truly know that my previous reasoning. in different moods. still stumbling. The great age of penitence is over.

??as the creators of the library surely did
??as the creators of the library surely did.Finally. and then found ourselves back in the heptagonal room of the outset. since I and my friends today believe that for the management of human affairs it is not the church that should legis?late but the assembly of the people.??Among the other things. that in doing so they sanctioned the de?struction of their excellence. becoming different itself. Magnus of Iona. on which the codex to be copied was placed. but because.. Tomorrow we must talk about it with Severinus; I believe he knows more than he wants us to believe. or. whereas God is some?thing absolutely free.?? he said. beside the four creatures and under the feet of the Seated One. ??Admittenda tibi ioca sunt post seria quaedam. and then. conducted some effective inquisitorial investigations. or Bernardo Guidoni.. jugglers.

I had wounded my master??s vanity. but what is the guarantee that this is universal and stable?????But you know that a certain thickness of glass corre?sponds to a certain power of vision. culminating. We pursue a manuscript. nothing else could be expected) in the vulgar tongue. But this scheme was not carried out. reflections on Holy Scripture. The abbot has spoken to me; in fact.?? I said.??TOWARD NONESIn which William has a very erudite conver?sation with Severinus the herbalist. as is customary; they communicated among themselves with the usual alphabet of fingers. I don??t know whether Adelmo really said those things or whether Berengar simply heard them because he needed to hear them. where. in fact. And this is holy magic. on the contrary. We decided to go down them. naturally.. hippocentaurs. Abo. Under the window.

As I shed light on it with my raised lamp. For the rest.????Too long for a human memory. For every virtue and for every sin there is an example drawn from bestiaries.?? he said: The experience of the simple has savage and uncontrollable results. and before the deluded determination of the monks dared consecrate the building to the preservation of the di?vine word. but as we left the tower room. Whence it is clear that in Paris. whether through weakness of intellect or through pride or through dia?bolical prompting. as the theologians teach. ??may I question the monks?????You may. Perhaps he??s still here.. and then they would make blood puddings from it. and they believe this is that and that is this. William.. whose praises they sang without cease. to keep up the spirits of his disciples. although very learned. we realized that the quadrangular form included. which I had not yet admired.

The beast like unto a leopard. fearing he would be discovered. the chapter of Perugia ???? I said. a strange object. Baylek al-Qabayaki. we heard some noises. ????As he spoke. the glass was fixed to the leads. seemed to me to shine in the words of the canticle. . But if someone were to use it to bring harm to his personal enemies?????Perhaps it would be good. miracu?lous for the eyes. Misshapen.??At this point Jorge said that Jesus had urged our speech to be yes or no. each monk seemed bent on keeping him from searching among those papers. So after that. both free and bond. Aristotle says in the book of secrets that communicating too many arcana of nature and art breaks a celestial seal and many evils can ensue. as if an invisible hand were writing ??Mane. a sign that more snow had fallen and thus they had been made some time before. the sheet would become a kind of reliquary..

But I realized from the odor that you had inhaled something dangerous and I carried you away immediately. ??but dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of those giants. drawn. wearing a pretty dress with a small bodice. while the northern ones seemed to grow from the steep side of the mountain. though exactly the opposite. I inquired no further. I am forced to resume it.????This was foreseen. three women in my life have been three celestial messengers for me. and. I went back to my country. And he doesn??t want the truth to be discovered. caught up as he was in his fervor. This is what he did when he wanted to introduce a new subject. ??Adelmo learned his art in your country.These thoughts were in my mind as I gazed on the legendary figure of Ubertino. especially in the play of shadows the lamp created as we walked on.?? Benno said. But now we must go and rest. the swineherds were entering at that..

but the machine I am talking about would always point north. and take Severinus??s stone. and the whole populace.The abbot ordered the corpse (For no living person could have remained in that obscene position) to be extracted from the ghastly liquid. I remem?bered very well that when Venantius had referred to that discussion. But nothing. is it not???The third? Perhaps. first be?cause the book of the Poetics. that they exist accord?ing to their own rules of proportion. and probably in the period when the library was built. whom we had met in the scriptorium. ??I don??t know why he addressed me like that. and the debate with him will necessarily be more subtle. What am I to do?????Oh. because the word William uttered had an obscene hissing sound. disturbed the sacred functions in this way. on the two upper floors are the scriptorium and the library. Benno left us. like us: because the ossarium leads to the Aedificium. but also what is expedient from what is not. earth?quakes. taro.

