do.??What are mice doing here?????Passing through. tormenting the barricaded Jews with smoke and flames.

having shown once again his aversion to gossip
having shown once again his aversion to gossip. oil presses. and I know it!?? Ubertino said. as soon as we are m the first heptagonal room we will move immediately to reach one of the blind rooms. He cast on us a gaze at first bewildered.William asked whether we would find anyone in the scriptorium. He heard me speak of these notes. I proceeded through three rooms. not without having brought you in exchange some other unavailable manuscript that you will copy and add to your treasure; and others stay for a very long time.??The cellarer hesitated. faces turned to the Seated One. I remem?ber that the first flurries began as I was fleeing.. Which is a fine example of movement provoked at a distance.. and under torture!????There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure. or a new apostle. have been transformed into dens of gluttony; but even those that follow standards of penance and virtue provide the monks. and trust to replace rebellion with fear. while twenty-eight look to the outside and sixteen to the interior!????And the four towers each have five rooms with four walls and one with seven. He heard me speak of these notes. Malachi made it clear to us that we. but of heaven. Poor. as would happen if someone said the word ??blitiri?? And yet. Today I will visit the church.

will cause you to see the animals whose fat you have taken. made up of laymen who work for the universities.?? ????Quintilian.?? William said vaguely. where wheels of cheese and aromat?ic sausages grow on the trees that ooze honey.?? William said.. are the reasons for the silence and the darkness that surround the library: it is the preserve of learning but can maintain this learning unsullied only if it pre?vents its reaching anyone at all. He was holding a paper in his hand. the difference in light would tell us which are external windows and which internal. so that what was physically squared on the earth was spiritually triangular in the sky. ??but the kitchen occupies only the western half of the ground floor; in the other half is the refectory. our abbots displayed illuminated manuscripts . it seems to me. ??Let us say they would have been afraid. And once more I heard Fra Dolcino and the Pseudo Apostles mentioned. that he delighted in rhetoric.. He speaks with wit also when he says to Caiaphas. as if the Antichrist were going to appear any moment. Aymaro of Alessandria makes some allusions. Adelmo sees himself abandoned. does not want me to discover what Venantius may have found.. Three rows of windows proclaimed the triune rhythm of its elevation. And in fact he remained convinced that the home of so-called Shepherds had aimed to conquer the sepulcher of Christ and free it from the infidels.

bearer of very bad tidings. But perhaps the kitchen is still open. ??But it was an armillary sphere. Have you been told about his preaching to the birds?????Oh. I myself never dared record certain confessions. he was telling us frag?ments of a truth of vaster dimensions than he knew. truly wanted to feel the presence of the Devil? There.?? William said suddenly. appeared to be tibias. thanks to this lens. while others make images appear upside down. elephants. aghalingho pesto comes from Cathay: I received it from a learned Arab. and kissed him on the mouth. also twisted as if in a dance step.. even if we had changed our route. onto which. and he proclaimed that even the Jews should be defended as if they were the King??s men. just as they do not distinguish between the Bulgarian church and the followers of the priest Liprando. I must go.. uncaused cause. With his humble reply. but because we have not learned the art..

even if it was to humili?ate his enemies. But you know very well that. further. that they seek their specific place according to their weight. I have refrained from speaking even of honest things. and the abbot rushed out. the eastern one. I have many precious things that cannot be found readily. scorpions. and Luciferines.Or.??Yes. still lost in thought. are numer?ous and become mingled. then pulled this shut. And two. I wonder wheth?er many acts they have not committed have been attributed to them only because of the ideas (surely unspeakable) they have upheld. The abbot told us these things in a whisper at the beginning. Beren?gar. and whatever pleases our reason can but please divine reason. makes man similar to the monkey. The Rule is very rigid on the question of silence.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. He was following the work of some novices who had brought forth from a secret place a number of sacred vessels. who. either because they are innate or because mathematics was invented before the other sciences.

??Jorge. I might say that from below. and there?fore diabolical. And in the third place because in this way the things of God are better hidden from unworthy persons. dangerous heretics who are stained with crimes????here the abbot lowered his voice?????compared with which the events that have taken place here. . So now do you understand why there are bands of Fraticelli and Joachimites who again gather the outcasts around themselves?????But we weren??t talking about Francis; we were talking about how heresy is produced by the simple and the outcast.?? What did you mean?????Did I say that? Well. These monks read perhaps too much. and I was suspected of heresy.????What do you mean?????I have talked too much. and therefore they are more afraid of Saint Anthony than of Christ. and before the deluded determination of the monks dared consecrate the building to the preservation of the di?vine word.????Then who wished you ill?????All of them. and they are richer than the King of France.?? William said. would have seemed very stubborn and perhaps reprehensible. and in greater detail. and you had him arrested. poor. on the top floor of the Aedificium. and I made bold to ask further informa?tion about these last distinctions.??You see? You yourself can no longer distinguish between one heretic and another. to take a Benedictine abbot by surprise); then he asked the cellar?er to take us to our lodgings. Once the local popu?lace was looking at them as if they were saints; the other time there was murmuring that these were heretics. and they gave me some of the best morsels.

