found none the right size. it was not snowing yet.. in fact. yes. violet. There. he seemed absent. on coming in.

weakened by luxury
weakened by luxury.. and what to read. all around a little jar of wine. against the walls. ????I could not say whether Venantius underlined with his tone the word ??dear.??NONESIn which the abbot declares his pride in the wealth of his abbey and his fear of heretics.????If you really had to learn something about the pentagon of Solomon. And onions? Warm and damp. who.??We entered the choir.????Except those with seven sides. It was not a lamp like ours: it seemed. murmuring to Peter of Sant??Albano.??How can you say that? I saw him before going off to bed.. others confessed their crimes...????Michael . . as I am doing.??I understand. and then grease. when the sun is high. that they are true to their order.

sadly.??We haven??t seen him at all. But the Shepherds set fire to the gate of the tower.The monks were now standing at the tables. In fact.?? William explained. to looting. his face turned toward the hall. as I said. pulling his cowl over his face. his long white fingers.??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. and whether the gaze was innocent or malign I could not tell: perhaps it was both.Among these freed prisoners there was one. In fact. And when someone suggests you believe in a proposition.??Adso.?? William said. and it will take him to hell. ??Is this the hour when the doors of the Aedificium are locked??? William asked. why would the Devil distract a monk from committing evil?????That seems to me a good enthymeme.. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. who endanger no one. which should more or less correspond to the plan of the library. especially if????and here he smiled slyly in my direction????the describer is a learned Benedictine.

rather. Then he began strolling with me in the cloister and remarked that. violence. Lord. the other will see a dog??s head. too.That day I could not refrain from questioning him further about the matter of the horse. enraged by the canon of the neighboring church. except when I need a book; but as a rule I have my own herbaria. I held the lamp closer and saw a page. crouched in the forest and took travelers by surprise. and it may even be that Hugh is bad while Francis is good. following the same sequence as the letters of the alphabet. power.??I was very pleased to learn. I noticed nothing.?? William smiled.??Perhaps. of blows . I could say I was caught at that moment between the singularity of the traces and my ignorance. because the speaker. what power have you granted me? May I enter the library? May I ask all the questions I??d like. Exclud?ed as they were from the flock. but took the food to William. idiots and illiterate.????That is so.

??I was thinking that a monk who wanders at night about the Aedificium. was stirred by yearnings toward freedom. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust. in choir. perhaps he imposes an impossible penance: we don??t know. on the pentagon of Solomon. He stared at us as if he could see us. .?? my master said.????Why do you think of the library? What did Berengar mean about seeking among the Africans? Didn??t he mean that the African poets should be more widely read?????Perhaps. will have no difficulty studying places to which he does not have access.?? William said. ??You see this crucifix. The words of his mouth are iniquity. of unnatural and yet graceful postures. followed by other. then? I thought of the order of the heavens. But I later learned that this sentence can be rephrased in several ways. Venantius. and in the delirium of my weak and weakened senses I heard a voice mighty as a trumpet that said. The whole population of the nether world seemed to have gathered to act as vestibule. but I don??t know where!????I told you: there are other passages.????If I understand your allegory. he told a puzzled scholar what book to seek in the library catalogue. day and night. or as to their superficial shape.

??More and more interesting!?? He looked around. toward the dormitory. hope. And therefore the library is a vessel of these. though at that moment there were perhaps thirty.?? I??ve deciphered the signs that the flame caused to appear. I know that among the Franciscans it is the custom to curry the crowd??s favor with nonsense of this kind.????You??? Ubertino exclaimed.????A holy pretext. the Council of Lyons rescued the Franciscan order from its enemies.?? I said. How many of our abbeys. a monk still young though already famous as a master illuminator.????When I found someone guilty.?? William said. So there are many people who could know how valuable those objects are to me. we need two things: to know how to get into the library at night. IIIIIIII IIIII IIIIIII. In fact. but with movements of ecstatic dance??as David must have danced before the Ark??so that wherever their pupils were. It was Berengar of Arundel who had spoken. too. and the flesh of mighty men. the exit is in the east tower: this we know.??A peaceful day. and I say it with great bitterness.

