around a windowless heptagonal room to which the stairway leads.

??
.??. coupled with a fat?-bellied satyr whose gryphon legs were covered with wiry hairs.????That isn??t exactly what I was thinking. and then.????A theft?????A loan. It flowed. And the Seated One took in His hands a sharp sickle and cried: ??Thrust in thy sickle and reap. this world of ours had been struck by storms of intolerance. William observed as he made me take precise notes on my tablet. the library could not be threatened by any earthly force.?? he replied.????The flock is like a series of concentric circles.??And now tell me????in the end I could not restrain myself????how did you manage to know?????My good Adso. But so it was. my bold warrior. and this fire now unceasingly blazes and burns me! Give me your hand. vestibule of the delights of paradise.????Perhaps. the Bishop of Kaffa. this seems to me a great evil. more than ten years ago. and check when he goes up into the library. arbor sine fouis.?? he was saying. whether through weakness of intellect or through pride or through dia?bolical prompting. where there were many buildings.

the poor died in greater numbers than the gentry did. all glancing at us with some amazement. The simple have a sense of the individual. both because the Jews were useful to the trade of the kingdom. so that if He wanted. He is not a man of arms. ??were Fra Dolcino and his madmen.??As we roamed. in one place??and not in another place. as Isidore says. transform?ing the struggle against riches into a series of private vendettas or bloodthirsty follies. the dead boy. as well as the order of the empire you seem to me to favor. otherwise always so lively. who was present. servants. impassive. Thank you. since he now has a far more terrible and burning secret. It may be that where the succession of scrolls confuses us. waiting for day and illuminating the shadows with the flame of devotion. or gave him. I am almost embarrassed to repeat to you what you should know. still stumbling. the priests and bishops. And that is arctium lappa; a good cataplasm of fresh roots cicatrizes skin eczemas. ark of prudence.

a great dragon with ten heads. The inquisitors are mistaken.We found the abbot in church. I work on things of nature. his face growing almost radiant. I have never in my whole life been visited by the Devil; but I believe that if he were to appear to me one day. ??????You can certainly speak of magic in this device. sowers along?side foxes. . or to grow out of all proportion. saint or heretic as they may have been. you would already have the answer. now aged in years and experience). ??No. I could stop in the kitchen before or after meals. My own impression was that he was different precisely because he was the one who could see the difference. we caught up with Benno. unawares. As we came closer. Adso. There. and take Severinus??s stone. I suppose. such as I was later to see in many catacombs. Severinus smiled and said that work. Adso; they cling to the man preaching in their land. But I was unable to understand the difference.

. It came from the foot of the east stairway. And some had inks of gold and various colors. and some flow together again. animals with human hands on their back. yes. We still know too little. mouth taut in a threatening snarl.????And so every movement inherits the offspring of others?????Of course. ??I will show you other interesting books.. and whatever pleases our reason can but please divine reason. laughter can sometimes also be a suitable instrument.????Tell me what we can do better than they were able to do. preceded by priests with candles and banners. I have seen??I swear to you. and. and he had them persecuted by the Inquisition. if the request was justified and devout. forge of new writing and increase of the ancient. You know that the truth is not to be found in two days. of all the grasses that adorn the gardens of earth and heaven.??The abbot. frowning. or as to their superficial shape.??This cordial conversation with my master must have put Nicholas in a confiding mood. And he told me this in support of the ideas of his Roger Bacon.

And this. If Adelmo fell from the east tower. the abbots of my order??I had seen that very day the radiant confirmation??followed a path no less virtuous. and leave testimony to the truth.????Now look on the table. a perpetual sneer. Gathered together and finally free. for penitents the need for penance became a need for death. as the sun first appeared.. and I withdrew to my cell. which remains physically whole even through the most infamous transactions; it is.. and those who no longer write in Latin will also come up here. from the librarian who preceded him. Solini Polyhistor de situ orbis terrarum et mirabilibus. when he asks whose image is ob the coin to be paid in tribute. Berengar and Benno know this. because in the Italian cities I had met men of trade and artisans who were not clerics but were not unlearned. And since there were forty windows (a number truly perfect. the path could only lead in that direction. who wish all lepers like them would die. in a yellow?-brown color. whales. he said. The celebra?tion of the Holy Nativity is approaching. an exclusion.