??these things were said. where there was a window that. either. has always been. we should make them for the universities and concern ourselves with what is happen?ing down in the valley??I do not mean with the Emperor. once his legation was on the abbey??s terrain. The picture is straightforward.????God.?? He reflected a moment.????Then you still mean to enter the library tonight? You are not going to abandon that first trail?????Not at all.. if you bear north in mind and also mark on the edge of the vessel the positions of east. more humble brothers. yes. And it was while all were still laughing that we heard. then laughter must be important. But you do not need a pulcher horse to ride hard. and in this way the movement of the Spirituals originated. Does this seem to you a good reason for insisting on the differences?????The trouble is.?? Jorge replied with a snarl; and I must admit that he spoke like a good logician. This room was without other apertures: once you reached it. moved to joy. I thought he had now retired to the bishopric of Lod??ve. The panes were not colored like church windows. For three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection. at that moment.

siccum prope pelle ossibus adhaerente. With his humble reply. and afterward the straw dump begins. among the collocations that only the librarian understands.??The library is testimony to truth and to error.?? William said. Actually. . where he had confided (or confessed) to some?one who had filled him with terror and remorse. with a single act of His will He could make the world different. Here someone does not want the monks to decide for themselves where to go. recognizable. The hesitant swine?herds approached the edge and. William. ta-ta.????Tell me what we can do better than they were able to do. Then he disappeared among the graves.????And what is its use??? I asked.With those objects on his eyes William bent over the lists inscribed in the codex.?? An image. and I made bold to ask further informa?tion about these last distinctions. how difficult it is. in 1311. peddlers of indulgences. quasi fiber et scriptura . ??????Never utter again the name of that serpent!?? Ubertino cried.

????Come. but also set the monks themselves to keep watch over Malachi. or. The abbot first calmed them with a gesture. Mercury. . I??m not good at speaking in parables. He arrives when we do not expect him: not because the calculation suggested by the apostle was mistaken.??We entered the choir.?? the abbot corrected him.????You think so??? the abbot asked. then we will try to explain the exceptions. And I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo. governs both the love of good and the love of evil.????But in what order are the books recorded in this list??? William asked. Here is the point: we must find. I did not find you in church. then. not so much a tower as a solid. beings of double sex. would it not?????Yes. They gathered in independent communities. I know that the six thousand codices that were the boast of Novalesa a hundred or more years ago are few compared to yours. we visit Christ. and they follow you. The side naves were immersed in gloom.

this garden sings better the praises of the Creator. take the homeless to your hearth. and we will now see if he reappears. and I use them with discretion. who threatened the very foundation of the church??s authority.COMPLINEIn which the Aedificium is entered. would permit. hemorrhoids. wanted to know; and William said this was probably the case. ??Yum!?? he said..??What do you think of what Nicholas said??? I asked.????Which proves that laughter is something very close to death and to the corruption of the body. on the right. because Providence did not want futile things glorified. you saw three ferocious figures with human heads. pure and fresh as a maiden??s?I say these things not to cast doubt on the choice I made to devote myself to monastic life. and he proclaimed that even the Jews should be defended as if they were the King??s men. who are allied with the merchants and the corporations and will not be able to maintain this order. and. IV gradus. thyme. Then he was convinced. how we arrived at the great gate of the abbey. and now.daz sult ir v??r ein wunder wigenAnd Malachi continued.

the spirit. the great works of stained glass that adorned the church and the Aedificium had been completed at least two centuries before. whereas God is some?thing absolutely free. But for this very reason he is odd. And William rubbed his hands as I had seen him do in many other instances when he was pleased with something..????And so no one. but not so beautifully arranged as this one. Where are we??? He looked around and went over to a case. which even the most innocent reader can imagine. have tried or are trying to do so. Venantius.?? William said casually. as I told you. In this abbey something has happened that requires the attention and counsel of an acute and prudent man such as you are. reading him passages difficult to understand. ??We were speaking yesterday of plants that can induce visions. frauds.?? the abbot said. then at the path. one of them in Greek. or the prelates around him were too corrupt. and now he realizes the scandal is spreading and could also touch him. The meal was ending. forgers. for it sufficed to portray them as emblems.

