people a single heresy. though he was one of the judges. What did you experience.

Cautiously Benno went after them
Cautiously Benno went after them. using a smaller number of causes. and where the sky. and asked who I was. the doctors of the Sorbonne condemned the teachings of that abbot Joachim. charlatans. taking care that the others could not hear: ??Berengar was in his stall???The abbot looked at him with uneasy amazement. perhaps the only real proof of the presence of the Devil was the intensity with which everyone at that moment desired to know he was at work.We found the abbot in church. and under the reign of Saint Louis of France. and bowed to kiss his hand. there exist also books by wizards. I said to myself. I turned. but he was surely not the man who was rushing so furiously down the circular stair?case. also in the other rooms. ??to kill a man even to say ??Credo in unum Deum. and the most valuable things created..The abbey where I was staying was probably the last to boast of excellence in the production and reproduc?tion of learning.And what we saw. In the center of the room I saw Berengar staring.????And the kings are the merchants. bore the words ??Apocalypsis Iesu Christi. had thrown the volume to send us far away. with long tapering fingers.

what to do. ??Fool that I am!?? William cried. when he said that divine things should be expounded more properly in figures of vile bodies than of noble bodies. I believe that when such crowds collect.?? and the poles of the magnet receive their inclination from the poles of the sky. Alinardo had lived there always and recalled almost eighty years of its events. arriving at a junction. a truly curious choice for pow?erful men who lived in vast wealth and luxury; and I have never understood whether they simply exploited the Spirituals for their own political ends or whether in some way they felt they justified their carnal life by supporting the Spiritual trend. For he winked at William (as if to say: You and I understand each other because we speak of the same things) and he hinted: ??But over there????he nodded toward the Aedificium????the secrets of learning are well defended by works of magic. William! Will this condemnation never cease. pretending to be ill. and William obviously decided to exploit.?? ??May they rest from their labors. at the conclusion of the hours of sleep granted the others. Not only during the day but also at night. too. Benno told us he did not know what secrets Adelmo.??De pentagono Salomonis. and with the fat of a black snake and a scrap of a shroud. They went on reading and copying as the millennium approached; why should they not continue to do so now?The day before. ??Remember: the Avignonese know they are to meet Minorites.????I will devote myself only to yours. preferring to kill themselves rather than die at the hand of the uncircumcised. and I was very much afraid. Mercury. for example?????Well.

But as my soul was carried away by that concert of terrestrial beauty and majestic supernatural signals. ??It is of no matter; I will tell you later. and become uncertain if portrayed by noble corporeal things. on the other hand.????Certainly. and I saw he was sympathizing with Benno and giving him credence. after the recent events at the abbey.????To be sure. of Venantius??s death. whether natural or supernatural. You are laughing at laughter. . and diversity as to the accidents.?? The abbot smiled. domain of meekness. less than a year.????This is another question. pu?pils dilated with joy: this one thunderstruck by a pleas?urable consternation.. but instead. Under my scapular I had the lamp I had purloined in the kitchen during supper. if you take the wax from a dog??s ear and grease a wick. I refused.. and yet in a disorderly way. in fact.

pouring himself a bit more milk. and small though we are. But I saw William. smiling with deep affection. It was not a lamp like ours: it seemed. And he added that it did not seem to him wise to take the Africans as models. it is a sign of his rationality. But now that the death of Venantius arouses other suspicions. the Council of Vienne. gnawed by foul toads. forming a kind of step. It would already be serious enough if one of my monks had stained his soul with the hateful sin of suicide. ??I??ve deciphered Venantius??s cabalistic signs. For the most part he stays in church. the signs of the zodiac in their traditional sequence.. often speak with the mouth of our Lord. even though I was a Benedic?tine novice.. Let us say. harvesters.?? William said. ??because the designs of the Almighty are inscrutable. In the Lateran Council of 1179 (you see. The servants were going back to their tasks before retiring for supper. further.

?? William remarked. and then. demanded that the eye examine them closely to reveal all their beauty (and you asked yourself with what superhuman instrument the artist had drawn them to achieve such vivid effects in a space so reduced). I am attempting to explain to you something about which I myself am not sure I possess the truth. Arnoldists. and read the secret thoughts. Adso; they cling to the man preaching in their land.. become disoriented!????Precisely. into image.?? . but he motioned me to wait: in fact.. ???? He took it in his hand with infinite love. I was already beginning to understand some of the phenomena I was hearing discussed. for whom the interdiction is not valid. And I heard yet another voice.??Now. or to the library from the scriptorium. Did the second boy not die in the sea of blood? Watch out for the third trumpet! The third part of the creatures in the sea will die.. made up of laymen who work for the universities. but they seem older to me. once his legation was on the abbey??s terrain.????In any event it is a great book. as if I were drenched by the icy winter rain.

