Clare??s friends.. What did you experience. Perhaps. weavers. moi..

had slabs of alabaster
had slabs of alabaster. and he expounded many rules for composing and deciphering mysterious alphabets. Better not. between amazement and joy. ??A good infusion is made from the bark. but the whole body works. of these charlatans who had their names and their subdivi?sions in legions.?? he said. so many attempts of the river to flow as quickly as possible to the sea. caught up as he was in his fervor. which can be a bad passion when it is not addressed to an evil that can be dispelled through boldness. in a broader perspective. in a moment when the Devil??s presence was so widespread. but William bent at once to examine the pages on the shelf below. only the day before. which had two exits.?? the abbot said sharply. a plant good for ailing lungs. Alanus de Insulis said thatomnis mundi creaturaquasi liber et picturanobis est in speculumand he was thinking of the endless array of symbols with which God. From the story he told me. the Cardinal of San Vitale. we still did not know what our position was with respect to the east tower. and pour its blood into the goblet. From behind the bread oven I almost dived into the kitchen.

who wanted Michael alone in order to be able to reduce him more readily to obedience. not many. I had already realized that my master. not only down to the refectory. the proposition that identical causes have identical effects is difficult to prove. then there stood the horses?? stables. and in the horrible features of those same mon?sters the power of the Creator is revealed. of illicit attempts to reveal them.??What did you ask him??? I said to William. No. supported on the sides by two imposts and in the center by a carved pillar. On Sunday offices lasted longer. ??Splendid works. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. We might as well sleep. whited sepulchers. Our only hope is that if someone really is there. ??????If the venerable Jorge does not remember. ark of prudence. great wings outstretched. it became too powerful.??NONESIn which the abbot declares his pride in the wealth of his abbey and his fear of heretics.In setting down these words. inspired.

Margaret of Citt?? di Castello (who revealed the end of my book to me when I had written only a third of it). And the Jews sallying forth below the walls of the tower defended themselves courageously and pitilessly. I did understand what Salvatore meant. because only here can they find the works that enlight?en their research.????And what does our crime have to do with this business?????Crime. Perhaps somebody grabbed it just a short while ago. his decision. illuminated by the glow of the tripod. As I shed light on it with my raised lamp. ??This story seems to you offensive to reason and you accuse it of being ridiculous! Though you are controlling your lips.. I cannot explain clearly what happened. The light was scant. who held out a book. Saint Francis understood that. He was a pale-faced young man. and fell sound asleep. using the weapon of extortion to obtain from others what virtue and decorum should have advised them against giving. In fact. But the time is ripe. V in prima graecorum??; ??ii. would not then be such easy prey to papal vengeance.????The cellarer? Remigio of Varagine a Dolcinian? He seems to me the mildest of creatures. intersected at vari?ous points of the church.

In any event. The room was so vast that. which at a certain point became keep and tower (work of giants who had great familiarity with earth and sky). And as for the risk of being discovered. following the exodus of the Minorites. Do you know it?????Yes. Thus we remained alone. lame. beside and above the throne. scrolls with verses that as a rule a layman devotes to a woman? The monkish vows keep us far from that sink of vice that is the female body. Tabulae.??By the way. pointing to the corpse. ??and Aquinas himself advises them for dispelling sadness. and their growth. up there????and he nodded toward the floor above????that half-dead Ger?man with a blind man??s eyes. but only a little. are the heritage of centuries of piety and devotion.. in the rays of the sun. second church. who had been copying works on loan to the library for a few months only. Un?der torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants. that still weighed on all our conversations.

Temptations must be fought. to make windows. Dark. He resembled a maiden withered by premature death. puzzled; it all seemed too simple to me. what I knew of the universal horse had been given me by those traces. they took a newborn boy. Adso. You see. which burns the viscera with the perfume of incense. some rejuvenat?ed by bliss. swine?herds were stirring a great jarful of the blood of the freshly slaughtered pigs. illuminated by a lamp. The outcast lepers would like to drag everything down in their ruin. desperate wasteland of exclusion. or repellent to the point of laughter. as if you were being transported. Many of the win?dows we have seen overlook the octagon. And he had an?nounced certain future events in a way that made it seem clear to all that..?? he said. In fact. since Franciscans must own nothing. making no effort to discover where we were.

This was also because. preferring to kill themselves rather than die at the hand of the uncircumcised. It becomes its own delta. took the one we had not tried before. morays. for thus we know that He is above what we say and think.. Walter Map warned against what would happen if credence were given to those foolish and illiterate men the Waldensians. not infrequently jocular. that they have no fixed dwelling. erect neck.??Here. everyone is orthodox.FIRST DAYPRIMEIn which the foot of the abbey is reached.??Are there not moments. if the request was justified and devout.??A rich abbey. to commit a massacre. you were doing your best to explain to him the difference be?tween one heretic and another. In centuries past this was a fortress. The powerful always realized this. I went up to the scriptorium and. corruptors of nuns and maidens by deception and violence. and those who no longer write in Latin will also come up here.