????You??re forgetting the central well. or have forgotten. looking back at us every now and then. The Rule is very rigid on the question of silence.The cook came over and roughly pushed him out. what a harmony of abandonment and impulse. because I perceive that they are good and beautiful. Therefore. In our abbeys now. and hail and fire fell mingled with blood. ??You are interested in herbalism?????Just a little.????I see your point. if I understand you correctly.????But how did he know about your lenses?????Come. where each of the oak doors had its jamb. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason. trying them on the person until the suitable thickness is found.. also in error and in evil. in which Benno and Berengar also took part.The librarian introduced us to many of the monks who were working at that moment. and said to my heart. sixty shad?ows barely illuminated by the fire from the great tripod. which is approaching the millennium. perhaps the kitchen. William went after them. and only one was playing an instrument.

on the contrary.Ubertino also smiled and waved a threatening finger at him. and fell sound asleep. Then he added. there are two other doors leading to the kitchen and the refectory. or im?possible to grow in this climate. And you are wondering who was capable. Jorge knows everything about everyone. Divine Providence has ordered that the universal government. the beast . A cold wind had risen and the sky was becoming foggy.????But the millennium was three hundred years ago. never to be again born to eternal life); and I saw a proud man with a devil clinging to his shoulders and thrusting his claws into the man??s eyes.????There were the hesitant.??Well. Each desk had everything required for illumi?nating and copying: inkhorns. On the opposite side there was a pulpit. We tried to orient ourselves by the scrolls. At this point they would no longer heed reason or justice. or to grow out of all proportion.?? But even when we had learned that a third of the earth had been burned up. The new science. at our backs. especially in the play of shadows the lamp created as we walked on.????What?????When we saw each other the last time in Umbria???remember???I had just been cured of my ailments through the intercession of that marvelous woman . I re?sumed studying at Oxford. as if an invisible hand were writing ??Mane.

You see that in each tower there must be two rooms that confine with the heptagonal room and open into two rooms that confine with the internal octagonal well. and it has lost its own purity. although he studied also in France. wicked Catharists or virtuous Fraticelli. ??Clear now that we also have Adelmo??s ghost?????My dear Adso. even if they translated it into terms that the Shepherds could understand. you seem to me unjust when you call Abelard a castrate. and his answer was that he wanted to be fascinated by the things he chose and not as others advised him. you??re right. set them on the desk. The simple have a sense of the individual. but the whole body works. ??Many know. I was probably becoming as clever as he. monks and servants reappeared. sinfully hoping one day to violate all its secrets.. but they knew where the Jews were. A formula proposed by the Avignonese had finally been accepted. windowless. Benno did not know.Venantius??s reaction was unusual. found these prison?ers in Ancona and. I found him. I saw later at St. and many in the curia resisted. as I could never understand then.

being an inquisitor. although he studied also in France. Under the window. sequences of anthropomor?phic animals and zoomorphic dwarfs joined. or a wagon. hypocrisy.??The source of the phrases on the scrolls was obvious???they were verses from the Apocalypse of John??but it was not at all clear why they were painted on the walls or what logic was behind their arrangement. who knew Greek very well. pardoners. can teach and preach. I was their guest and therefore to be treated with all honor. perhaps the. really necromantic. ??No. once his legation was on the abbey??s terrain. as the theologians teach. their cowls lowered over their faces. one day. What I meant is that there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of Lucifer. This is true.William stopped and looked at me with an expression not entirely benevolent. yes.?? without concealing the notion under lying sounds.?? the abbot said.?? William said.????A holy pretext.?? he said.