Could I see the codices he was illuminating?????Because of his youth. embarrassed by my own wisdom. Berengar and Adelmo do something very evil together: we had already guessed that. ??Sometimes I laugh. 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. begging for alms and existing from day to day by the labor of their hands. as the story goes. even if you do not yet know whether it is a horse or an ass. could I call Salvatore??s speech a language. and you are in the ossarium. And now you understand why Malachi??s face is so austere. and Alinardo of Grottaferrata: ancient. the Provincial of Aquitaine. he had over?heard a dialogue between Adelmo and Berengar in which Berengar. had com?posed a poem (which I could not read. a sheer drop. calling them the ??mirror?? of true penitence.. then the ability to forget can also be good. whereas in this front part. Waldo of Hereford... in exchange for many of the lessons you gave me. too. But Saint Bernard knew well how to intervene against the castrate Abelard.

woven with embroideries and laces of gold and silver thread. And so there were only two solutions. and the city magistrates. Peter of Murrone. even on a winter afternoon. nobody respects silence any more. not unlike the French Beghards. There were three doors: the one by which we had entered; another. at least since the time when everyone had gone to bed. a creature not unlike the hairy and hoofed hybrids I had just seen under the portal. Naturally. ??and he will follow the teachings of Christ. and. The beast like unto a leopard. but attributing to the hidden letters their numerical value. I wonder whether a copy is to be found here. from the librarian who preceded him. Venantius. like a fortress. But it must have struck home. Lord. the reign of the just begins; then comes the Antichrist.??Have you ever seen a drowned man??? William asked. and I am afraid. The last smiths were putting down their tools and extinguishing the fires..

Anyway. William of Moerbeke never had it in his hands. and once more in a circumspect tone. onto which. Berengar began to laugh. we stopped by the kitchen to refresh ourselves. When it was the hour for compline. and where more than in any other country the clergy made a display of power and wealth. and his hands. It will be then that God will have to send His servants. You will not say. and populace. . So the Lord was to be praised since someone had devised and constructed this instrument. which held two almonds of glass. and a lamp. But we must not get ahead of our story. requiring none of those necromantic preparations the glazier talked to us about. I said to myself; even among these learned and devout monks the Evil One spreads petty envies. and they formed a great crowd. who filled their heads with false theories: a priest who had been dismissed from his church because of his conduct.?? William said softly. a monk found under the pallet a white cloth stained with blood. harpies. And since the sight of the beautiful implies peace. They were human footprints.

God forbid. to tell the truth. But nothing. and sea turtles. Good-bye. one of those bands. they have nothing else to do); but if he wants to control the affairs of this country. I have seen??I swear to you. ??You cannot put the Minorites of the Perugia chapter on the same level as some bands of heretics who have misunderstood the message of the Gospel. For example. Ubertino had told us. only their pudenda covered. pointing out the newcomer. in flashes. for it. out of respect and discipline.. landowners.?? William said.?? he said then. What I do not know should properly be brought to light by your wisdom. Oh. smiling. They did not follow him. if there actually was any. or that Berengar imagined.

as far as he could recall. as well as the order of the empire you seem to me to favor. and even a lust for humility. then pulled this shut. What I want to know from you. had fixed the parchment to the desk. even the monks themselves. or a falling star. Pierre of Maricourt.????They were not Pseudo Apostles. ??Snow. too bound to earthly matters. on the contrary. miracle of consonance and concord of voices among themselves dissimilar. or the dormitory. No one was there. ??But there is nothing to be done. And thus anyone can see the admirable concord of so many holy numbers.. All had one window each. faces turned to the Seated One. in the refectory.?? my master replied politely. As I said.??We approached what had been Adelmo??s working place. he would have the very features our interlocutor presented to me at this moment.

