body down below the east tower.

were pure signs
were pure signs. consentient and conspiring continued cognition through deep and interior force suited to perform univocally in the same alternating play of the equivocal. My master did not share the austere habits of the Benedictines and did not like to eat in silence. it had no stair. the first half of it blank. though exactly the opposite. The scroll in the first room said ??Super thronos viginti quatuor. These things I know. and the builders of the library had been shrewder than we thought.??How beautiful the world is.????And I fear I no longer know how to distinguish. the papal envoys would suspect a plot against them. amused. or gave him. and so can excess of reticence. Adelmo. also separated from the library (in other convents the monks worked in the same place where the books were kept).??The abbey was asked to do it by the lord of Milan. cut fairly deeply. 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. but also what you imagine might please him. And so I fell devoutly asleep and slept a long time. and it must have more secret entrances than we know of. and it must have more secret entrances than we know of.????It is strange you should not remember.?? the abbot said.

reflects on the history of his order and on the destiny of books.?? William said. came Severinus. I myself was accused of being weak toward them. At this point they would no longer heed reason or justice. The simple have other problems. from books. radishes. At a certain point I could no longer understand whose fault it was. This is not the blood that should concern you. Now.. If I try thinking that the message is about this. I know that the Emperor Frederick. but with different words.?? William said. You know they are stained with unmentionable crimes.????. and above this story another construction rose. which dumbfounded our interlocutor.But how.?? Venantius insisted; ??it was a very learned and fine discussion. The librarian could only consent. and now he realizes the scandal is spreading and could also touch him.I was too excited about our imminent venture to pay attention to the service. I did not converse with him often.

It flowed. had slabs of alabaster. to distract my attention from the Aedificium. and I made bold to ask further informa?tion about these last distinctions. or like some precious reliquaries I have seen (si licet magnis componere parva. buzzing in my head. Berengar is frightened. to have them melted down here to the greater glory of the Lord and of this His place.. who knows the pagan poets very well. And others: ??A monk. looking hard at William. there exist great iron mines!????Someone. goat head and lion fur. but I have not yet discovered what they are. if they were enemies of the people of God. But in your country. this vellum is hairy.. we caught up with Benno. the excluded went on living on the fringe. which ended almost without my noticing.?? Ubertino said. the more the truth is revealed to us under the guise of horrible and indecorous figures. which. He arrives when we do not expect him: not because the calculation suggested by the apostle was mistaken.

As I said. ruby. had already happened in the days when Saint Francis was alive.??The cellarer hesitated for a moment longer. sometimes depicted on the embrasures in the space between the slender columns that supported and adorned them. He smiled and greeted us cordially. Like every good herbalist I keep them. they waxed ironical on the fact that a champion of poverty should enter such a rich order and live at the court of Cardinal Orsini. immediately after the dishes meant for all had been passed at the abbot??s table. rather. moved to joy. that they seek their specific place according to their weight. smiling for the first time. ??Typically English. . of physical light which made the room glow.. and showed me two points. and not so easy as the one about the fish.. I might say that from below. and Flavii Claudii Giordani de aetate mundi et hominis reservatis singulis litteris per singulos libros ab A usque ad Z. were uttered by Saint Lawrence on the gridiron. To present to the eyes of the people a single heresy. And this will hold true for Bernard as well. but I thought you knew.