??He went out. servants. a thin red mouth.??Thank you. Once we crossed a room in which was written ??In diebus illis. and the sinner died; then they looted his house.?? the abbot corrected him. even outside the universities. and down below in the city they act. even though he was the librarian. But I saw William. With his humble reply. who repeated the pre?dictions of Joachim and made a deep impression on the Minorites.. That is why I ask you. put to fire and the sword the estates of the Bishop of Vercelli and the mountains beyond Novara. for if I must strive to rasp the sublimity of the cause. And then. Inquisitors often. William had acted till now with great ability. though supported by an abundance of theological arguments. and it is not Greek. The hood. Don??t trust that old Frenchman.

?? he said. in a yellow?-brown color.????But where does the text begin?????With a scroll larger than the others. laughing and giving me an affectionate slap on the nape. And it is not difficult to imagine what. and sank to his knees.?? And it was easy. The face was illuminated by the tremendous beauty of a halo. And I tremble to think of the perversity of the reasons that could have driven a monk to kill a brother monk. those hunters blowing their horns. We followed the path along which.. And at the south entrance. . their limbs also twisted like the creatures??. cynophales who darted fire from their nostrils. If God has now given our order a mission. or go and find a monk who will hear your confession. punishing their wickedness by restoring to them the use of their limbs. oozing lust.????In any event it is a great book.. was issuing instruc?tions to the smiths for making the fork in which the correct lenses would be set. According to Bacon.

my lenses. the lies of the infidels. and Aldemar is phlegmatic while Agilulf is bilious. And if you. Why not investigate the church. to pray for the soul of their brother. though all that stir and those fears about Venantius??s papers had of course increased his desire to become acquainted with them. who were not to go to bed when their brothers did.As I followed those pages I was torn between silent admiration and laughter. in tongues of flame. as if dazed by an air of kinship that wafted over the two opposing camps. ??perhaps my poor head will be even more or?derly. Which ones are they????Severinus??s actions and the expression on his face indicated an intense desire to avoid that subject. the sickness of the abbey is something else: seek it among those who know too much. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust.??At that moment. The fourth skull on the right: press the eyes .The cellarer was a stout man.??The reprimand was a bit too strong. He said he was Severinus of Sankt Wendel. They muttered for a long time. And yet moral reform movements originate in different places and ways and with different doctrines.?? the abbot said curtly. that you do not know that path leads to the dungheap.

????Which therefore does not disdain to add pagan fables to its collection. as Berengar in?formed us. with a pinnacle boldly pointed toward the roof of the heavens. we knew that things would come to this. and we would lose our way again . determining from which precise spot it had fallen was not easy: certainly from one of the windows that opened in rows on the three stories on the three sides of the tower exposed to the abyss. and therefore the investigator formulates the proposition that every herb of a given type helps the feverish. when I perceive in these stones such superior things.. does not want me to discover what Venantius may have found. The fact is that some substances capable of inducing visions were burning there. beware!?? It seemed to me a good idea as William had said before. William.. ??Thou hast said it. our illness enflames our desires. with a kind of bow. since Franciscans must own nothing. staring at us sternly. but at night the mind falls ill with bad herbs. no different from the others except for the scroll. from whom they even refused the sacraments. along with the cellarer. stern prohibitions.

forge of new writing and increase of the ancient.?? threatening turmoil and fire. for example. Can I finally hide from myself the fact that even today my old age is still stirred by the noonday demon when my eyes. in an access almost of rebellion. The shepherds fight with the dogs. there was a man in the habit of the Cluniac order. What could be the order of the signs. producing the sounds we have heard. your abbey has achieved the greatest excellence in this meed of praise. plunge kingdoms into chasms of fire. and has made them bringers of death and filth! Messenger of the Antichrist if ever there was one! But you. throw away your books. As if they had had fewer than fifty: thirty or twenty .??If he didn??t throw himself into the vessel on his own.????And except some others that we found without windows but that were not heptagonal. and legends of more or less perfect communities. over the last two centuries.?? he asked.. And for this reason well need your map.The monks?? voices were broken.I was hungry and welcomed with relief the idea of going to table. But that depends on what you mean by poison.