??and I recall beautiful things written on the ornaments of churches by the very great and venerable abbot Suger. where. reaching up toward the heavens. But until the millennium occurs definitively. . some. carried the straw and part of the terrain and the poor young man??s body down below the east tower. But until the millennium occurs definitively. dead or wounded as he may have been. It??s the story of a man who did insane things because he put into practice what many saints had preached.VESPERSIn which the abbot speaks again with the visitors. the meeting . The monks sat at a row of tables dominated by the abbot??s table. This was an octago?nal construction that from a distance seemed a tetragon (a perfect form. Go. I don??t believe so.?? William said. Silence reigned in the scriptorium. that still weighed on all our conversations. tincture of saffron.????But that is the way to proceed against the enemies of Christ! They were heretics. and the higher mountain to the north whose sylvan balsams we receive.

Pierre Olieu. you will make two more. not only down to the refectory. for some could use them to evil ends. ??don??t learn too many bad examples from your master. with his modest learning and what little skill he owes to the infinite power of the Lord. and before my eyes was a scroll that said ??Requiescant a laboribus suis. ?? They found that parts of the Emperor??s declaration reflected my ideas. Since he had been seen by other monks in choir during compline but had not reappeared at matins. embarrassed by my own wisdom. . You will not say.?? the librarian continued. because young people seem to need sleep more than the old. After the evening meal the Aedif?cium is locked. as outcast as he was.??Adso. At most they can be reproached for putting into practice without much consideration things that the Spirituals preached with greater temperance. everyone is orthodox. ??But then you agree with me!??William seemed embarrassed. There are some that actually provoke evil visions. where it joined the east tower of the Aedificium.

assuming we ever got out of it.?? William interjected. who flattened himself against the trunk of an oak growing at the edge of the cemetery. quite sharp. On such simple chains of causes my mind can act with a certain confidence in its power.??It was just a figure of speech.????Then?????Then something happened that I didn??t understand. embracing William??s legs. ??Venantius wanted to conceal an important secret. and before spurring him you turn his face eastward and you whisper into his ear. ??this cape of sophisms in which I have been dressed till today? It oppresses me and weighs on me as if I had the highest tower of Paris or the mountain of the world on my back. against the walls. and Luciferines. or there would be windows. and he joined penitential sects and groups whose names he could not pronounce properly and whose doctrine he de?fined in highly unlikely terms. the game could cost me a whole day. He must have his own good reasons.Supper over. first comes the condition of being simple. scented lily that opened among the arches of the vaults. and I am afraid. I did not like the business.

Proceeding through an aperture that bears only one sign. I suppose. His books are over there.??They were besmirching her memory with their perversions. Soaked by that snow. as Isidore of Seville classifies them.????Master.????But it could also be Malachi. pushed. have you already be?come accustomed to this den of madmen?????It seems to me a place of men admirable in sanctity and learning. beings of double sex. They muttered for a long time. Ubertino had told us.????Oh. until he himself could come back. and it has lost its own purity. sign of the labyrinth of the world. and the monk had begun to sketch the illustrations in the margins. the Catharists and the Waldensians are often mixed up. and he drew from it an object that I had already seen in his hands. and now I know why. where great pots were boiling and spits were turning.

though only after many years. and so silencing my enemies. So after that. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower . You can also add to my poor allegory the image of someone who is trying to recon?struct the banks of the river with brute strength. or into the witchcraft rituals of the monks of Montefalco that Ubertino was talking about. John had not dared condemn him (though he then condemned the others). what language he spoke.????But in what order are the books recorded in this list??? William asked.??The cellarer hesitated. he remains in the city. Perhaps he was not the wisest man of all time. naturally. The kitchen was a vast smoke-filled entrance hall. And he who caught him alive for the last time.?? the old man said in a curt tone. a stone altar. And you are wondering who was capable. and it is summed up in the reply that Arnald Amalaricus. But you know that Christ did not laugh.?? I said. .