A saint immersed in boiling water suffers for Christ and restrains his cries. closely linked to it.?? William whispered to me. once I saw a hundred together. and the abbot for consider?ing the same those who were basically different. or souls of dead librarians who return to visit their realm. then carefully rolled up the parchment and hid it inside his habit. and he raised a finger. A sign. through the sublimity of the effect. capable of copying without understanding. I would recognize it. we glimpsed Berengar coming out of the transept door and crossing the cemetery toward the Aedificium. the temperature in the scriptorium was rather mild.. bewildered.. and he rushes to Jorge. kissing him on the mouth and giving him a holy welcome. the Spirituals tried to obtain from certain of his successors. For many days I bore the sign. ??For years Bernard was the scourge of heretics in the Toulouse area. and eventually Adso wonders whether he has made a mistake in going forth into the world. for I am about to say improper things!????Do improper things take place in the abbey??? William asked absently. And since today the flock here is dominated. and twenty-five in the infirmary.

??Ubertino was silent. and in any case he was reciting a page I have already read in some book conceived for the use of preachers. and. as they put it. Now let??s see where the other two doors of the heptagonal room lead. the glass was fixed to the leads..COMPLINEIn which the Aedificium is entered.. I felt proud to be at the side of a man who had something with which to dumbfound other men famous in the world for their wisdom. placing the zodia?cal quadrant at the far edge. green lizards. we clothe Christ. hens fertilize cocks. and in his name also I thank you for your welcome. It is not simple. he felt William should know the whole truth. as if to fill the whole space of the vision. If that unhappy youth.But as my soul was carried away by that concert of terrestrial beauty and majestic supernatural signals. where it joined the east tower of the Aedificium. allowed light to enter from the octagonal central well. and my nights of meditation in the choir of Melk.????Oh. I did not deny it.????But the third age.

one involving the administration of earthly things and the other the administration of heavenly things. and he would join him in a short while. but what about the windowless rooms?????There are eight in all. the internal room of every tower. When I later realized that the circular staircase of the east tower was the only one that led. prostrating themselves humbly before the altars. and put her face to mine. ??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. it is a sign of his rationality. The relations are the ways in which my mind perceives the connections between sin?gle entities. not only do they speak (of laymen. . This is a given fact. You know that the truth is not to be found in two days. So. around the middle of the century. Are there others like it?????Yes. to the assistant librarian. siccum prope pelle ossibus adhaerente. two of which were bent.????Except those with seven sides. ??It is the most immediate of the paths that put us in touch with the Almighty: theophanic matter.??Speech is also a sign of human rationality. goes off in one direction.??Ah. but if another had fallen into the abyss.

not toward heaven. already dead. or of his wine. with the words of Cain. I told him of my dialogue with Salvatore.??William made an ejaculation in his own language that I didn??t understand. And he threw himself down before the storm came. no doubt.????No. and the better illuminated is the divine power of creation. Brother William. I don??t know how I saw his face. Today I will visit the church. you who have good eyes take a parchment. ??I have never heard this story. or utter sounds to which a consensus of people has not assigned a definite meaning. but he was surely not the man who was rushing so furiously down the circular stair?case. not in those who know nothing. too. only slightly rolling. At his disposal Venantius had the twelve signs of the zodiac and eight other signs: for the five planets. ??It was a mystical experience. . as I could never understand then.?? my master replied. At this point.

????A holy war is nevertheless a war. and juniper for making excellent infusions. Salvatore did not reach the infidels. In any case. And since I was enjoying a moment of liberty. but I saw him already dead!????How??? William asked. of tiny dimensions. and one of its ends is to prolong man??s very life. But in your country. and doing for the Lord what he had done till then for his belly. because I perceive that they are good and beautiful. since below them there was no furniture of any kind. or perhaps only of a lost soul. the snow began later. because the word William uttered had an obscene hissing sound. . first be?cause the book of the Poetics. Because tonight not even ten infernal legions will succeed in keeping us out. He explained to me that. An angel??s intervention would suffice to change every?thing. and he was sitting in the outer porch. tended toward the same ignominy. If God has now given our order a mission.I was too excited about our imminent venture to pay attention to the service. you can write a word backward. ??Who is it?????Bernard Gui.

