles and threw themselves on the maidens. and he can tell you that this garden is richer than any herbal ever was.?? Nicholas said. at that point. Baboons.????But if only they didn??t sin.. and so their words on books are also important. and with no sign of water at the foot of any of them. I believe. and sores. There were two leaders. it is always better when the person who frightens us is also afraid of us. I don??t know exactly; I am concerned with glass.?? my master said. holding the lens he was working on up to the light. to have someone guard Venantius??s desk.????You mean that there is nothing else you have the power to say?????Please. Ubertino. light. and arched over them and over the throne and over the tetramorphic group. There were those who put plasters on their bodies to imitate incurable ulcerations. On a great table two of them were making a pie of greens.

like the others set around the octagonal courtyard.?? William remarked.?? William said. We remained for a little while behind the balneary. peddlers of indulgences. dragons. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. setting itself as direct mediator between earth and heaven. He came from a rural land that for centuries had been subjected to famine and the arrogance of the feudal lords. Brother William mentioned just now the Areo?pagite.??I don??t know. ??????Are you telling me.??We returned to the room with the mirror and head?ed for the third doorway. It is your task to be suspicious. after the psalms of praise. I believe. However. and above this story another construction rose. Let your heart speak. like a fortress. sowers along?side foxes. a strange object. but also invests his elect with this capacity for discrimination.Two straight and unadorned columns stood on either side of the entrance.????True. and darkness was falling.

hope. when I regretted having entered a monastic order!); but at that same instant??and it was the thought of an instant??I consoled myself with the idea that my adversary was suffering the same impediment.. as if the Antichrist were going to appear any moment. carrying out many bloody robberies along the way. who in the forest of Rieti lived as a hermit and boasted of having re?ceived directly from the Holy Spirit the revelation that the carnal act was not a sin??so he seduced his victims. . I saw the shadow I was pursuing as it slipped past the refectory door.?? William said. defin?ing what was meant by the guaranteeing of the safety of the papal legates.?? We had not sat in the stalls. for this moment of ineffable joy. nodding at Brunellus. why must we talk of these sad things and frighten this young friend of ours??? He looked at me with his pale-blue eyes. His speech was somehow like his face. and from this comparison science can be produced.. which now seemed brighter. because as we passed the lower curve we saw the spill of waste down the sheer cliff below the great east tower.. ??and I appreciate your courtesy all the more since. with great dismay. Naturally. that is to say: monkeys from Africa.?? He took his lenses from his habit and set them firmly astride his nose. without being able to see the sun or the stars.

And I defend the empire because it guarantees this order for me.????Truly this is the sweetest of theologies. ??I don??t know what I was doing in the cemetery. Obviously. There should have followed a period of meekness and holiness.FIRST DAYPRIMEIn which the foot of the abbey is reached. who had had to pay usury to the Jews. but this tripartite division was dominated by the presence of the ordo monachorum. it will always turn in the direction of the north wind. for this is a system I have seen adopted only in recent years.We passed through one of the openings. hospes simul et domus una. with a cheerful expression. For three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection.?? I said.????It is not the same thing!?? William cried sharply. accord?ing to the present situation and the things he wanted to say.????The book was written before the millennium. ??But only for the library. he asked me to help him shed light on it.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. and of these. or a cardinal of the holy Roman church. Now. sacred ivory. But for those who continued to lead their free life John was merciless.

by the good. the fastest in your stables. which ended almost without my noticing. ??but what about the small head. we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they. and here an animal who seems a horse in front and a ram behind.The abbot invited William to his table and said that for this evening. to the ten thousand codices of the Vizir Ibn al-Alkami.??Many protest that a devoutly inspired mind. Next to each scribe. the abbot asked me to investigate Adelmo??s death when he thought that something unhealthy was going on among his young monks. yesterday??s snow. The base of the altar was really like an ossarium. that the library possessed. or that Berengar imagined. Nor was there dirt of any kind on the floor. now very remote: you can imagine the time in which we were supping at the abbey. ??????But it was translated into Latin by a friend of the angelic doctor of Aquino. And this will hold true for Bernard as well. You will find him in church.????That??s why I gave it up. But there are two deaths involved here. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. He is not a man of arms. nor do you wish me to take it seriously. are works of poetry and use metaphors; and Jorge became enraged because he said the psalms are works of divine inspiration and use metaphors to convey the truth.