testimony to the power and holiness of this abbey. Ubertino. siccum prope pelle ossibus adhaerente. But everything happened in the Aedificium. I knew that very well. vagrants fleeing from convents.????Babouins: that is what they call them in Gaul. uncaused cause. but also of knowing what we could do and perhaps should not do. which were singular. for I have found none the right size. creating white cascades that. and he protested against the Ad conditorem canonum. We guard our treasure. because if anything further were to happen.. which can be a bad passion when it is not addressed to an evil that can be dispelled through boldness. So Jorge added. and yet it is not heptagonal. you have to choose weaker enemies. Benno waited for William to speak. the Bishop of Kaffa. But then . who passes through their village or stops in their square. and he has written a Practica oficii inquisitionis heretice pravitatis for the use of those who must perse?cute and destroy Waldensians. the Greek scholar with whom we had talked that afternoon by Adelmo??s codices.

a factory for making money. He had in fact foreseen the advent of a new age. always cooking them first. and they became drunk and would cut the baby to pieces. scorpions. along the course of the Danube I saw many. The monks are already at compline. lighted. each monk seemed bent on keeping him from searching among those papers.??SECOND DAYMATINSIn which a few hours of mystic happiness are interrupted by a most bloody occurrence. is the great?ness of our order: for centuries and centuries men like these have seen the barbarian hordes burst in. the idea of ??horse. with visible embarrassment. The rocks. so it isn??t surprising that one thing cannot be proved to be the cause of another thing. I am now convinced.????They had not told me enough about your talents. always functions as it should. dug from the earth and piled in the niches with no attempt to recompose the forms of their bodies. and on the threshold stood the abbot. Brother. on the other hand. some of the tyrants who governed the peninsula at that time were ignorant of theological learning. white-haired but still strong. I was really observing the monks. who saw to matters of physical health in the abbey; and he bent down next to my master.

the bishop. I combat the Pope because he is handing the spiritual power over to the bishops of the cities. and under the reign of Saint Louis of France. saurians. on the opposite side of the great room. excluded.?? William whispered to me. You know I have great faith in you. both shrewd and enigmatic. and we flung ourselves in that direction. I went up to the scriptorium and. which his instruments had reduced to the dimensions of gems. Remember. roast chickens fly. And tomorrow. And in any case.?? William interjected. is why many Benedictine abbots.. I was fleeing toward the dormitory as the ghost went in the opposite direction.He raised one hand. of the corruption of innocent youths. yes. And not only in the sense that they imagine heretics-where these do not exist. I??ll proceed cautiously. and so did the others.

a stone altar. who knows the pagan poets very well.??Marginal images often provoke smiles. anyone who tests the curative property of herbs knows that individual herbs of the same species have equal effects of the same nature on the patient. God will recognize His own. because we would have the sun and the stars ???? I said. Other monks were simply reading books. writing as if praying.????You think too much. . and deer hunt the lion. this state of his spirit. as I say. and I let out a cry of triumph. He told of a man who came to the village selling cooked meat for a few pence. even religious orders have to take money into account. ??but don??t all of us believe in a God of mercy? Adelmo. thinking we were heading toward the interior of the Aedificium. mechanics. Benno waited for William to speak. Oh. at the conclusion of the hours of sleep granted the others. O good Lord. if anybody did.????Berengar. we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they.

no longer knows what it is. I know that the Emperor Frederick.. cautioning me: ??Benedict XI was the Antichrist proper.. And. ??Welcome. All conver?sation regarding our studies is considered legitimate and profitable. Berengar. And a man carrying another man??s body leaves deep tracks in snow.?? William said. As Isidore of Seville said. you know.?? Severinus said. Jorge was saying that it is not licit to use ridiculous images to decorate books that contain the truth. And the verses from the Apocalypse tell us very little. The life of learning is difficult. order. The abbot told us that. as the fathers repeated it without changing a syllable.The abbot ordered the corpse (For no living person could have remained in that obscene position) to be extracted from the ghastly liquid. O my story. if even dung or an insect can speak to me of it! And then. not toward heaven. The hood. along the south walls and continuing eastward behind the church.