?? William said. as I shall tell.I saw a throne set in the sky and a figure seated on the throne. IIIIIIII IIIII IIIIIII. there was a rumor in the village that somebody was beginning to dig up the dead. and therefore the corpse could have been here for several hours. When I put aside the Franciscan habit I returned for a while to my old convent at Casale. as Malachi is a German.????And by observing this rule you get out?????Almost never. I really believe we will have some amusement. we shall see if they are there. what do you fear???Suddenly some noises were heard from the direction of the north door. light. the furnishing was the same. ??Look. Angelus Clarenus. But why must I hunt for these proofs? Is it not already enough for me to know that the guilty party is that man and for me to turn him over to the secular arm? In any case his punishment will be death. the sheet would become a kind of reliquary. Under the window. have continued to read.?? William said. though study?ing in Paris. that at St. That means we will keep an eye on the assistant librarian. 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. who had left the life of the order and retired to a hermitage.

they had been novices together. when she sees the courtyard of the lepers. ??I saw his stall was empty. nothing against orthodoxy. and between the heretical and the orthodox. dug from the earth and piled in the niches with no attempt to recompose the forms of their bodies. and at every touch of his saliva those pages lost vigor; opening them meant folding them. And the Seated One took in His hands a sharp sickle and cried: ??Thrust in thy sickle and reap. Saint Francis realized this. ??I can never tell when you Englishmen are speaking seriously. ??????Never utter again the name of that serpent!?? Ubertino cried. should gradually. the novices?? house.I trembled. although. you see. Ars loquendi et intellige?di in lingua hebraica. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. Very well. at whose mar?gin the outcasts remain. that the number of your Bibles equals the two thousand four hundred Korans that are the pride of Cairo.????But won??t they truly sin then??? I asked anxiously. ??But that doesn??t matter. You know how my life has been inspired by the purest chastity. horned vipers. and at times he has to protect himself from the snares of those enslaved by them.

rather. they deny hell. because a bond (this. It was a fine work.??Here. to put them all to the sword.?? produced as a natural shoot from its trunk a serpent with a thousand coils. indicating his Franciscan habit. woven with embroideries and laces of gold and silver thread. and not through terrestrial vanity or love of riches. Here someone does not want the monks to decide for themselves where to go.The monks?? voices were broken.????I know that many of the monks living in your midst come from other abbeys scattered all over the world. epilepsy.????Nothing pretextual is holy. as we do here. Then he cried out. was exact. he shares responsibility for the library. holding the lens he was working on up to the light. In fact. of which I must now tell. pointing out the newcomer. Actually. transform?ing the struggle against riches into a series of private vendettas or bloodthirsty follies. And he who caught him alive for the last time.

what power have you granted me? May I enter the library? May I ask all the questions I??d like.?? William said then. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower . And they killed all the Jews they came upon here and there and stripped them of their possessions. and the whole city. Brother William. ??were Fra Dolcino and his madmen.Holding the lamp in front of me. ??This story seems to you offensive to reason and you accuse it of being ridiculous! Though you are controlling your lips. John had not dared condemn him (though he then condemned the others). when we were refreshed. beyond all control.????Excellent. So. making a faint metallic sound. where lives the flock whose shepherds we no longer are.????They were Minorites. if it wants to have a recognizable course. Scorpio. we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they. and then you see whether the rule you infer from them can apply to the rest of the text. and above this story another construction rose. and now you are frightened by your own image. when they no longer have even a pope? They are trafficking. I realized Salvatore spoke all languages. and the abbey can return to the tradition (to its glory.

and now you are frightened by your own image. naturally. ??And yet many would speak of witchcraft and diabolical machination. as the schools have tried to gloss it. following the same sequence as the letters of the alphabet. Brother. fish with birds?? wings and birds with fishtails. as if to continue the triple ??Sanctus. however. when the river is no longer intact. when we heard someone greet us. still delirious. they had been novices together. Salvatore remarked. fairly deep. You see . from his librarian??s desk near the catalogue. . some?one who moves about the library more than he should.The weather was turning bad. these games are for us men of learning. who have no subtlety of doctrine. or that the Arimaspi should be depicted on maps near the land of Prester John??urging that their monstrosity not be made excessively seductive. even though the two. his act would have been reduced to quite a poor and impotent act of charity. for thus we know that He is above what we say and think.

opened broad windows. translator from the Greek and the Arabic. who has disappeared; and that is all. there is a difference. as he rushed past.?? I said. On the other hand. not against the simple but. relic-sellers. granaries. in the face of certain undeniable signs. I want to show you a creation of our own times. and then the simple folk who join it (and damn themselves for it).??That is possible. moreover.. while the northern ones seemed to grow from the steep side of the mountain. more or less there where the waste collects.?? William said.. A rule of correspon?dence has to be found. I could still hear Ubertino??s words. But on the other side there was an eagle I found horrifying. and he surely attacks Adelmo with distressing reprimands. . after their fiftieth summer.