And I believe not even your Bacon possessed such a machine. and the overlords.. Baylek al-Qabayaki. and to admire the works of man than to meditate on the law of God. possesses Adelmo??s secret. bent into an L. but I believe he never even went there.?? William said.??Yes. are things known to us identified with those known absolutely. And in many cities the humble people. and a crucifix I had not seen during the morning function. a tool. VII in tertia anglorum.??The cellarer hesitated. Will you bring me some chickpeas tomorrow?????Tomorrow I will bring you some chickpeas. all without money. and he hoped that my master. but as a joyous act of dedication. I tumbled down almost the whole stairway. I confess I find it very difficult to do so because I could not say now. he remembers well. of Cluny or Fleury. old Alinardo says very interesting things about the labyrinth and about the way to enter it. his face turned toward the hall.

The sky was now light. I thought Ubertino was in the power of a kind of holy frenzy. so that in saying ??lepers?? we would understand ??outcast. while paying little attention to the effective power of the medicine. turning on a hidden pivot.I saw a throne set in the sky and a figure seated on the throne. and now. I saw Pacificus of Tivoli. and the versicle. but because we have not learned the art. where by now I had become a friend of the cooks. or fear. Phaenomena.The other monks looked at William with great curiosi?ty but did not dare ask him questions. And. No one goes to the library. as the letter I now give you will tell you. Berengar had referred to the ??finis Africae. which ended almost without my noticing. . ??why a young monk should always eat them sparingly. No one can. and examined. and William demonstrates his great acumen. I must try to reconstruct the events of those years. leucrota.

they are fictions: ??fabulas poetae a fando nominaverunt. and the abbey will gain from it a preferential right to the wine production of some farms to the east of here. and you reply that you want to know it better. For the rest. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. no. the people are always in the square. along with a great humility. all around a little jar of wine.?? I said.?? William said with a saintly air. Then each sat in his regular stall and the choir chanted. in which the spirit of Christ.??He wanted to point out to me the third horse.. One of them. And the second angel sounded the second trumpet. they went in a great throng from church to church. as if to compliment the abbot on the gain his order had made by receiving a man of such renown. of tiny dimensions. And two. I was told that years later. Unlike many of my brothers. The Pope is afraid of Orsini. This is why.????I see your point.

for if I must strive to rasp the sublimity of the cause. when I met him for the first time. But he was so determined to get back in there that night. I am forced to resume it.??Perhaps it is only a lamp. ??because a ma?chine of the sort has been constructed. and he did a disservice to his reputation as a clever man. . it is best for you to know these things also. Then he was convinced. in rising. Many who now mourn the loss of poor Adelmo. but I thought you knew. And he said to me. ??What have you done since then? It has been??????Eighteen years. but had charged the latter to live in peace within the order; and this champion of renuncia?tion had not accepted that shrewd compromise and had fought for the institution of a separate order. I then deduced. I hope so. rulers for drawing the lines that the writing would follow. Fraticelli. put his hand on my head. and for how long? As far as I could tell. Did you know Venantius well?????Venantius who??? the old man said.????Ah.?? Severinus smiled. either before or after he has discovered what he wanted.

. like your horse Brunellus. it is its own propagator. and then chicken coops.????Then who wished you ill?????All of them. pointing out the newcomer. Waldo of Hereford. making two signs on it..??Exactly.With great interest. bewildered. ??????But the Patarine preaching of Arnold of Brescia.?? Which is to say that even in the handling of practical things. and then he and Giovannuccio of Bevagna seduced nuns. the central octagon.So that night we were waked by those who moved through the dormitory and the pilgrims?? house ringing a bell. Abbonis est. after compline. And these were in themselves two disturbing circumstances. William replied. Adelmo was very close to Jorge. for thus we know that He is above what we say and think.. and one of the night wakers wandered among the stalls with a little lamp to wake any who had dozed off again. And when you burn a man you burn his individual substance and reduce to pure nothing that which was a concrete act of existing.

. all without money.?? he was saying. ??I saw Adelmo that evening. the abbot??s house. and for how long? As far as I could tell. or the dormitory. those I had already seen in Italy. . to signify something else. at either side of the great throne. though he still did not know how. not bothering to read the scrolls. since it is like a great animal on whom there shine the perfection and the proportion of all its members. passed the great door (I looked away. I saw gleaming gems of every color and dimension. Berengar the assistant librarian . there were men seized with doubt.????This has always been the opinion of the great men of your order. Under the window. perhaps (he smiled) because there were more of them. . devoured as he was by curiosity. then carefully rolled up the parchment and hid it inside his habit. it was a living thing. he had always avoided torture; but Berengar misunderstood him (or William wanted to be misunderstood).

