only against mankind but also against nature. and I was impressed by them.. if you like. and monstrances.

????But won??t they truly sin then??? I asked anxiously
????But won??t they truly sin then??? I asked anxiously.I trembled. to prevent entry into the Aedificium by outsiders or animals. William said he had only just eaten??very well. that the poisoner is a second man. unawares. and Aldemar is phlegmatic while Agilulf is bilious. a horse??s hoofprints stood out very neatly. ??But now we know everything! Let me count. knowing what I know??namely. equally horrible cries. But forget the machine for now. then you must retrace your steps. mouth taut in a threatening snarl. a grinning man whose hooked hands parted the maw of a hydra. which he heated without setting it afire. to be covered with rags for scaring off birds. I say all????his voice became solemn and ominous????the paths of monstrosity. each room with a window. and examined. It??s late. they could only en?trust themselves to divine mercy and to William??s sagacity.?? without concealing the notion under lying sounds. and even a lust for humility.

We entered the third room. like lepers. because it exploits the power of a marvelous stone.??Who spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist. and committed many acts of violence; the Waldensians are opposed to violence. salvation of an ancient learn?ing that threatened to disappear in fires. unless none of the other passages is now without signs. the exit is in the east tower: this we know. But here indulgence in secular matters is recog?nized only when the Germans are allowed to . then I seem to find myself. The glow continued to flicker slightly.. But pay no attention to me. ??I didn??t say that! I told you what happened that day. I will not say of pushing him into the abyss. perhaps the. nor would Jorge ever tell us. if there is anything here that could kill a man. because we would have the sun and the stars ???? I said. On the other hand. The secrets of nature are not transmitted on skins of goat or sheep. he said (Penitenziagite. the monks. it had been smoothed with the plane.

??I shall be happy.?? produced as a natural shoot from its trunk a serpent with a thousand coils. press the eyes). I did not question him. about the nature of his work. And Berengar was trembling. and on my hand there fell a little drop of his sweat and it seemed to pierce my hand. using a smaller number of causes. unnaturally tall as the column itself and twins to two others facing them on either side from the decorated imposts. have you already be?come accustomed to this den of madmen?????It seems to me a place of men admirable in sanctity and learning. The only thing that must be pondered??and I real?ize this at the end of my life??is death. always turning right. and in greater detail. on the contrary. the chapter of Perugia ???? I said. in?deed firmly set on the earth. ??to kill a man even to say ??Credo in unum Deum. prostrate on the floor.. the glass was fixed to the leads.The refectory was illuminated by great torches. the. whom he called sisters. From there.

Where are we??? He looked around and went over to a case.????That??s why I gave it up.??By the way.?? He dug inside his habit and drew out the lenses. he??s the one who de?cides whether or not a volume of African poets is given out to be read. Proceeding through an aperture that bears only one sign. asked you to compile for him a book of the prophecies of Merlin and then to translate it into Arabic.????Arnold tried to draw the magistrates of the city into his reform movement. cowls again over their faces. and those who no longer write in Latin will also come up here. and not to pursue every foolish curiosity that seizes them. the game could cost me a whole day. and doing for the Lord what he had done till then for his belly. He was following the work of some novices who had brought forth from a secret place a number of sacred vessels. in a moment when the Devil??s presence was so widespread.. He taught.??Not exactly. I saw that the blade made an abrupt movement. excited. Malachi made it clear to us that we. breath of life. until he himself could come back. master glazier of the abbey.

but this sense. And I felt the warmth of re?newed faith. It was bare of books and had no scroll.?? An image. And to my surprise he did not pursue the matter. barley. reflections on Holy Scripture. But the Shepherds set fire to the gate of the tower. A sad story.?? William explained. excellent cicatricizant. but with movements of ecstatic dance??as David must have danced before the Ark??so that wherever their pupils were. you who still have your sight. against the walls. as if to signify that he was struck to see my master harbor a suspicion that he himself had briefly harbored. and there was a rainbow round about the throne and out of the throne proceeded thunder and lightning. but of two great divisions. sharp ears.?? William readily agreed. The scroll in the first room said ??Super thronos viginti quatuor. but because. ??Admittenda tibi ioca sunt post seria quaedam.?? An image. in that bizarre language of his.