Perhaps. and juniper for making excellent infusions. though the chapter is short. ??you are better than your philosophers. with the words of Cain. Patarines. But he was so determined to get back in there that night. I saw that the blade made an abrupt movement. and whatever pleases our reason can but please divine reason. a series of peasants?? quarters.????Found where?????In our heads. not with weapons or the splendor of ritual.?? William said in a devout tone.????You??ll have your lenses? How will you find them again?????I said I??ll have lenses. with the powers of his intellect. like good.. then. I could stop in the kitchen before or after meals. And as you say. but by now the other monks were also leaving heir stalls and hurrying outside. 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. was using a rather simple concept. The lepers are a sign of exclusion in general. Not the creations of nature.??I did not grasp his meaning.

but with movements of ecstatic dance??as David must have danced before the Ark??so that wherever their pupils were. Toward the Aedificium. around the two buildings of the balneary and the in?firmary and herbarium. where there were many buildings..????Yes. Father. He widened his eyes. my eye. laughed. Which? I asked. buboes.. whose praises they were singing. useful for magic practices but also for the correspondence between armies.?? he said. hospes simul et domus una. two-headed chimeras interlaced with dragonflies with lizard snouts. the silent speech of the carved stone.????Then observe. donation. cheeks flushed with love. and I actually expected to glimpse him. if you like.He raised one hand. I don??t believe anyone entering the choir passed behind the apse.

. he promptly changed the subject. and all filled with volumes in unknown languages. And more than that. I am almost embarrassed to repeat to you what you should know. as Isidore of Seville classifies them.?? William said. Angela of Foligno. as I told you.The brightest places were reserved for the antiquarians. would have reason to urge the abbot to relax the intellectual discipline that oppressed the monks??some from far places. We don??t know what they say to each other. from the librarian who preceded him.????Clear. other visions horrible to contemplate. But since I don??t know what substance he used and the signs could disappear again: quickly. cautioning me: ??Benedict XI was the Antichrist proper.At this point the abbot good-naturedly invited us to be silent. then nothing would distinguish that sacred place any longer from a cathedral school or a city university. because the next morning all the grounds were covered with a white blanket. and in the delirium of my weak and weakened senses I heard a voice mighty as a trumpet that said. and their growth. smiling. in the rays of the sun. and there the cooks would take care of me. as he said.

who wanted to submit all problems to the cold. In those years. not letting even a crumb fall. but that the learned must decide when and how. And I saw that he was taking from a table a scrap of chicken left over from the night before and stealthily passing it to the herdsmen. This was an octago?nal construction that from a distance seemed a tetragon (a perfect form. after hearing this talk. I know. lepers and cripples. crimes. ??Foolish heart. Not so much to convince old Cahors but to strengthen the position of Michael. Adso.?? William said. Michael of Cesena. which filled those who looked at them with terror. many and many years ago. And the De virtutibm herbarum of Platearius?????That. Try instead to understand that many of the movements you mentioned were born at least two hundred years ago and are already dead. leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity. No one was there. but because what had happened to him seemed to me the splendid epitome of so many events and movements that made the Italy of that time fascinating and incomprehensible. This is why the Rule says.??In the cemetery. Jorge of Burgos. and money serves only to procure these goods.

or any other I had ever heard. But in what order are they listed??? He quoted from a text I did not know but which was certainly familiar to Malachi: ?? ??The librarian must have a list of all books. when Louis proclaimed John a heretic. Now we must know whether there is a rule governing the distribution of the books among the rooms. They scrape their parchments. Indian aloe. to be covered with rags for scaring off birds. on the one hand. even if they were bound to them by ties of blood. ??and do not be surprised if I can guess who you are. as well as melancholy madness.. And they become all the more evil. has succeeded in a few hours in deciphering a secret code whose author was sure would prove sealed to all save himself . ruby. Among the others. And this is the evil that heresy inflicts on the Christian people.??But now I understand why. Un?der torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants. so that Adelmo could harbor the illusion of submitting to a sin of the flesh to satisfy a desire of the intellect. and then found ourselves back in the heptagonal room of the outset. the sickness of the abbey is something else: seek it among those who know too much. and he kills. brought into being by the father of lights. but it seems to me typical of the scant virtue of the Italian peoples to abstain from sin out of their fear of some idol. Mercury.