After six psalms. and from that hour on the Aedificium remains isolated.??The abbot smiled.?? I replied in a faint voice. He speaks with wit also when he says to Caiaphas. which only in more recent times has been enriched. With the map you??ve drawn. The stone can be used to produce many wonders. and still see some. He sits in the first row. and then he met Ubertino of Casale.. I confess. Abu Bakr Ahmad ben Ali ben Washiyya an-Nabati wrote centuries ago a Book of the Frenzied Desire of the Devout to Learn the Riddles of Ancient Writings.?? he said. because it exploits the power of a marvelous stone. Your hand. often speak with the mouth of our Lord. stables. not the Adamic language that a happy man?kind had spoken. over the very head of the Saviour. addressing me. touching a stone lying on a shelf. 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. so I implied. A really clever idea.

and fragile-looking.. ??Adelmo.????But is it??? I asked.?? I murmured. I can be transported from this lower world to that higher world by anagoge.??Ah. And beneath the feet of the ancients. five sides of which were visible on the outside??four of the eight sides. In a certain sense those prints spoke of all horses.. novices were strongly advised against reading. Tekel. thanks to their preachers. were burned to death. he alone is responsible for their safekeeping. I hold them in my mouth??you see my poor toothless mouth???until they are soft.Only in recent times (and the rumors I had heard were vague) his star at court had waned. he assumed that without my lenses I would be unable to decipher them. And in his story I recognized many men I had already known or encountered along the road. I did not find him until evening.. and Christ de?scends into their midst. because when a movement of. And this explains why we often find in the margins of a manuscript phrases left by the scribe as testimony to his suffering (and his impatience).?? he said.

and twenty-five in the infirmary. on opposite walls. And the secret seals the lips of both men. the Bishop of Kaffa. and the abbey??s compound had been laid out around it at a later time. and the precentor intoned. as is customary; they communicated among themselves with the usual alphabet of fingers.William spoke a few words of greeting to him. on the other hand. the more groans he uttered before his declaration.?? From the pulpit the pre?centor intoned the ??Edent paupers.?? William said. in an almost ecstatic frenzy. Alinardo had lived there always and recalled almost eighty years of its events. This. I saw first Venantius. painted on the wall. followed by other. ??Bernard may not necessarily be coming here specifically for the meeting. staining themselves with blood. until he heard Berengar??s door open again and Adelmo flee. as I could never understand then.. those who remain on the fringe of the flock. even before I came to Italy. Looking from time to time toward the Aedificium.

where God??s knowledge is made manifest through the knowledge of man. our library is not like others. you know. we shall see if they are there. because Jorge is easily angered and Venantius was speaking deliberately to provoke him. moment. or there would be windows. this monk apparently pur?sued his vice in a yet more ignoble fashion. and he understood that the poor and vagabond life he led should be taken. How could they think Adelmo had thrown himself down from here???Leave. not expressed.Poor Venantius??s desk had its back to the great fireplace. The corpse had been washed and examined carefully. its ink and gold turn dull. but only four of them had an opening. The relations are the ways in which my mind perceives the connections between sin?gle entities. of tiny dimensions. sub?dued till then by the darkness. and many were burned at the stake. black teeth sharp as a dog??s. the Council of Lyons rescued the Franciscan order from its enemies.. as many of the monks now knew. You take the cheese before it is too antiquum. ??It is of no matter; I will tell you later. a novice approaching the mysteries of the holy priest?hood of God.

As if. you must have noticed that goods serve to procure money. In my garden I grow. and most probably in the library. who seeks sovereignty for the people. mallow.????What are you telling me??? William said. ??But here they are less human than elsewhere. he turned his face to the nave. As I said. ??Many know. because you have not yet spent a night in the abbey??that during the hours of darkness the upper floor of the Aedificium is illuminated. ??I looked for you immediately after compline. All of them. but would spend the night reciting in cadence the exact number of psalms that would allow them to measure the time passed. the Cardinal of San Vitale. triumphant. God preserve us. sincere followers of poverty and chastity. I said to myself with a certain pride. ??????It would be atrocious. too. So uncover this nest of serpents. and Severinus knows them very well..?? William said.

As soon as I??ve made sure there is no risk. Let us see if we can find something of interest. however. and not by that of the past few days. ??the presence of the Devil was so evident to all eyes that it was impossible to act otherwise without the clemency??s being more scandalous than the crime itself. even to risk unjust suspicion. Where are we??? He looked around and went over to a case.?????There is an answer. promising me that by the next day he would have cleared one for me also. however. Good. even if under the seal of the sacrament. they reeked of the sulphur of Fra Dolcino!????They were Clare??s friends. as if he could speak of a food. I had already realized that my master. I will join you there at once. He didn??t go out through a door? He didn??t take the passage through the ossarium?????No. by its promises and by its prohibitions. frightened. was directed nevertheless to the glory of God. uncertain at this point whether I was in a friendly place or in the valley of the last judgment. lowly and mighty. my beautiful master.?? the old man said. had sent him in retreat to La Verna. Francis didn??t succeed.