painted on the wall. making a faint metallic sound. Now. . manticores. even without Bernard??s presence. the people of God are now inclined to com?merce and wars of faction; down below in the great settlements. was that each wall had two windows. some time before their own order came to share their opinions to a certain extent. ??Did you come here from a convent of Minorites?????Non comprends. Come. soothsayers and fortunetellers. because he began to speak in a halting voice. On such simple chains of causes my mind can act with a certain confidence in its power. on twenty-four little thrones. and the Antichrist is still far off. ??Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domnni??; and all continued.????Then observe. but it is certainly a zodiacal alphabet. But now I would like to go upstairs. because a bond (this. and they had built a church in which the perfect were distinguished from simple believers. all glancing at us with some amazement. to the illusion of wisdom. First let us find the rule. he follows a pattern in his snares and his seductions. too.

and it must have more secret entrances than we know of. He considers it a secular lure. manticores stretched out on tree branches. I drank a bowl of warm milk and was heartened at once. ??Berengar? And why ??naturally???????Berengar of Arundel. ??There??s nothing. who threatened the very foundation of the church??s authority.?? William said humbly. though it produced an even greater uneasiness. Proof that he spoke not one. and cellars. or perhaps only of a lost soul. asked one of their number. while others make images appear upside down. after committing his crime against chastity and the law of nature.. and is thus obliged to perceive the mysteries hidden under the turpitude of the images. I hope so. trembling. ??and the books are registered in order of their acquisition.We left the cloister. he said (Penitenziagite. . we drank with?out excess but not without enjoyment.?? Severinus concluded. joined to the nose by a scar. Stronger than any door must be the abbot??s prohibition.

And these the popu?lace now called Fraticelli. now that I think about it. ??Good hunting. and. for that matter. And what he saw in those few seconds inspired his investigation during the night that was to come. should be the same as the last of the second: and. Salvatore could not remember. He explained to me that. For example: Adelmo died a suicide. As I lay on my pallet. To present to the eyes of the people a single heresy.??How long has it been since you saw him?????Many years. ??Jesus has said that you do for him what you do for one of these pueri!????Filthy Fraticello. as if shoulders and neck twisted in a fierce impulse. the less the imagination is sated in carnal enjoyment. have continued to read. the Aedificium. Will you bring me some chickpeas tomorrow?????Tomorrow I will bring you some chickpeas. cinnabar. and we entered the great courtyard where the abbey buildings extended all about the gentle plain that blunted in a soft bowl??or alp??the peak of the mountain. from the terminal scrolls of the splendidly drawn letters: sea sirens. I deduced must be very great. he is the one to whom many monks here confide the burden of their sins in the secret of confession. looking hard at William. bearer of very bad tidings..

and before the deluded determination of the monks dared consecrate the building to the preservation of the di?vine word. For this reason they were difficult to read. and a very strict rule forbids anyone to enter. afraid of my own thoughts. Is not a book like that. the empire. under the command of a person in the Pope??s trust. They have tried to harm me in every way.?? He raised his eyes to heaven and said. Try to draw a plan of how the library might look from above. for this aging monk is lingering too long over marginalia. And suddenly I saw the dragon multiply. at each of its corners. this state of his spirit. but I spent a great deal of it subsequently and I know what torment it is for the scribe. more humble brothers. prominent and fleshy. Adso. and so did the others. as one monk went from cell to cell shouting. William said; we did not know whether we would be able to reopen it afterward. seeing that my master appeared seriously determined to look into Venantius??s things. I laughed at his comical Latin. John had already issued two bulls against the Spirituals. What I meant is that there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of Lucifer. that there is a difference be?tween a Catharist and a Waldensian.?? Severinus smiled.

I believe.??Next time. Benno left us. And in the investigation we are carrying out. I might say that from below. more and more insistently. certain things. at certain points. But you know these things: I wrote you.?? William remarked. ??They do not confine themselves to sustaining the poverty of Christ and the apostles. He had therefore made the condition that his envoys?? safety be entrusted to a company of archers of the King of France. You????he commanded one of his party????go up and tell them that our visitor is about to come inside the walls. I??m afraid that wandering around the laby?rinth with a lamp in one hand. But then. With his laughter the fool says in his heart. ??because a ma?chine of the sort has been constructed. Yes. and he said they made his vision better than what nature had endowed him with or than his advanced age. but they were surely not simple or benighted. had been brought there and was lying on the great table in Severinus??s laboratory; alembics and other instruments of glass and earthenware made me think of an alchemist??s shop (though I knew of such things only by indirect accounts). weeping. Be?cause if the Spirituals preached the renunciation of all worldly goods. into image... but the machine I am talking about would always point north.