I was told that years later. or at least of equal gravity?????Because someone said words of desperation to him. you see that the junction has already been visited. of which we were almost witnesses.??The Pseudo Apostles. There. while others saved them?selves by taking flight and seeking refuge in the forests. Figures of an inverted world. putting down roots in none of them. and the worker who is a disciple after ten days hunts for another whose teacher he can become. and pour its blood into the goblet. because Providence did not want futile things glorified. . a monk could have other reasons for venturing into a forbidden place. in the kitchen. since I had listened to him that afternoon. before the monks know what you have charged me to do. and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight. so that if He wanted. Nor were my pangs of uneasiness eased. great wings outstretched. ampoules. ??The Rule for?bids with stern words these trivialities: ??Scurrilitates vero vel verba otiosa et risum moventia aeterna clausura in omnibus locis damnamus. while two glut?tons tore each other apart in a repulsive hand-to-hand struggle. coupled with a fat?-bellied satyr whose gryphon legs were covered with wiry hairs.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours.

vulgar in appearance but jolly. even if the body was withered by age.?? William said. are directly under the point where the wall ends. and his hands. in any case. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying.??Undoubtedly Apuleius and Lucian were reputed to be magicians. if only for a moment. use knowledge to better the human race. in other words.. A mirror that reflects your image.?? William observed.????Why do you say this solution is less costly for our minds?????Dear Adso.?? William said. not only do they speak (of laymen. bloody thing. to put things back in order (those were his words) and arrange the library for the night. and it may even be that Hugh is bad while Francis is good. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. in different moods. and it was impossi?ble for me to convince him that this fine conquest had already been achieved. But you know these things: I wrote you. and his first decision was to go and live among the lepers. I was learning too many things.

We can prepare to fight the Antichrist by studying the curative properties of herbs.????All of them? When?????While you were asleep. ??If it was the custom that amphoras and phials of gold and little gold mortars served. But with one test and another. and above the road. this crime will be attributed to each sectarian of each movement. too bound to earthly matters. the second covered with tiny characters whose origin I recognized with some difficulty. I saw Pacificus of Tivoli.Now I could no longer resist.??Keep your eye on that spot. Berengar. the building joined the walls and seemed to plunge. that only the librarian is allowed access to the library. roaming about the world. ??????An idiot. we found no exit. On that occasion. He wanted to signify something else. when two Antichrists will appear. fif?teen hands.?? William said. who had initiated him into the riches of the mystic life and the adoration of the cross; and why his superiors. I could read a normal manuscript. This is what he did when he wanted to introduce a new subject. ??you??re not really wrong! You see.

??????Here. illuminated by a lamp.????Then observe. William replied. overcome. cinnabar. and must be respected. And I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo. If you consider this aspect. small round hoofs. wheth?er it was not also true that lords and bishops accumulat?ed possessions through tithes. waiting for day and illuminating the shadows with the flame of devotion. et ad talia eloquia discipulum aperire os non permittimus. ??even then he was no great help to the cause. ??but the kitchen occupies only the western half of the ground floor; in the other half is the refectory.????I have been told that one of your best illuminators died recently.??William.. to defeat true penitence. I slipped along the wall to a column that served as the right jamb. and justi?fied in that place only by their parabolic and allegorical power or by the moral lesson that they conveyed. it is its own propagator.. oil presses. as has been said.?? And it was easy.

the age of giants is past!????We are dwarfs. and he was ours to command if we would like to learn our way better around the abbey compound. as if William had shifted his wrist.?? the old man said in a curt tone. through His creatures. ?? William..??Now. And some branches of the delta silt up. William had been impertinent. But what circulated under?neath was not channeled. holding ajar the door of his cell. the owl plowing with a shield. custom wisely provided for some wakers. if I may link diabolical things with the divine). Under the desk was a low set of shelves piled with unbound sheets.?? Malachi said. ????William noticed the abbot??s uneasiness and asked a question perhaps intended to change the subject. but it was not the silence that comes from the industrious peace of all hearts. will command the killing of Enoch and Elijah and the exposure of their bodies for all to see and thus be afraid of imitating them. Outside the pigpens. as part of an imperial legation.????Yes. turning to the old man. how much better am I told of the divine causality by an effect as wondrous as gold and diamond. had appealed to the Pope.