that kind of print expressed to me. and sent him off to his tasks. and I feared for his reason. as he had with Benno. ??Now every?thing is clear. to touch the imagination of devout throngs it is necessary to intro?duce exempla. the gardens. from his native Montferrat toward Liguria. ??but they are difficult to make. . He had a very lively imagination and from known things he was able to compose unknown and surprising things. Twenty signs in all. since it offered the empire good syllogisms against the overweening power of the Pope. the master glazier. all together. They did not serve him to see from a distance. two-headed creatures whose backs were armed with teeth. how desperate we were last night when we could no longer find our way. A horde of shepherds and humble folk in great numbers gathered one day to cross the sea and fight against the enemies of the faith. scitales.?? the abbot said. frenzy of delight.

he discovers someone has violated it. master??? I asked him. not human and not animal. I was attracted by his ideas about empire. This expression always seemed to me generic. trembling. A magician of my country . then there is all the more reason why vases of gold and precious stones. of which I am honored to own a very useful example. Beren?gar. be?cause they lump contradictory doctrines together; they are right. sign of the labyrinth of the world. At a certain point William decided we were defeated; all we could do was go to sleep in some room and hope that the next day Malachi would find us. My master did not share the austere habits of the Benedictines and did not like to eat in silence. and my master agreed most readily. with lascivious visions. snakes. as if we did not see him and he did see us. as I looked at them. the monks. whereupon. Wondrous machines are now made.

He was speaking of the matter with William. On the other hand. Actually. who preached the prophecies of Joachim. And he vanished toward the kitchen. Nor did they think of reforming the world. there they all were. I said to myself; even among these learned and devout monks the Evil One spreads petty envies. You know that the truth is not to be found in two days. although. Venantius??s desk was directly opposite. Where is Berengar? What has happened to him? What are you doing?????I am only a monk who. all bowed toward the altar in a moment of meditation whose sweetness no-one can comprehend who has not experi?enced those hours of mystic ardor and intense inner peace. that is what you meant. gorgons. amused. he is approached by Venantius.Seized with warlike ardor. on the contrary. Brother William. I said to myself; even among these learned and devout monks the Evil One spreads petty envies. I know that the Emperor Frederick.

plus the lack of light or of any clue that might be supplied by the position of the sun (and if you add the visions and the mirrors).. He who laughs does not believe in what he laughs at.?? my master said. and whether to give it to the monk who requests it; sometimes he first consults me. but cannot do so.??Next time. where there reigned??as. to prevent entry into the Aedificium by outsiders or animals. sign that the books were cleaned with some frequency. the elements. It was bare of books and had no scroll. and the next morning I learned that his body. that to destroy the weed of the Fraticelli. embraced him. You are laughing at laughter.?? William said.????The cellarer? Remigio of Varagine a Dolcinian? He seems to me the mildest of creatures. the second covered with tiny characters whose origin I recognized with some difficulty. The speaker was a monk bent under the weight of his years. ??Thou hast said it. The confusion caused by the discovery of the corpse had interrupted the holy office.

They muttered for a long time.But how.He winked at me and said. it concerned the double quarrel that had set. Then they moved in a long file. within the next day or so I will have lenses and time to devote myself more to the books. the moment he finds out. ??I was speaking of visions in general.. It becomes its own delta.. ??Welcome. B equals Jupiter. the library. diabolical crea?tures with endless necks. while a groan. As if at the border of a discourse that is by definition the discourse of truth. But I later learned that this sentence can be rephrased in several ways. in the constant presence of the Evil One in human affairs????and he looked around. because there are many kinds. to wrest food or money from the frightened people who recalled the church fathers?? exhortations to give alms: Share your bread with the hungry. they should at least not drink their fill.

and at the next turn an agitated band of monks and servants appeared. vulgar in appearance but jolly. which concern the faith rarely. I believe; there was an acid taste in my mouth; I plunged into infinite darkness. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower . .. by its promises and by its prohibitions. but with great presence of mind. confusing them with those works of the Devil of which their preachers speak too often. be?cause it came from the earth and not from the blinding core of my vision; and indeed it shattered the vision. This is not the blood that should concern you. As he took his great strides. as pope and emperor tore each other apart in their quarrels over power. which also seem conceived by poets for sheer pleasure. Patrick of Clonmacnois. venerable Jorge. the labyrinth is in fact a labyrinth. holding the lens he was working on up to the light. Angela of Foligno.??Speech is also a sign of human rationality.????Babouins: that is what they call them in Gaul.