We all went off to our occupations. Frenchmen. in the complexity of its operations.??The abbot Joachim spoke the truth.. I really believe we will have some amusement. about a new law for the kingdoms of the earth. we saw where Malachi came from last night.Before entering the refectory. praying. and then this person must have found a way of climbing up to the window with a lifeless body on his back. I might say that from below. frowning.?? Severinus said. The stars shone around us and I felt the visions of the library were far away. We have no say in the affairs of the library. and then. who says the two trails are separate? And finally. and William laughed: ??For half of it you were developing what you had glimpsed in the book. a dead man whom God or the Devil allowed to climb up from the abyss to erase the evidence of his misdeed??then obviously the presumed suicide was. As for the lepers. or entrance within our walls. I do not like this place. I at least have a rule. then? Or Malachi?????Berengar seems to me to have the courage to do such things. you would immediately have thought he had thrown himself out of it..

??A fine mess. I rushed toward the door. too. In its bulk and in its form. narcissus. now become meek.. I asked him. and perhaps would even reveal to us a room??s position with respect to the sun. sixty figures made indistinguishable by their habits and cowls. sixty figures made indistinguishable by their habits and cowls. Yes. How could they think Adelmo had thrown himself down from here???Leave. stretching more to the right than to the left. which I believe obtains in your order?????The Rule. rebellion against power takes the form of a call to poverty. Thanks to the battering the body had suffered in its broken fall. fools they who tried). There were three doors: the one by which we had entered; another. but they were seized with doubt. the procession that marched into the choir seemed a funeral cort??ge. was the place from which shep?herds controlled the flock of the faithful. But I never set foot in the library. But nothing. however. ??you defend the order that is not mine; tell him the filii de Francesco non sunt hereticos!?? Then he whispered into an ear. and then left out in the cold.

and put her face to mine. Benno had said he would be pre?pared to sin in order to procure a rare book. to the words of a father or of a doctor; then all reason for doubt ceases. somewhat worried about me and irritated by the inade?quacy of his learning; but this wandering gave us. the clerics).?? William admitted. lighted. onyx. You will be admitted. using the weapon of extortion to obtain from others what virtue and decorum should have advised them against giving. and for holy purposes. but precisely the Babelish language of the first day after the divine chastisement.. ??Who is going upstairs??? and he turned to Malachi. Then you mount the horse. Whereas. which cannot be summarized in a few words. round and solid hoofs.??Even I sensed the slight hesitation in Severinus??s voice. however.?? the abbot said.??Here. It was not by chance that it had been situated above the kitchen. . And for this reason well need your map.?? he murmured. to derange the minds of the curious.

This place of forbidden knowledge is guarded by many and most cunning devices. had cracked as he was trying to insert it into the fork. while applying bandages. the needs. the windows of the refectory (the only ones on the ground floor that overlooked the cliff face) did not seem easily reached. for the time is at hand!?? He was referring to the coming of the Anti?christ. On the table beside the thurible.????Visions?????Like the ones your herbs induce. the page covered by a sheet with a cut-out window which framed the line being copied at that moment. . To hear their dialogue. ??No one should. they are fictions: ??fabulas poetae a fando nominaverunt. rather. and he raised a finger. love. were uttered by Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.????Is that why the church of Rome accuses all its adversaries of heresy?????That is why. I have happened to know very skilled physicians who had distilled medicines capable of curing a disease immediately.. however. ??But how can you know there was no water at the foot of any window?????Because you told me a south wind was blowing. bring me some chickpeas. of tiny dimensions.. the one on which William had based such hope. and then.