Followers of the Free Spirit. as you must have noticed already.. 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.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. With his humble reply. and that the reality of your cases is luminous evidence against the proud legend of the infidels who years ago claimed (intimates as they are of the Prince of Falsehood) the library of Tripoli was rich in six million volumes and inhabited by eighty thousand com?mentators and two hundred scribes. you paint on it an image of Saint Anthony with a wooden tip. and was covering them with a sauce of sage. But Thomas is different from Bonaventure. increase the fear of the foolhardy who come in here.??And they began an intense discussion of things that in part I already knew and in part I managed to grasp as I listened to their talk. perhaps the kitchen. which came from lands the abbey owned at the foot of the mountain toward the sea. and the death of Adelmo though knowing virtually nothing of it. ??the presence of the Devil was so evident to all eyes that it was impossible to act otherwise without the clemency??s being more scandalous than the crime itself. took such pleasure in the monsters he painted that he lost sight of the ultimate things which they were to illustrate. Clare of Montefalco . No. zucharum et cinnamon supra positurum du bis. and examined.??A monk is also human. of these charlatans who had their names and their subdivi?sions in legions. ??????An idiot. a voluminous codex covered with very thickly written lists. on the one hand Angelus and Ubertino preached according to doctrine.

??but at this point we come up against the question raised yesterday.The brightest places were reserved for the antiquarians. ?? I mean the hereti?cal ones. that it prompted feelings of jollity. now bewildered. and now.?? What was it? The library was full of secrets. had allowed the ancient builders of that holy place to respect the rules of orientation. comes in despair to the cemetery. embraced him. ??Once again. pointed to the sky. radishes. on the other. On the opposite side there was a pulpit. And in his story I recognized many men I had already known or encountered along the road. In the daytime they admit a fine light. hope. In short. You see.??Ah. and for the first time I saw his sorrow turn into rage. They were folios of the finest vellum??that queen among parchments??and the last was still fixed to the desk. I was their guest and therefore to be treated with all honor. like your horse Brunellus. He praised his wisdom.

whose fame has traveled beyond these mountains. mechanics. weavers. As the monks headed toward the choir. and the very word of God. ??in cases where those who had initiated the inquisition. I would recognize it. closely linked to it. And he followed all. and the man was torn to pieces by the infuriated crowd. then in the direction of the polestar.????I understand. although. like the one we saw in Severinus??s infirmary.?????I am not sure he has those features. And Berengar must reveal to Adelmo that secret that remains.??In fact. . The rocks. They stimulate saliva. Apostles. one with ??Cecidit de coelo stella magna. but with movements of ecstatic dance??as David must have danced before the Ark??so that wherever their pupils were. then we will try to explain the exceptions. ??The Rule for?bids with stern words these trivialities: ??Scurrilitates vero vel verba otiosa et risum moventia aeterna clausura in omnibus locis damnamus. we need two things: to know how to get into the library at night.

And after all. devoted to that Aristotle who surely was the wisest of all men. to which they were bound. in every respect a man of the highest virtue.?? So he said to me. to mark the blank walls on it. who is also putting Italy to the sword.The monks?? voices were broken. after all. in a rage: ??I am not a Minorite friar! I am a monk Sancti Benedicti! Merdre ?? toy.????But in what order are the books recorded in this list??? William asked. And at this point the needle???though the stone would also have done it if it had had the capacity to move around a pivot??will turn and point north. Adelmo at heart desired nothing else..?? William said. in view of the injunction received from the abbot (and he heavily emphasized this privilege). When I say to the abbot. a monk could have other reasons for venturing into a forbidden place. William of Occam. on the contrary . saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. especially. quoting from the same text:Erd ob un himel unter. I felt proud to be at the side of a man who had something with which to dumbfound other men famous in the world for their wisdom. but on it he had obviously been setting bits of glass and stones. monkeys with stags?? horns.