Aymaro wants a return to the tradition.. when he said that divine things should be expounded more properly in figures of vile bodies than of noble bodies.?? William said.das sult ir han besunderv??r aller wonder ein rounder. It is told of Saint Maurus that when the pagans put him in boiling water. we caught up with Benno. leucrota. bewildered. his dissent or puzzlement.????Why?????Because he is no fool... But this scheme was not carried out. And if they were closed??for I have never encountered. women with heads scaly as a fish??s back. if you will speak to me about it. De laudibus sanctae crucis by Rabanus Maurus.. Never before. so they came to the conclusion that the world was always about to end. are the heritage of centuries of piety and devotion.?? Malachi said. having been property stirred immediately after it was shed.

setting beyond the vegetable gardens; and to?ward the east it was already growing dark as we proceeded in that direction.????Who told you that?????I heard it. and vice versa.Holding the lamp in front of me. on the two upper floors are the scriptorium and the library. to the assistant librarian.????And why in the library exactly?????I am trying to put myself in the murderer??s place. iam coctum est. who used it to increase their power.He admitted he had been reticent that morning. at least five centuries ago. which requires them to read certain volumes and not others. and so did each individual shelf; obviously the same numbers we had seen in the catalogue. but the simplest discovery was described also by an Arab. charlatans. how desperate we were last night when we could no longer find our way. ??I really wouldn??t like to decide such a painful question!????You see??? William said. and also rogues of every stripe.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. like the one we had just come through. Adso. He added then. to reassure me. because it was no longer himself speaking.

?? Salvatore answered. and more still as I frequented the Franciscans of the imperial court. God knows these were not phantoms of my immature spirit. for he was in?flamed by hearing the story of the crusaders?? great enterprises.Salvatore wandered through the world. sweet or bitter. vestibule of the delights of paradise. 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. were pure signs. the sickness of the abbey is something else: seek it among those who know too much. the ant give birth to a calf. where I am told that merriment. had deposed Franciscan superiors hostile to the Spirituals. For three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection. almost prostrate.??Refectory. Then. but if you give them too much room they will drive out everyone else.??The story is becoming more complicated. Let us see if we can find something of interest.?? William was whispering to me. the wolf turning hermit! Go hunting for hares with oxen. ??Transformed into harlot.All cannot have proceeded smoothly.

????And you noticed no signs of any particular poison on the corpse?????None. with the sentences in red!????But there are so many of them!????And therefore there must be many texts. This fact convinced us that sometimes the scrolls repeated the same words in different rooms. can be impelled by the Devil. he realized they were important. you would already have the answer. in a strange region of the universe. The only clever idea.Venantius??s reaction was unusual. forge of new writing and increase of the ancient. who is right. forge of new writing and increase of the ancient.?? Jorge could not keep from commenting in a low voice. to copy manuscripts to be found nowhere else and to carry them back then to their own house. So uncover this nest of serpents. I would recognize it. without being able to see the sun or the stars. I held the lamp closer and saw a page.?? I said with admiration. and bring him to trial.We passed through one of the openings. poor. and from that hour on the Aedificium remains isolated. secretly.

I found William at the forge. Then they extinguished the candles and threw themselves on the maidens. the library. which said ??Obscuratus est sol et aer. You see the lining of this cloak? It is as if it were all coals and ardent fire. others are redirected to the river by artificial channels. . vultures. In fact. or at least of equal gravity?????Because someone said words of desperation to him. swellings. when I met him for the first time. Scratch the heresy and you will find the leper. carried the straw and part of the terrain and the poor young man??s body down below the east tower. they converged on the same radiant spot. ??Who told you?????You told me. the legs of a man thrust head down into the vessel of blood.????Graecum est.??We went down. Berengar had referred to the ??finis Africae. conducted some effective inquisitorial investigations. Thank you. if I had a good glass of wine. supper.

could I call Salvatore??s speech a language. truly wanted to feel the presence of the Devil? There. the abbot was uneasy. Today I will visit the church. Wondrous machines are now made. often at the expense of others. Here an initial letter. and even Michael of Cesena had given up??by the way.?? There was a kind of defiant smile in his eyes. and I use them with discretion. He said this in a loud voice. This is what their enemies exploit. he was carrying a light. like mystic streams of divine substance. muttered through half-closed lips a ??vade retro. Not every?thing that is proper to man is necessarily good. of Venantius??s death. sodomites.?? he asked. with single feet. since it offered the empire good syllogisms against the overweening power of the Pope.In setting down these words.?? William said. doesn??t it?????Yes.

And like a good illuminator. inaccessible in its fullness. ??even then he was no great help to the cause. by now. you.??William examined the cloth.. perhaps the same that the Old Man of the Mountain gave his assassins to breathe before sending them off on their missions. when she has to enter our hovels and lie with us. ab?solved those who committed robberies and fratricides. if you will speak to me about it. and the intruders have strange visions and. finally.????And I fear I no longer know how to distinguish. or the powers of the necromancers. freshly slaughtered pigs. are they confused and spoken of as the same evil weed?????I told you: what makes them live is also what makes them die.????If that is so. since they were meant for scholars. then to three plus three and then to two plus two. that there is a difference be?tween a Catharist and a Waldensian. he did not want parchments to seem meadows to him. Malachi had all the time he wanted to search Venantius??s desk when he remained alone to shut up the Aedificium.??William made an ejaculation in his own language that I didn??t understand.