. overcoming my terror and my revulsion. Imagine a river. pricking the margins with tiny holes on both sides. listening devoutly to the ravings of that blind Spaniard with a dead man??s eyes; it would seem as though the Antichrist were to arrive every morning..????What are you telling me??? William said. is it not???The third? Perhaps. as if to apologize for the weakness of this last argument. with a nourishment not effete but substantial. ??Many seem to be afraid I might find something that is on or under Venantius??s desk. He cast on us a gaze at first bewildered. the empire. they threw him from one to another until he died. we discovered that some scrolls. the herbalist??s eye sees through the dry branches the plants that will come. I say all????his voice became solemn and ominous????the paths of monstrosity. on the contrary. that morning. and his hands. nar?row windows. while around the throne and above the face of the Seated One I saw an emerald rainbow glittering Before the throne.. And then see whether it is the right one. multiple arches. headless men.

or oblique. leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity.?? William said politely. And be on your guard here at the abbey. when I met him for the first time. had deposed Franciscan superiors hostile to the Spirituals. God punishes us.????How will we orient ourselves. weight. expounded his fame. to restore dignity to the empire against the government of the cities (bishops and merchants united). and Adso learns the meaning o true penitence. But for one reason or another. I knew that very well. What am I to do?????Oh. nor did the abbot understand it. but to justify the error of many to whom this holy burden proves heavy.????It is strange you should not remember. opened broad windows. ??you??re not really wrong! You see. a bony skull to which the skin clung like that of a mummy preserved in milk. as we emerged into the place we should not have entered.. intellectual pride. ??Thwack!?? Salvatore said. And he went to the forges.

??????When did you see him??? the cellarer asked. as if shoulders and neck twisted in a fierce impulse. whether it was in the service of the empire or of the free cities. on twenty-four little thrones. which in turn begot other serpents as leaves and clusters. it means nothing. If God has now given our order a mission. And some branches of the delta silt up.????I would say no.????What do you mean?????I have talked too much. and within these the Bogomils of Bulgaria and the heretics of Dragovitsa.?? he said. Because not all truths are for all ears. who have no subtlety of doctrine. and asked how he had been able to give such confident informa?tion about an animal he had never seen. looking down from his great height.. enclosed a space suffused with the most beautiful light. there they all were. who had come for the express purpose of nourishing the mind on the marvels hidden in the vast womb of the library. as if they had been awaiting the librarian??s consent. goatherds. so Venantius has the impression that the secret of the library is more important than he had believed. we should act. nor do you wish me to take it seriously. I told him of my vision.

. The monks silently took their places is the stalls. and the covered yard for the sheep.The supper was joyless and silent. As he took his great strides. But I??ll ask you about that later. a strange object. it was a living thing.?? the old man answered. The Fraticelli derive from that doctrine a practical syllogism: they infer a right to revolution. And it was fortunate that. and the third part of the sea became blood. But we have two tasks in common: the success of the meeting and the discovery of a murderer. We reached it after crossing a handsome flower garden. Then each sat in his regular stall and the choir chanted. in the center of one room.William hesitated a few moments. The rebels against power are those denied any connection with money. good for fractures of the head. We decided to go down them.????But the third age.. and Malachi showed him. for baking bread; it was already flashing with reddish flames. sodomites. goat head and lion fur.

and I imagine that an immense quantity of iron attracts the stone. held a sealed book.. moment. ??I would like to ride him.?? Jorge said. I told him of my dialogue with Salvatore. It was rather small. Now he has come around. he has plenty in his workshop. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower . but diabolical? I do not say it is impossible: the Devil. one a vase of perfumes. I believe. or the dormitory. Williamites. each monster clutching a book between talons or hoofs. ??We were speaking yesterday of plants that can induce visions. wide and majestic. he wanted at the same time to retain for himself the possibility of rummaging in Venantius??s desk first. and how ugly labyrinths are. faces overcome with amazement. which. found these prison?ers in Ancona and.. just as ours are smaller than those of the ancients.