humiliated in the cities: But we did not understand; the mystery of leprosy has continued to haunt us because we have not recognized the nature of the sign. William called him. melting in several pud?dles where the water had been thrown; and there was a great dark stain where the corpse had been stretched out.????It??s true.?? the verbum mentis. Did you not hear the seven trumpets?????Why the seven trumpets?????Did you not hear how the other boy died.The horrible event had upset the life of the community. trembling. our library is not like others. to be sure???about some strange relationship between Adelmo and Berengar.????Ah. not knowing what. ??????When did you see him??? the cellarer asked. which rose also to the forbidden floor. on coming in. ???? He broke off. Every?one is heretical. glowing with gems studded in what would then be the devout text of the writing. Aymaro heard him and raised his eyes to heaven. A major branch may remain. the good magic will become functional?????Yes. But the print in that place and at that hour of the day told me that at least one of all possible horses had passed that way.At a certain point we found ourselves again in the original heptagonal room (easily identified because the stairwell began there). ??your virtue makes you unjust.?? Berengar pointed with his hand toward the distance. if we did not want to turn back as we had before.

the dead boy. but I saw him already dead!????How??? William asked. ??that in many trials the Devil does not act only within the guilty one but perhaps and above all in the judges?????Could I make such a statement??? William asked. since he was discovered. not Fraticelli. What am I to do?????Oh. which.?? William admitted. which led to a new room. ??Thou hast said it. who now lived outside the order. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. which in turn begot other serpents as leaves and clusters. naked and fleshless.. check on Berengar. in a period when. translated by Alfred of Sareshel. were waiting until the novices entered led by their master. I did not find him until evening. then up through Provence into the lands of the King of France. No one. Then we came to a wall.????Nothing else?????Nothing else that I can say to you. you understand???the possibility that a servant would have had the cour?age to enter there at night. For this reason they were difficult to read.

. they are large windows of opaque glass.?? I said to him.?? William said. We will be alert. He was old. or go and find a monk who will hear your confession.????Visions?????Like the ones your herbs induce. agitators of discord. we went through the nearby rooms. I think those are lamps prepared for visions. It does not seem to me that they were preaching things contrary to the Gospel. ??but in this case the danger would not be immediate. What must be done? Give learning to the simple? Too easy. dipsases. ??Did you come here from a convent of Minorites?????Non comprends. observing him.. And William rubbed his hands as I had seen him do in many other instances when he was pleased with something. They scrape their parchments. against other learned men. and smiled.?? He guessed William??s next question and added at once. In any case.??Berengar was breathless. too learned.

but took the food to William.????In the world many new things are happening. Which God knows how to punish. would it not?????Yes.????Heaven be praised. not many. beyond the windows of the choir. and the betrayal of Peter was nothing compared with the betrayal of Judas: one. the same passion whose evils divine wrath had castigated in Sodom and Gomorrah. and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight. Temptations must be fought. nobody respects silence any more..?? I believe he was making witti?cisms to confound sinners. The snow all around was red. who knew noth?ing of empire or of Perugia. Malachi explained to him what the abbot had already said: the monk asked the librarian for the work he wished to consult and the librarian then went to fetch it from the library above. William. And yet moral reform movements originate in different places and ways and with different doctrines. a connection others can make??between the crimes that have occurred here and the theses. sapphire. Ask me for mercy. no .. too bound to earthly matters.????And so it must be.

Anyway. During the famous conversation about laughter. reprobates. We hoped no one was in the court. a sign that more snow had fallen and thus they had been made some time before.??What do you think of what Nicholas said??? I asked. and died dreadfully. among the collocations that only the librarian understands.??Ubertino was silent. they had been novices together. But what seemed to us most noteworthy was that among those prints there was a more continuous trail.. too. with a nourishment not effete but substantial. The voice was still majestic and the limbs powerful. ??to achieve the immense and holy task that enriches those walls????and he nodded toward the bulk of the Aedificium; which could be glimpsed from the cell??s windows. he quoted to me.????How could he carry a light if it was raining and snowing?????It was after compline. if you know a bit of the learning of the Arabs. if you like. which. The only clever idea. in any case. which we went through. equally impassive.?? William said humbly.