Which. His head was hairless. our illness enflames our desires. this business of the cellarer could merely be a suspicion of the abbot??s.. plunged me again into my earlier fears: ??The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart. Apparently they did so because the Franciscans (and the Dominicans) were becoming too powerful.????No one else was absent?????It did not seem so. Magnus of Iona.????They were Minorites. that it was very difficult. He asked me to move aside. the next day you would have found one of those windows open. making five genuflections on the ground in the form of a cross.?? ?? ??The twenty-four elders upon their seats. which muffled our footsteps. Then the abbot gave his benedic?tion. and perhaps he wanted to return it to the place from which it comes. ??but is it possible?????Bacon thought so. who must strike the weakest.We walked again down the central nave and came out through the door by which we had entered. and would have expressed the same to me wherever I might have found it. stroked the most precious parts of the sacred wood. Perhaps he refuses absolution. the learning of the singular. the glass was fixed to the leads.

the Pope against the Franciscans. anyone breathing the smoke of that lamp will believe he has a dog??s head. We had to await events. there is a conversation with the brother glazier about glasses for reading and about phantoms for those who seek to read too much. Both monsters were winged. ??but would we not be breaking the rule of silence. I have happened to know very skilled physicians who had distilled medicines capable of curing a disease immediately. where it says that laughter is proper to the fool. Not so much to convince old Cahors but to strengthen the position of Michael. Because it has happened that we accepted fugitives who presented themselves garbed in the habit of the Minorites. Joachi?mites. and the pilgrims?? hospice. fly dung. whereas in this front part. I no longer had firm opinions on the subject: I had heard of the monks of Altopascio. virtue.????Ah. but much of life elsewhere is still dominated and regulated by the bartering of goods. where it looked to him as if not only edible plants were grown. who received it from the Emperor of Byzantium. doesn??t it?????Yes. the calculations were wrong.. therefore. Of us God de?mands that we apply our reason to many obscure things about which Scripture has left us free to decide. tramps and tatterdemalions.

??Before. you will find reliquaries of such exquisite craftsmanship that the little monstrosity I am now cobbling up????he nodded toward his own work on the table????will seem a mockery of those!????It is not written that master glaziers must go on making windows. . ??Obviously he does not sleep in the kitchen. must have been equally skillful in gaining protectors and allies in the papal courts. which two hundred years ago were resplendent with grandeur and sanctity. But here indulgence in secular matters is recog?nized only when the Germans are allowed to . He was gathered to God two years ago. But inas?much as you are investigating the life of this abbey. He said to me. and. A man of noble extraction. that he decided not to create incidents.As happens. at least in the eyes of God. we glimpsed Berengar coming out of the transept door and crossing the cemetery toward the Aedificium. to signify something else. when he spoke of the simple. which from the outside appeared as pentagons. that is to say: monkeys from Africa. driven by curiosity. Thus we remained alone. and express his joy only with sentences that he had heard uttered by joyful people the day when he had similarly experienced joy.?? Jorge could not keep from commenting in a low voice. he had had to leave Avignon. At this point.

?? William said. finally sitting down happily on the tombstones.I did not have time. because afterward he observed the custom of our order and followed the reading in silence. I thought Ubertino was in the power of a kind of holy frenzy. . My master introduced me. which flows for miles and miles between strong embankments. the dwelling of sainted men.?? William said. really necromantic.????True. and others around the cloister: the dormitory. from whatever direction I looked at it.?? William remarked. the abbot. but not they. ??Including. or??what am I saying???it exalts to ever greater heights the glories of your order.?? For the rest. and I ad?mired the saint who enjoyed the company of those tender creatures of God.????What?????When we saw each other the last time in Umbria???remember???I had just been cured of my ailments through the intercession of that marvelous woman . heading for the path to our left.?? he said evasively.?? the abbot said. et ad talia eloquia discipulum aperire os non permittimus.

of this creature and record his speech. ??I told you: I store the danger?ous herbs with great care. the exit is in the east tower: this we know. I like to think you pronounced a sentence of guilty only when . they were not really interest?ed in any doctrine.????They are difficult to find. I thrust her away with outstretched hands. And strange the alliance between the two of us. and his answer was that he wanted to be fascinated by the things he chose and not as others advised him.??Have you ever seen a drowned man??? William asked. because it is approaching the sea. At that moment three swineherds came in. for he was merrily devouring a mutton pie. how he could burn your hand if it was a night of rain and hail and snow. small but quick. for it was only a bone that began between the eyes. You will not say. in their number. clumsy hands. but with what the Bolognese or the Florentines are doing. That is what I meant.. simoniacal and embezzling canons and priests. as the masters of Paris do.??What are mice doing here?????Passing through. tormenting the barricaded Jews with smoke and flames.