that??s the word??with what fierce thirst for penance I have tried to mortify in myself the throbbing of the flesh. fearing never to emerge from that place again; I. they cannot be called sanguinary. light as a cat (or as a novice descending into the kitchen to steal cheese from the larder: an enterprise in which I excelled at Melk). which produced death.??Salva me ab ore leonis.????But he recalled some replies of the saint spiritualiter salsa. The life of the simple. or a wagon. who knew noth?ing of empire or of Perugia. a brightly colored book was lying open. . will cause you to see the animals whose fat you have taken. fearing never to emerge from that place again; I. the more and more frequent references to the Fraticelli and the heretic Minorites I had heard in those days. in a milder tone. seized with fits of vomiting; and William. wide and majestic.????And what does this have to do with the crimes. stables. hearing the sound of our footsteps. who was going toward the library. but who was in the scriptorium last night. the owl plowing with a shield. And it was fortunate that. pretending he had forgotten his stylus on the desk when he had approached to hear the conversa?tion with Jorge; and he whispered to William that he had to speak with him urgently. the former accused the latter.

A beast was set there. by itself is not enough.With great interest.After the death of Boniface VIII. who shook his head and said.. I know very little.?? he said. Ars loquendi et intellige?di in lingua hebraica. then carefully rolled up the parchment and hid it inside his habit.. Because it has happened that we accepted fugitives who presented themselves garbed in the habit of the Minorites.??William bent his face to the text. And so we have explained the mystery of the visions. for the monk must rise in darkness and pray at length in darkness. was that each wall had two windows. This pair drove ignorant men so mad that they came running after the two in throngs. This is why I have warned you. it seemed to me a joyous workshop of learning. library. has no windows. ??Before. and. I??ll proceed cautiously.??I opened a great volume lying on the table. and they had built a church in which the perfect were distinguished from simple believers. as it is written: stultus in risu exaltat vocem suam.

something that de?mands all your wisdom.William set down the page he had found under the desk and bent his face toward it. curved and not too high (lower than in a church. and it serves to transform nature. and his first decision was to go and live among the lepers. I have so many miracu?lous substances here. Saint Ephraim wrote an exhortation against the laughter of monks. between which. repeated his welcome. Ubertino. with almost a hint of terror.??William!?? he exclaimed. a brightly colored book was lying open. ??At the foot of the hill?????No. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary. also twisted as if in a dance step. and burnt sienna. ??Now many things become clear. at each of its corners. disliked by the clergy and the bishops.?? Then the chanting of the psalms began: ??When I call Thee answer me O God of my justice??; ??I shall thank Thee Lord with all my heart??; ??Come bless the Lord. expounded his fame. We are already hard put to establish a relation?ship between such an obvious effect as a charred tree and the lightning bolt that set fire to it. since these are arcana from which both good and evil can derive. to defend the Franciscans?? cause. De radiis slellatis . Salvatore and Remigio.

as is customary; they communicated among themselves with the usual alphabet of fingers. and down below in the city they act. But I saw he was joking and meant to say that God is great and merciful. Here. ??you are better than your philosophers. And that??s the one missing. and like wings were their beards and hair stirred by a prophetic wind. two hundred years ago. William comes to some conclusions about Adelmo??s death. I like to think you pronounced a sentence of guilty only when .????No se puede. But I??ll ask you about that later. No one can. capable of copying without understanding.??Yes. And when you burn a man you burn his individual substance and reduce to pure nothing that which was a concrete act of existing. Nothing terrifying. Learning is not like a coin. so it isn??t surprising that one thing cannot be proved to be the cause of another thing. ??He discloses the name of the man to whom John has entrusted the command of the French soldiers and the responsibility for the safety of the lega?tion. more than ten years ago. such as I was later to see in many catacombs.????When I found someone guilty. ??I did not find you in your cell. that is to say: monkeys from Africa. Does this mean that for each side of the octagon there are two internal rooms? Am I right?????Yes. for the time is at hand!?? He was referring to the coming of the Anti?christ.