Also. we made out some damp steps. Then he said to me: ??First of all. cheese. A fine strip of light still touched the main altar. If Venantius had died. and perhaps would even reveal to us a room??s position with respect to the sun. and he continues the search on his own.What had emerged from those tales? The picture of a man who had led an adventurous life. I believe. It was then that John asked me to draw up a memorial on poverty. ??????But it was translated into Latin by a friend of the angelic doctor of Aquino. He uses the abbey as if it belonged to him.?? Nicholas said. My curiosity aroused. ??But here they are less human than elsewhere. it would be subject to the abbot??s jurisdiction; and since some of his envoys belonged to the secular clergy. I met some very wise friends. hiding in the side nave. this happens too late. even in a place so zealously and proudly dedicated to reading and writing. albeit brief as a flash. The library has fifty-six rooms. the cellarer in person had undertaken the search.????Who wanted to kill you? John?????No. the moment all gather in the name of the Father.

on the part of the elderly monk.We left him to his humiliation and went to inquire about Berengar. this world of ours had been struck by storms of intolerance. too. torn by the rocks it had struck on the way down. so limpid that. . you understand. then he had to be carried elsewhere.????Monkeys do not laugh; laughter is proper to man. through the sublimity of the effect.????How could he carry a light if it was raining and snowing?????It was after compline. where the main path divided into three. either because they are innate or because mathematics was invented before the other sciences. cause for pride. The rocks. and he used one of those inks that leave no trace when written but reappear when warmed. ??Five quadran?gular or vaguely trapezoidal rooms. given the snow. ??Welcome. a devil is devouring my bowels!??William thrust him away and held out a hand to draw him to his feet. The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church. I know this. albeit brief as a flash. ??tell me how you saved yourself from those dogs. The library was laid out on a plan which has remained obscure to all over the centuries.

but that the learned must decide when and how. Berengar and Adelmo do something very evil together: we had already guessed that. as if they were??as they now are??a part of my very body.So for some time the monks had been making sarcas?tic observations on the tender looks Berengar cast at Adelmo. brought into being by the father of lights. where he was received by the convent of Minorites (and here I believe he met Remigio) at the very time when many of them. His face was trying to assume an expression of welcome. on the other. And as the psalmist says. there was something upsetting about his appearance. ??How long it has been! But I recognize you still! Such a long time. and died dreadfully. . Who was this monk who inspired terror in anyone who heard his name mentioned? I decided I could not remain any longer in the grip of my desire to know. Everything must ap?pear in its full splendor. to confer on evil all the seductions in which it cloaks itself; thus the writers inform men better of the ways through which the Evil One enchants them.?? I murmured. in a milder tone.?? William said. I flung my head back and I saw the ceiling. I grazed the back of the page with the flame. the blood. Only the life of the flock has changed. would have seemed very stubborn and perhaps reprehensible. curved and not too high (lower than in a church. Money.

I know your abbey is the only light that Christianity can oppose to the thirty-six libraries of Baghdad. but as it rose from the face it immediately sank again. ??he had really committed crimes of such gravity that in all conscience I could hand him over to the secular arm. Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes. because wine induces even the wise to apostasy. Just as they wanted to kill me. As we started off. Concerned as they are with tearing each other apart reciprocally. moved to joy. I will discover it on my own. it was not corrupted by disputation.????May I move freely about the abbey?????I grant you that power. then. were waiting until the novices entered led by their master. a page of a modern preacher must have prompted someone to repeat the words that frightened Adelmo and with which Adelmo frightened Berengar.. venerable in age and wisdom. believing that the cure came from the prayers.The monks were now standing at the tables. ??Not by subject. and my nights of meditation in the choir of Melk. as if the Ten Command?ments had been multiplied by the four cardinal virtues). frowning. The machine would point north even if we were outside the labyrinth. the simple would swallow the infusion or cover themselves with the unguent. And some branches of the delta silt up.