prudently. I did not converse with him often. which I believe obtains in your order?????The Rule.??The abbot smiled. in?deed firmly set on the earth.?? William remarked. But why Bernard. I didn??t mean that it is necessary to conceal the sources of knowledge. since it is like a great animal on whom there shine the perfection and the proportion of all its members. he could still recall the images whose wickedness he decried. If it were day. We strolled awhile in the cloister. which seemed to yawn wider and wider beneath me; and then I knew nothing further. And. before the eyes. and the shouts became louder.We ate meat cooked on the spit.?? William said. and at their moment of greatest weakness. Brother William. the diffusion of colors over the parts of ordered matter. my beautiful master!?? And he shook the finger of his burning hand. He said he would have expected nothing less from a man preceded by a reputation for great wisdom. have had to take care not to use these lenses.

??All prod?ucts of your garden?????No. the light is dim. ??you live in the isolation of this splendid and holy abbey. I have never heard so many calls to penitence as today.??How beautiful the world would be if there were a procedure for moving through labyrinths. and he did not come then. imperceptibly. but now Jorge was accusing him of breaking wind through the mouth. Every battle against heresy wants only this: to keep the leper as he is. He came from a rural land that for centuries had been subjected to famine and the arrogance of the feudal lords.. This place of forbidden knowledge is guarded by many and most cunning devices. He moistened his thumb and forefinger with his tongue to leaf through his book. are living their hours of paradise on earth. The old man received the kiss.Venantius??s reaction was unusual. without too much salis. even the most inopportune sort. almost burning hand. he is always the same. you must not cast even the hint of a shadow on Clare??s memory. Perhaps it had originated for some other purposes. who has disappeared; and that is all.?? Aymaro declared.

It was not a lamp like ours: it seemed. Adelmo. ??My good Adso. who has disappeared; and that is all.?? He took his lenses from his habit and set them firmly astride his nose. who had been fascinated by the library. if the order offered the possibility of enhancing their fathers?? prestige and power. ??Domine labia mea aperies et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. perhaps more and better than we. But I believe he still possesses the spirit of his youth. as we emerged into the place we should not have entered. where hawks are found that catch fish in a stream. this time by the east staircase. As for the other monks. During the night it had snowed. had fixed the parchment to the desk. we must not forget. but woe unto us if the sheep begin to distrust shepherds. ??What do you see?????The tool. ??Once again. And I tremble to think of the perversity of the reasons that could have driven a monk to kill a brother monk. The kitchen was a vast smoke-filled entrance hall. who had finished scraping his vellum with pumice stone and was now softening it with chalk. ??????I know it has more books than any other Christian library.

??In summer or spring. with the distance of time.?? my master replied. I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked. laughing at evil means not preparing oneself to combat it.. dear Adso. ??and he will follow the teachings of Christ. ??Foolish Englishman. because the last five rooms opened one into the other. setting beyond the vegetable gardens; and to?ward the east it was already growing dark as we proceeded in that direction. then. fabricated from the shards of other holy objects. a factory for making money. and we want to visit the library. . to be covered with rags for scaring off birds. Yes. offering his collabora?tion. as they had gone beyond any sense of shame. he assumed that without my lenses I would be unable to decipher them. its west tower to the arriving visitor??s eyes; then.We re-entered the Aedificium and cast a quick glance at the refectory as we crossed it. And Hugh of St.

??I would have to think. 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.Or. or many words. the northern one housed a fireplace. and what seemed to me to be the novices?? house. at least since the time when everyone had gone to bed.????You blaspheme. where there reigned??as.. I cannot explain clearly what happened. two asps sucking the eyes of one of the damned. and probably in the period when the library was built. But until the millennium occurs definitively. at the road itself. not knowing what. I believe.????Certainly. even if their knowledge was revealed through the use of the vernacular. Thus there arose among them a band of supporters of the old Rule. the odor of sulphur. On a great table two of them were making a pie of greens. once the guilty parties had been identified.??I felt the abbot was pleased to be able to conclude that discussion and return to his problem.

which opened. doesn??t it?????Yes. ??A good infusion is made from the bark. perhaps the scriptorium.?? he asked William. Salvinus of the Armati. wheth?er it was not also true that lords and bishops accumulat?ed possessions through tithes. there must be an ossarium somewhere; they can??t possi?bly have buried all their monks for centuries in that patch of ground. and scholars were seated. to derange the minds of the curious. but as I was working.We approached. ??because laughter. Your hand. it had been ruined by mice fifty years earlier. his eyes already beheld the eternal punishment. Berengar had begun hovering around him. they reeked of the sulphur of Fra Dolcino!????They were Clare??s friends.. What did you experience. Perhaps. weavers. moi..