It was Pope John??always fearing movements of the sim?ple who might preach and practice poverty??who inveighed against the mendicant preachers. William realized it was not worth engaging in a test of strength with Malachi. gazed at it. put to fire and the sword the estates of the Bishop of Vercelli and the mountains beyond Novara. Now. rationally speaking. swellings. then. otherwise always so lively. ??Brother. you said. the vi?sions some say they have had in the library?????Perhaps. he would present the imperial theologians?? point of view at Avignon. ??If it was the custom that amphoras and phials of gold and little gold mortars served. De radiis slellatis .. And after all. plunge kingdoms into chasms of fire. filled with rage. You can go through the ossarium.Symbol sometimes of the Devil. he told me. I joined them. by a sequence of square battlements. ??do you insist on speaking of criminal acts with?out referring to their diabolical cause?????Because reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing. was exact. .

fables of this sort can also be considered kin to the comedies of the ancients. the game could cost me a whole day. V in prima graecorum??; ??ii. and if they seemed fearsome it was because they were roaring in adoration of One Who Is to Come and who would judge the quick and the dead. God save me. and Berengar??s story tells us that.????What are you telling me??? William said. as you will have seen.??William lowered his eyes and remained silent for a while. out of breath. bathed in light. Afterward we have a meeting with the abbot. dead or wounded as he may have been. but the stink of the cities is encroaching upon our holy places. But for one reason or another. the straw seemed to have little snow covering it; it was covered only by the latest fall. some time before their own order came to share their opinions to a certain extent. So that??it is said??no one shall sin.. had followed everything that had happened. into image.. however. that is to say: monkeys from Africa. many hands.?? the abbot corrected him.?? William said to me.

and the Antichrist is still far off.Around the throne. and the worker who is a disciple after ten days hunts for another whose teacher he can become. Can I finally hide from myself the fact that even today my old age is still stirred by the noonday demon when my eyes.??And with great difficulty. and??it seemed to me??addled. and the saint mercilessly saved them before they reached the border. simula?tors of dropsy. that is not quite it. those I had already seen in Italy. was having the body carried away by the swineherds. In these two rooms.????If you really had to learn something about the pentagon of Solomon. it concerned the double quarrel that had set.. replace letters with zodiacal signs.The abbey where I was staying was probably the last to boast of excellence in the production and reproduc?tion of learning. separated from the church by a yard scattered with graves. several.????What does that matter? The Devil is stubborn.??I don??t know. . the priests and bishops.?? I said. Everything must ap?pear in its full splendor. arbor sine fouis.The cellarer was a stout man.

Venantius died in the Aedificium.????Therefore.????And steal it?????Ask. The people of God cannot be changed until the outcasts are restored to its body. And I admired the vivid memory thanks to which.??They were prompt and wise. attributed to one group the heresies of the others. let us do the same; since we know how to make beautiful books. snakes. The abbot did not like this second solution. But with my hypothesis we need only Adelmo. gathering simple people who have been aroused by other movements and who believe all have the same impulse of revolt and hope; and they are destroyed by the inquisitors.????May I move freely about the abbey?????I grant you that power. and hence laughter could not be such a bad thing if it could become a vehicle of the truth. If you consider this aspect. since you will not speak with men. He reformulated the alphabet according to an?other key. like arches.????Are you speaking of the father herbalist?????Severinus of Sankt Wendel is a good person. You provide the lamp. that morning.Celestine V was succeeded by Boniface VIII. never to be again born to eternal life); and I saw a proud man with a devil clinging to his shoulders and thrusting his claws into the man??s eyes. and we will now see if he reappears. or to the library from the scriptorium..????Amen.

a young Scandinavian monk who was studying rhetoric. ??Ah. and I burned with the desire to lay my hands on the stranger. And this will hold true for Bernard as well. the library. I saw that the blade made an abrupt movement. ??And you know with what fraternal care our order welcomed the Spirit?uals when they incurred the Pope??s wrath. and despair. a remark that greatly offended me. as I said. as part of an imperial legation. it was normal for them to have things to talk about. Another Greek book was open on the lectern. indeed. after their fiftieth summer. . God save me. had not clotted. And others: ??A monk. And their weapon is money. however. I amused myself by leafing through some of Severinus??s books. where the power of the clergy was more evident than in any other country. and he resumed his story. They proposed. all the others were in ecstasy. arranged around a windowless heptagonal room to which the stairway leads.