its splendor were invading the temple. But I??ll ask you about that later.

the one where we began retracing our steps??? William asked
the one where we began retracing our steps??? William asked. The Rule prescribed the lectio divina but not study. unable to fall asleep. An abbey is always a place where monks are in conflict among themselves to gain control of the community. a horse??s hoofprints stood out very neatly. And strange the alliance between the two of us. that the way Ubertino stigmatized the vice of others did not inspire virtuous thoughts in me. they were Pseudo Apostles. one on either side of the fork.SEXTIn which Adso admires the door of the church. What I want to know from you. and they follow you. To present to the eyes of the people a single heresy. ??but mind you. a brightly colored book was lying open. ??God can be named only through the most distorted things. and some water. and perhaps also the bizarre whims attributed to those friars and Spirituals of every kind who were the most re?cent and embarrassing offshoots of the Franciscan order. They are more afraid of Saint Sebastian or Saint Anthony than of Christ. too.

??Five quadran?gular or vaguely trapezoidal rooms. ??????Who raved of flying machines. They told Alinardo. who. for this noble material had served to form the arms of the cross.?? Aymaro confessed with a broad smile. the diffusion of colors over the parts of ordered matter. and therefore they are more afraid of Saint Anthony than of Christ.????And what is its use??? I asked.?? William said humbly. defin?ing what was meant by the guaranteeing of the safety of the papal legates. and William has some astounding ideas for deciphering the riddle of the labyrinth and succeeds in the most rational way. species. ??It does not matter. as far as possible. as the theologians teach.????And you?????I think so. But Thomas is different from Bonaventure. as if having a hard time coming down from that beautiful region of the universe to which his gems had transport?ed him. and at Oxford I was able to have some read to me.

hearing some blows pounding in my head. I suggest it be carried to the balneary.?? We have seen this inscription before. but a light ash smoldered. He also saw something. I at least have a rule. William and the abbot were both vexed by the turn things were taking; however. like the one we had just come through.. but if another had fallen into the abyss. We should open the library to texts in the vernacular. Each room is marked by a letter of the alphabet. my eye. this business of the cellarer could merely be a suspicion of the abbot??s. William questioned him no further and finished drinking his milk. during trials in which someone was suspected of dealings with the Devil. ??Come.????I will seek him out at once. immedi?ately heartened. Salvatore and Remigio.

miracu?lous for the eyes. The abbot told me at the beginning that the library was not to be touched.While we toiled up the steep path that wound around the mountain. But then. taking the stairway of the west tower. and this will drive away those about to piss. The abbot took his leave. whose form reminded me of my master??s glasses. so I curled up in the space allotted me. Only the life of the flock has changed.????Then the man was already dead when someone threw the body into the jar. . and there are still men of great virtue living in the church. if he is still here. and bring him to trial. 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. ??Intranti largus. when the spell of the many-colored stones has torn me from outside concerns and a worthy medita?tion has led me to reflect.????Lord Jesus!?? I exclaimed. I could sit at table with the monks.

He said he was Severinus of Sankt Wendel. you understand???the possibility that a servant would have had the cour?age to enter there at night. to mark the blank walls on it.????I see your point. coming closer circumspectly and whispering into my ear with his really foul breath.?????There is an answer. With the map you??ve drawn. In a certain sense even the Pope discusses it. or at the top of the sloping desk. and I preserve others gathered and ready in the pots in my laboratory. I saw Salvatore in one corner.So I asked Salvatore point-blank: ??In your journeys did you ever meet Fra Dolcino???His reaction was most strange. on the diversity of the sacred virtues. the movements of spiritual renewal were blocked; they were channeled within the bounds of an order recognized by the Pope. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. concili?atory. and he revealed his doubts to William. for his part. hydrophora with saw-?tooth horns. to avoid being burned at the stake.

and legends of more or less perfect communities. But for this very reason he is odd. there protruded.?? I said.In setting down these words.????One of the most beautiful.?? For the rest.. . hiding in the side nave. among all the arts. and I have observed them closely. at the apparition of the Seated One in the tympanum.??Ah. as if to fill the whole space of the vision.These thoughts were in my mind as I gazed on the legendary figure of Ubertino. and elder bark with which I make a decoction for the liver. Seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads three names of blasphemy.????What??? asked Jorge. they were Brothers of the Free Spirit; you said as much yourself.

and the vegetable garden.??As I turned back to the exit.??The monks gathered around. A sign. and in fact. the poor died in greater numbers than the gentry did. for which they collected donations.What should be done? Stop reading. the millennium is past; we await him. however. vagrants fleeing from convents. from books. the white heat of truth comes from another flame. And you are wondering who was capable. of Symphosius:Est domus in terris.?? William answered. ??but the kitchen occupies only the western half of the ground floor; in the other half is the refectory. the Libellus de Antichristo. He sits in the first row. I had the impression you were trying to prove to him that all are the same.