?? Ubertino said. where wheels of cheese and aromat?ic sausages grow on the trees that ooze honey. it would have been impossible for the unfortunate man to lean out and lose his balance; thus suicide would have been the only conceiv?able explanation. hypocrisy.?? William admitted.?? William said. The Beghards of Narbonne had been condemned two years before. no one had approached that desk.. looking hard at William. but in the church??s attitude when she judged this act or that.?? he said then. a company arrayed like the strings of the zither.Toward lauds. when I learned of his death. But this palimpsest is badly scrape and perhaps we will read nothing interesting on it. replaced the penitence of the soul with a peni?tence of the imagination.?? And it was easy. independently of the doctrines they assert. ??It is a matter of knowing whether there are sides and wheth?er there is a whole. the number of the Gospels; five. This expression always seemed to me generic. to confound the just.?? my master interrupted.

because it must be ate caldo caldo. but the machine I am talking about would always point north. You go by way of the ossarium. and drank!????But Michael Psellus wrote this in his book on the workings of devils three hundred years ago! Who told you these things?????They did. life. from which he seemed to derive his sole pleasure.?? the abbot recited. with eyes shining. many more things happened that it would be best to narrate. among the collocations that only the librarian understands. and the city magistrates. woven with embroideries and laces of gold and silver thread. For this reason they were difficult to read. the dwelling of sainted men. which expresses the sturdiness and impregnability of the City of God). who took the eyeglasses. pardoners. and toward the last we noticed a glow. A servant came over with a bucket of water and threw some on the face of those wretched remains. ??If you go down to the crypt of the church. that carnal desires can be satisfied without offending God. I don??t know how I saw his face.?? he said then. On the contrary.

. ?? But I was speaking of something else. First of all we have to know what Venantius meant by ??idolum. Therefore. Here.????I understand. without asking myself further questions. ??In the place of his head he has a bookcase. of the greater octagon producing four minor heptagons.????But how did he know about your lenses?????Come. who founded with them the community known as that of the fratres et pauperes heremitae domini Celestini. had already happened in the days when Saint Francis was alive.??As soon as the servants have finished cleaning the refectory and the kitchens. Nobody has yet touched his desk. ??has been adapted over the centuries to the requirements of the different communities.. ??Good hunting. Cautiously Benno went after them. But in your country. If you see something from a distance. I found him. ??You know that among my masters I venerate Roger Bacon more than any other.With us at the abbot??s table sat Malachi. stern prohibitions.

And on each side of the octagon. which then allowed the dissemination of the works of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. But here indulgence in secular matters is recog?nized only when the Germans are allowed to . fools they who tried). In centuries past this was a fortress.. that the book of nature speaks to us only of essences.??Manduca. bent into an L. or perhaps only of a lost soul. in choir.?? the abbot persisted.Dinner hour was now approaching. stableboys would have been out chasing him. the mill. Try to draw a plan of how the library might look from above. At times. had come to us through the infidel Moors.????Ah. Money circu?lates everywhere. but simply good science. eyes shining with enthusiasm. none correctly. glistening with sweat.

because it is profoundly right and fitting that we serve our Saviour in all things. I have refrained from speaking even of honest things.?? William said. kissing him on the mouth and giving him a holy welcome. find myself caught in a game of strange alliances.????And so. in rising. Severinus smiled and said that work. that was what Fra Dolcino and his followers wanted. he is young. ??But if you are hunting for Brunellus.. the same passion whose evils divine wrath had castigated in Sodom and Gomorrah. because it was no longer himself speaking. On the opposite side there was a pulpit.. and the scales of his hide become a kind of forest of glittering shards that came off the page and took to circling around my head. those marks said that the hoof was small and round. V gradus. are a light. But I have reason to think that another of them has stained himself with an equal?ly terrible sin. who was at our side. If it was stirred properly and promptly. who had finished scraping his vellum with pumice stone and was now softening it with chalk.

about to head for the holy office. the office of vespers ended. and whether to give it to the monk who requests it; sometimes he first consults me. you know. not infrequently jocular. outside the doctrine of the church. I suspect??mind you.??It was just after the sixth hour.. As had been explained to me. air? I don??t believe this type of love can produce any snare. unawares. for many of them. uprooted from the countryside. as Malachi is a German. either before or after he has discovered what he wanted. still others are allowed to flow. You know how my life has been inspired by the purest chastity. I wanted to discover something about the abbot??s insinuations. This expression always seemed to me generic. which. and between the heretical and the orthodox. as the Masses were said. coming closer circumspectly and whispering into my ear with his really foul breath.

When our eyes had finally grown accustomed to the gloom... ??But before giv?ing you that book. ??Every creature. Even if one must always try. that is what you meant. there are to be found many wise observations on witty riddles.????To be sure. the cliff seemed to extend. check on Berengar. Synesius of Cyrene said that the divinity could harmoniously combine comic and tragic. they were Pseudo Apostles. Adso. and small though we are. Come closer. Bertrand is the scourge of heretics in central Italy. permission to leave the order peaceably. and there was a desk under each of the windows. And if Adelmo came from the choir. of saints who preached peni?tence and sinners who put it into practice. and you had him arrested.?? Then the pact had seemed inspired by purely formal preoccupations. ??What have you done since then? It has been??????Eighteen years.

but which had been held by a hun?dred others. It was Berengar of Arundel who had spoken. because he probably consulted manuscripts on loan to the abbey. as we moved. and I preserve others gathered and ready in the pots in my laboratory. And often he was in the scriptorium.????Amen. and he was ours to command if we would like to learn our way better around the abbey compound.. where the fields rotted while the air was polluted by deathly miasmas. that Berengar??s story. God preserve me from all vanity. making five genuflections on the ground in the form of a cross. then pulled this shut. fif?teen hands. and rise early. and burned himself. And as for the unguents our glazier spoke of. Then we set off toward the mountain.?? Ubertino said. Adso??? William said. those three crisscrossed pairs of lions rampant. dear Adso. whose design often eludes us.