perhaps originally intended as parts of a window; with instru?ments they had reduced some of these to the desired thickness. leucrota. and I was mistaken. if you read the name in Greek letters. Everything you have heard told.????All right. holding his knife to his throat. Then a light flashed in his eyes. and extorting money. for having believed my body a place of pleasures. even if I am not sure I can explain them properly. as Isidore says. whether it was in the service of the empire or of the free cities. they took a newborn boy. at the far eastern end of the plain. thoughts of retaliation. can enlarge the tiniest things (what else are my lenses?). of the corruption of innocent youths.?? my master replied. learn to weep over the wounds of the Lord.?? ??May they rest from their labors.?? Then he cried. perhaps larger but less well proportioned. We had to await events. better than Honorius Augustoduniensis or Guillaume Durant could have demanded.??Berengar was breathless.

??????Please. necromancers. never has there been such insistence as there is today on strengthening the faith of the simple through the depiction of infernal torments. It had no flame. there are pines growing. Matins are about to ring.??So we took a long turn around the Aedificium. ??he had really committed crimes of such gravity that in all conscience I could hand him over to the secular arm. and darkness was falling. or a falling star. ??during our whole journey I have been teaching you to recognize the evidence through which the world speaks to us like a great book. rather. And he who caught him alive for the last time. as if by natural expansion. though it did indeed exist in the catalogue.??Many protest that a devoutly inspired mind. To spite the Pope he allows the abbey to be invaded by Fraticelli.??William remained silent a moment as the abbot departed. and Severinus knows them very well. During the night it had snowed. In the Lateran Council of 1179 (you see. onto which. foments subtle hostilities. You pretended you wished to enter his sect. even if under the seal of the sacrament. but I realized later that Jorge was omnipresent in all corners of the abbey.

?? I. allowed light to enter from the octagonal central well. multiple arches. the other monks crowded around. When I learned later about his adventurous life and about the various places where he had lived. obfus?cating ideas and inciting all to become inquisitors to their personal benefit. if I understand you correctly. though it produced an even greater uneasiness. .????Michael . hence in itself good. but he motioned me to wait: in fact. For example: Adelmo died a suicide. inventing an excuse. I??ve been able to read it.????I don??t understand. he had withdrawn from theological specula?tion and had imagined himself transformed into the penitent Magdalen; and then his intense association with Saint Angela of Foligno. he was telling us frag?ments of a truth of vaster dimensions than he knew. And even priests. Nothing in his parables arouses laughter. a novice approaching the mysteries of the holy priest?hood of God. and his answer was that he wanted to be fascinated by the things he chose and not as others advised him. And what he saw in those few seconds inspired his investigation during the night that was to come.??A fine collection of simples. ??and do not be surprised if I can guess who you are.The monks were now standing at the tables.

??I don??t know. But they induce bad dreams. the empire. too. We noticed that behind the stables the outside wall was lower. until we arrive at the west tower. and he did not come then. The other monks work in the scriptorium and may know the list of the volumes that the library houses. and before spurring him you turn his face eastward and you whisper into his ear. whose frontal seemed to glow with a golden radiance. he told a puzzled scholar what book to seek in the library catalogue. because only here can they find the works that enlight?en their research. Then I put an end to his talk and told him that this evening my master wanted?? to read certain books in his cell and wished to eat up there. which will confine with the heptagonal room. we wandered aimlessly. a swaying and fluttering form came toward me. where the abbey??s treasure is kept. A single body can be cold or hot. assuming we ever got out of it. the Cardinal of San Vitale. who had always been enemies of the Christian faith. ??Bernard may not necessarily be coming here specifically for the meeting. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon. unworthily. to copy manuscripts to be found nowhere else and to carry them back then to their own house. carried the straw and part of the terrain and the poor young man??s body down below the east tower.