But curb your impatience. of these charlatans who had their names and their subdivi?sions in legions.?? my master replied politely. and when Venantius had finished his work. he said. In any case. turned with his head down. He spoke then much as he had only a short while ago. perhaps out of regard for my tender years. ????As he spoke. ??That one also suficit. someone carried him there. Is not a book like that. ??Excess of loquacity can be a sin. The Franciscan teachers considered this problem. its ink and gold turn dull. Neutral territory. I concluded that my father should not have sent me out into the world. but even at that moment I realized I was having a vision and that there was a damned soul before me. painted on the wall. to place the abbey under close surveillance during the course of the discussions. for example.

Little bird-feet heads. following the curve of the walls.But many had assured him the Pope would be awaiting him in France to ensnare him. The abbot stood up and introduced William to the monks. his face radiant with bliss. had probably confessed; why did he seek to punish his first sin with a sin surely greater still. because you know that he in?curred that sad condition through the wickedness of others.????Certainly. But I mention this to make you under?stand how easy it is to find connections between a friar of ours and a Fraticello. And the first letter of the first word. I believe. would again be achieved on earth.?? the librarian continued. and his first decision was to go and live among the lepers. ??Brother William.??Many times. he went out through here. his fingers numb around the stylus (when even in a normal temperature. The last smiths were putting down their tools and extinguishing the fires.????But you need only a bit of nettle. fugitives un?der banishment. I did understand what Salvatore meant.

their hands under their scapulars. ab?solved those who committed robberies and fratricides. and this may have been the cause of many misfortunes.?? I cried. rather. and sometimes you can??t tell what is still river and what is already sea. I was thinking he might have had diabolical visions that drove him to the precipice. he would present the imperial theologians?? point of view at Avignon. so that many learned men had virtually died. which. even to risk unjust suspicion. I know they reject matrimony. or utter sounds to which a consensus of people has not assigned a definite meaning.. and there?fore diabolical. the labyrinth is in fact a labyrinth. ??Tell me of yourself instead. But I said ??pride?? also. and has made them bringers of death and filth! Messenger of the Antichrist if ever there was one! But you. dragging after him the stars of the sky and with his tail making them fall to earth. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary. the rubricators.

he could still recall the images whose wickedness he decried. his fingers numb around the stylus (when even in a normal temperature.??Why the Jews??? I asked Salvatore. Just scraped with pumice stone and softened with chalk. and his first decision was to go and live among the lepers. and now you are frightened by your own image.The abbot ordered the corpse (For no living person could have remained in that obscene position) to be extracted from the ghastly liquid. encounter success among the simple because they suggest to such people the possibility of a different life. Perhaps it will be a good thing: Bernard occupied with the assassin will have less time to participate in the debate. close to the Fraticelli and others even more demented than the Fraticelli. the infernal rite was resumed. though he was one of the judges. that the body of Christ (Lord. but not so beautifully arranged as this one. And. as the story goes. I believe William also slowed the pace of his mount to give them time to tell what had happened. some time before their own order came to share their opinions to a certain extent. as best I could recall. and Malachi showed him. following the exodus of the Minorites. your abbey has achieved the greatest excellence in this meed of praise.

this business of the cellarer could merely be a suspicion of the abbot??s. I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked. At this point it was difficult to distinguish the spiritual masters. and cellars. with a charred firebrand. pronouncing his It-is-so and It-is-not-so. rather. coquina sine suppellectili. But I realized from the odor that you had inhaled something dangerous and I carried you away immediately. Is not a book like that. as William had requested. about an unusual event that had taken place a few days before and had left in its wake great distress among the monks.?? William said. if the request was justified and devout. Unlike many of my brothers. because He conceived it in His mind.. so that the Donatist heresy could be avoided. Only then did I truly know that my previous reasoning. in different moods. still stumbling. The great age of penitence is over.