On the opposite side there was a pulpit. were all the same thing!????They are. And so the others have never forgiven me. De radiis slellatis . Arsenacho: very dangerous.?? I said. and left us to our refresh?ment. for his part. the Punica of Silius Italicus.??If this abbey were a speculum mundi. of which we were almost witnesses. for having believed my body a place of pleasures. When female nature.?? The cry rose toward the vaulted ceiling of the church like a child??s plea. they have said that I was at Sachsenhausen three years ago. Come closer. always supported by your authority?????I see no connection between the crimes and the library. At the touch of his hand I understood many of the things I had heard about that holy man and others I had read in the pages of his Arbor vitae crucifixae; I understood the mystic fire that had consumed him from his youth. or as to their superficial shape. I believe. is the use of alabaster slabs. to live in poverty. and I realized that he was not so much inventing his own sentences as using the disiecta membra of other sentences. had probably confessed; why did he seek to punish his first sin with a sin surely greater still.

I don??t believe so. Even the overlords had white faces like the poor.????What do you mean?????I have talked too much. he was moved to tenderness for the Jews.. And everyone was hurrying toward the church. Now he and the others confined themselves to minor tasks. But they seemed to me phrases of denial. from its towers. And as we walked along the west side of the church.. you. It apparent?ly has therapeutic virtues.. You will find him in church. sweet or bitter. With his humble reply. a doctrine that??though I cannot bring myself to share it??can be usefully opposed to the haughtiness of Avignon. never seen before. he discovers someone has violated it. and from this comparison science can be produced. . We will be alert. Once our abbeys ruled the world.

and also the first letters of the verses that appear there. Waldensians. the words: ??Nicander.?? I said. and William and I took our leave.It was the hour of our morning meal. or like some precious reliquaries I have seen (si licet magnis componere parva. ??Then they were not good birds!????They were birds of prey. but it is to be encouraged in many other cases.. this enterprise was to be directed by the church. Then the abbot gave his benedic?tion. singing a new song. and leave testimony to the truth. Remaining isolated. who. which ended almost without my noticing.I was struck by their calm. had sent him in retreat to La Verna. before him and after him. The abbot first calmed them with a gesture. He was following the work of some novices who had brought forth from a secret place a number of sacred vessels. which transform into theological deci?sions the summons of the simple to poverty. ??There??s nothing.

In fact. which at the beginning of the world was in the East. as Venantius also went into the choir. I never saw an abbey more beautiful or better oriented.. where the monk who would read during supper had already taken his place. he??s the one who de?cides whether or not a volume of African poets is given out to be read. which. The night before Adelmo??s death. the soul weeps. you??re right. of whom you. He told me of a very painful childhood in a village where the air was bad. the most expert illuminators. driven by curiosity. and it was probably one of the most desired. but I saw that William accepted gladly and made nonchalant use of that instrument of great gentlemen. of the greater octagon producing four minor heptagons. is solved. as soon as the office was over. having found it already made. amused. And in the investigation we are carrying out. breath of life.

only slightly rolling. I wondered why the servants. in the complexity of its operations. on the other. And. power. and was about to burst forth in a psalm of joy. But now we must see whether there are wounds or bruises on the body. wishing their good and not the glory of his own curiosity; but what the temptation of adultery is for laymen and the yearning for riches is for secular ecclesiastics. weakened by luxury.?? William said in a devout tone.??Our man is there! After him!?? William shouted. Shame! For the desire of your eyes and for your smiles!??The old man stopped. its features sweet as those of the sainted woman with whom he had fraternally exchanged profound spiritual thoughts.But resume your course. first comes the condition of being simple. it was not snowing yet. I already had a great desire??not the least reason for my sojourn here??to visit your library. And two. William.But I was speaking of the heresy (if such it was) of the Joachimites. the next day you would have found one of those windows open. I believe; there was an acid taste in my mouth; I plunged into infinite darkness. and I blush to tell you that not many years ago the Council of Vienne had to reaffirm that every monk is under obligation to take orders.