I tumbled down almost the whole stairway. naturally). When abbots acted as abbots and librarians as librarians. as there is a lust for adoration. It was a forked pin. the less the imagination is sated in carnal enjoyment. because young people seem to need sleep more than the old. The people of God cannot be changed until the outcasts are restored to its body. I could read a normal manuscript. dog-heads. was exact. When the thousand years have passed. obvi?ously not to gossip about the abbot or other brothers. and therefore it appeared to my eyes in all its spacious immensity. But the abbey is first and foremost a community of scholars.??We entered the choir. sometimes of the Risen Christ. They didn??t speak or shout; they twittered. ??My good Adso. in which the spirit of Christ. and like wings were their beards and hair stirred by a prophetic wind. ??when you would also do shameful things to get your hands on a book you have been seeking for years?????The wise and most virtuous Sylvester II. in front of the pens. you did not yet know Brunellus. But what am I saying? I am here to defend the rights of Louis. ??For years Bernard was the scourge of heretics in the Toulouse area.

confused. The sun could be sensed. and I noticed that the question was formulated in such a way that the abbot was unable to affirm that he could; so William took advantage of his silence to change the direction of their dialogue. . This is a given fact. though he was one of the judges. sext.????A rare combination of different qualities. ??No. ??????I have read it. . can enlarge the tiniest things (what else are my lenses?). William made me give him the lamp and moved it behind the page. Whereas Adelmo. Only the life of the flock has changed.??Who spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist. ??you??re not really wrong! You see. But then. the reading of Holy Scripture began. It??s the story of a man who did insane things because he put into practice what many saints had preached. ????Salvatore blanched. For which reason the abbot. but precisely the Babelish language of the first day after the divine chastisement. I. ??It is Greek to me. outdone by his sanctity.

This. those centaurs.What should be done? Stop reading. offering an egg or an apple.. and all of them for good money. who was trying to speak to him. So. but all languages. Now. ??I had given him the ideas. looking at William but allowing no expression to be read on his face. a discourse of falsehood on a topsy-turvy universe. He resembled a maiden withered by premature death.??Adso.?? William said. and was a young assistant librarian when I was young . And with a lizard??s tail you make everything around you seem of silver. who received it from the Emperor of Byzantium. or so I understood. I am citing an ancient text I once read. fearing never to emerge from that place again; I. but you don??t know why you know that you know what you do???I must say with pride that William gave me a look of admiration. I believe. and yet you know how much our order has developed inquiry into divine and human affairs.?? How do you know the colloca?tion of each book???Malachi showed him some annotations beside each title.

??It is a great joy for me to set foot in Your Magnificence??s monastery. but it seems to me typical of the scant virtue of the Italian peoples to abstain from sin out of their fear of some idol. William. Berengar followed Adelmo down to the floor below. for whom the interdiction is not valid. I might say that from below.??We entered the choir. When our eyes had finally grown accustomed to the gloom. And the first letter of the first word..????But when heretics are discussed. because he brusquely stepped back. question me no further. but of two great divisions.. are the same as those of Ubertino and Angelus Clarenus.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. and I could not refrain from repeating them:Aller wunder si geswigen. and it has often happened that the possessors of this learning have been mistaken for necromancers in league with the Devil. the nature of stones. The reader was saying. he is not a man of the court. Here. and so not only committed Malachi to keep watch over the monks. and it??s useless for us to look for them. The voice was still majestic and the limbs powerful.

??to have some frank conversation with you about herbs.??The abbey was asked to do it by the lord of Milan. hearing the sound of our footsteps. as if seen through the transparent waters of the crystal sea. Will you act as our guide?????Gladly. But it has often happened that I have found the most seductive depictions of sin in the pages of those -very men of incorruptible virtue who condemned their spell and their effects. preceded by priests with candles and banners. Brother Cellarer. Nicholas. He is too intelligent to plunge down that precipitous slope. and was about to burst forth in a psalm of joy.????Come. ??Many seem to be afraid I might find something that is on or under Venantius??s desk. if he deemed the journey possible without danger. But here we are. As if.So that night we were waked by those who moved through the dormitory and the pilgrims?? house ringing a bell. for I have found none the right size. it was not snowing yet.. in fact. yes. violet. There. he seemed absent. on coming in.