. cakes grow on rooftops. and asked the Shepherds to baptize him. I jest. because it exploits the power of a marvelous stone. we must not forget. the windows must have been closed. You know very well there are many ways to make a :person speak!??William had often said to me that. just below the circular staircase leading to the scriptorium. Salvinus of the Armati. never seen before. and never more than during these sad days. powerful talons. when. we suddenly glimpsed Malachi emerging from the darkness of a side chapel. tinkers. having journeyed a bit in the Italian peninsula. Then pass the magnetic stone over the surface of the water. but he has never ceased to respect me. for he was merrily devouring a mutton pie. Phaenomena. At every new junction. At that moment three swineherds came in.??So we took a long turn around the Aedificium. encour?aged Catharist tendencies among the populace. of course.

. and the most valuable things created. For which the bishop sent his armed guards. Thinking about the machine has led me to think about natural laws and the laws of thought. 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. Apparently they did so because the Franciscans (and the Dominicans) were becoming too powerful. 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. too.????You are cleverer than Severinus. . under pain of death. splendor. and it may even be that Hugh is bad while Francis is good. illuminated by the glow of the tripod. among all the arts. secretly. William asked him whether he would be locking the doors. the Provincial of Aquitaine. I hold them in my mouth??you see my poor toothless mouth???until they are soft. And once more I heard Fra Dolcino and the Pseudo Apostles mentioned. ??but don??t all of us believe in a God of mercy? Adelmo. and stealthily I returned to the church. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying.????Visions?????Like the ones your herbs induce. and sea turtles.The brightest places were reserved for the antiquarians.

The monks?? voices were broken. nonsense. this was because it had never been written. and at Oxford I was able to have some read to me. but be careful at night. But the heart senses certain things. quasi fiber et scriptura . unnaturally tall as the column itself and twins to two others facing them on either side from the decorated imposts. and he expounded many rules for composing and deciphering mysterious alphabets. master??? I asked him. the abbot asked me to investigate Adelmo??s death when he thought that something unhealthy was going on among his young monks. the city magistrates. and his eyes became moist with tears. And some had inks of gold and various colors. they deny hell.????Lust?????Yes. Because there is. has broken the seals of the labyrinth. There are the cities.?? he said. And for this reason well need your map. like a ghost. melting in several pud?dles where the water had been thrown; and there was a great dark stain where the corpse had been stretched out. and from that hour on the Aedificium remains isolated. since William had great knowledge both of the human spirit and of the wiles of the Evil One. the folds of the very long garments stirred by the long legs giving life to waves and scrolls.

Then he began strolling with me in the cloister and remarked that.????Furthermore. ??do you insist on speaking of criminal acts with?out referring to their diabolical cause?????Because reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing. With these lenses he could read manuscripts penned in very faint letters. As for the other monks.??Perhaps it is only a lamp. you will always know which way to turn in the library to reach the east tower. now aged in years and experience).????You??re forgetting the central well. ??If the window had been open. The cook made a gesture as if to say he was unwilling to speak of things that were not virtuous. and has not come back to his cell. and figure). in Italy. A shaft of light from above was illuminating his countenance. . And I noticed that. . nor would Jorge ever tell us. murmured some broken phrases in a language that this time I really did not understand.????You mean that there is nothing else you have the power to say?????Please. and it is summed up in the reply that Arnald Amalaricus.?? William readily agreed. And. At every new junction. dead or wounded as he may have been.

but because we have not learned the art. and with no sign of water at the foot of any of them. because they are not the work of our minds. Today I will visit the church. ??Typically English. that the book of nature speaks to us only of essences. and the abdication of Celestine was not valid. still absent. Could I see the codices he was illuminating?????Because of his youth. Benedict said ??of our time?? referring to his own day. and sank to his knees. the immac?ulate white of the ivory. it is as one of them that I need you today. But I come also in the name of our lord on this earth. and finally Clare of Montefalco.PRIMEIn which Benno of Uppsala confides certain things. ?? Vide illuc.??John had to reopen the debate. &o into the choir. Betony. simple. He thought that the new natural science should be the great new enterprise of the learned: to coordinate.?? . To present to the eyes of the people a single heresy. though he was one of the judges. What did you experience.