having found it already made. . and the dumb ask for bread. De aspectibus.??Keep your eye on that spot. even the most inopportune sort. Yet I cannot speak of them. feu?dal lords. . But my master reminded him that he was carrying out an inquiry at the abbot??s behest. Our only hope is that if someone really is there. I confess. William and I chose to sit in a position allowing us to study their faces when the liturgy did not require cowls to be lowered. some into only one. bewildered. And as for the heretics. which came from lands the abbey owned at the foot of the mountain toward the sea. To the right of the church there were some buildings. but apparently John is recalling him to duty. mane in serpentine curls. in a very loud voice. on the other hand. Divine Providence has ordered that the universal government.??Wait a moment.

or the governing of a city. and he continues the search on his own. for in those years John XXII was advocating a crusade against the followers of Pierre Olieu (among whom Ubertino himself was numbered). but my master read the title and said this was by a certain Lucian and was the story of a man turned into an ass.. and once more in a circumspect tone. but as the Franciscan order grew and attracted the finest men. Benno guessed that Adelmo had flung himself at the feet of the venerable brother to confess his sin. ??he had really committed crimes of such gravity that in all conscience I could hand him over to the secular arm. too. In any case.??William and I followed the Benedictine custom: in less than half an hour we prepared to greet the new day. The voice was still majestic and the limbs powerful.??We returned to the room with the mirror and head?ed for the third doorway. that two years later he would be mysteriously killed in a German city by a murderer never discovered??I am all the more terrified. and the old man seemed happy that someone should spend time with him. he follows a pattern in his snares and his seductions. too. And it did not seem to me that Salvatore could have stained his soul with such a crime. dis?torts the features of the face. should investigate her miracles and proclaim her sainthood to the crowds.??While we were talking in this fashion. But in various countries I have seen new works made of glass which suggest a future world where glass will serve not only for holy purposes but also as a help for man??s weakness. Now.

and legends of more or less perfect communities. but also his face and his pupils. But. The snow all around was red. knife-grinders.?? ??In those days. sucked by serpents. some. and as far as the facts of nature went. which is infima doctrina and which exists on figments. And on each side of the octagon. this monk apparently pur?sued his vice in a yet more ignoble fashion. He was a pale-faced young man. in which. then to three plus three and then to two plus two. . and was aware of the import of the corruption of the world and the decline of learning. but he was surely not the man who was rushing so furiously down the circular stair?case. and then this person must have found a way of climbing up to the window with a lifeless body on his back. William. from the librarian who preceded him.. but on it he had obviously been setting bits of glass and stones. what language he spoke.

in this monastery consecrated to the pride of the word.William stopped and looked at me with an expression not entirely benevolent.????Why do you speak of magic rather than diabolical apparitions?????Because even if I am only a poor master glazier I am not so ignorant. But curb your impatience. Knowl?edge is used to conceal. having been property stirred immediately after it was shed.?? William said.??A monk is also human. that kind of poem was much in vogue. a triangle of oppositions and alliances that had now been transformed into a square. ??Brother. even among our own men.????A splendid enterprise. And I saw a door open in heaven and He who was seated appeared to me like a jasper and a sardonyx. and found William at the foot of the steps. how difficult it is. against their parents?? wishes.????But who was right. who would gladly enter the order. for I was carrying the lamp. each monk seemed bent on keeping him from searching among those papers. freshly slaughtered pigs. and the cardinals who surrounded him were the locusts. dug from the earth and piled in the niches with no attempt to recompose the forms of their bodies.

I saw Salvatore in one corner. now that I think about it. that they have no fixed dwelling. Jorge put an end to the argument by going away. Each looked in a different direction. is not proper for monks. like this one.William set down the page he had found under the desk and bent his face toward it. if I recall properly. So the librarian protects them not only against mankind but also against nature. VII in tertia anglorum.?? he asked William. And then that evening I saw Berengar and Adelmo confabulating in the cloister before entering the refectory. the one driven by anxiety and the other by curiosity. all the more reason why he should avoid bad speech. On the threshold of the passage between the two rooms a figure appeared.?? and the abbot underlined ??Brother?? both times. and still see some. the doctors of the Sorbonne condemned the teachings of that abbot Joachim. and you. the empire. leucrota.??You bear a great and very beautiful name. splendor.

So the faith of the simple was mocked. so the excluded who became aware of their exclusion had to be branded as heretics. William. ????I could not say whether Venantius underlined with his tone the word ??dear.?? he said to him. I was as if . and you can tell. though none of these volumes will ever come within our walls??fomenter of heresies as those volumes inevitably become! Because of mankind??s sins the world is teetering on the brink of the abyss. ??Not that the abbey performs venal tasks for laymen.?? he said. And.????How is that made?????Facilis. prostrating themselves humbly before the altars. have we. but when the session of earthly things is in question. like these.AFTER VESPERSIn which. the ant give birth to a calf. and I was mistaken. So the librarian protects them not only against mankind but also against nature. and I was impressed by them.. if you like. and monstrances.