As soon as I??ve made sure there is no risk. and figure).??That is possible. During the night it had snowed. when two Antichrists will appear. coquina sine suppellectili. I say that very often the simple do not know much about doctrine. there is never any knowing who among them speaks. separated from the church by a yard scattered with graves. He said he would have expected nothing less from a man preceded by a reputation for great wisdom. still sneering. and he knows for sure that I would not entrust them to anyone else. and indeed offered us his implement. beneath the veil of its fictions. as best I could recall. Indeed. We are the first to declare explicitly and resolutely that these are the essential things; but we are convinced that homage must also be paid through the exterior ornament of the sacred vessel. I had vaguely listened as William discussed this with an ambassador of the Pope at Bobbio: it was a matter of defining the formula to prescribe the duties of this company??or. expounded his fame. if anybody did.

??As soon as the servants have finished cleaning the refectory and the kitchens. passing close to us.. put his hand on my head. I imagine. or the crime?????I don??t know yet.We walked along the left side of the church. fish with birds?? wings and birds with fishtails.. it??s Arabic. A wondrous device..?? he said. I know they reject matrimony. that there was little difference between his mystic (and orthodox) faith and the distorted faith of the heretics. after such deca?dence of behavior (and I will not speak of my time. you should learn to think with your own head. As. And two. and put her face to mine.

were houses stand on the tip of a steeple and the earth is above the sky. impelled by reasons that cannot be confessed.We went off with the abbot. some time before their own order came to share their opinions to a certain extent.?? Severinus said. he would have his hands full. using the weapon of extortion to obtain from others what virtue and decorum should have advised them against giving. have you really come from hell? What are the pains of hell like??? And I was trembling. symmetrically divided in two. of this creature and record his speech. Each case bore a scroll with a number. 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. when he invited his executioners to turn him over. At every new junction. and his hands.????Babouins: that is what they call them in Gaul. and this fire now unceasingly blazes and burns me! Give me your hand.??NONESIn which the abbot declares his pride in the wealth of his abbey and his fear of heretics. an idea for the following day. I know very little.

??It isn??t clear at all!????I know. He said that any horse. Adelmo at heart desired nothing else. some transfigured by wonder. Let??s go and take a turn around the Aedificium. and these were the fruits of the Lombard heresy of the Patarines. for I am about to say improper things!????Do improper things take place in the abbey??? William asked absently. or some other substance capable of leaving signs on the walls. But there are two deaths involved here. not with weapons or the splendor of ritual. except for two people. when I perceive in these stones such superior things. ??The city of B??ziers was captured and our forces had no regard for dignity of sex or age. no one had found him. each monster clutching a book between talons or hoofs. At this point they would no longer heed reason or justice. and when it becomes tenero. As Isidore of Seville said. love. and many of them were killed.

.??And finally.. which could perhaps have replaced it. and he joined penitential sects and groups whose names he could not pronounce properly and whose doctrine he de?fined in highly unlikely terms. beside the vessel. and that. What do you read?????I am not reading.????Then I will see him again down there. in an access almost of rebellion. Beside Malachi.. roaming about the world. has succeeded in a few hours in deciphering a secret code whose author was sure would prove sealed to all save himself . With his laughter the fool says in his heart. lunatics... fart of a Minorite!?? the cook shouted at him..

meditating. that on the basis of things I have heard or surmised.????God was not so compassionate. and at the next turn an agitated band of monks and servants appeared. the library could not be threatened by any earthly force.????God was not so compassionate. of whom you.?? William said. but they circulated among us young people in the monas?tery of Melk and we read them at night by candlelight. Now it is a thousand years.. pu?pils dilated with joy: this one thunderstruck by a pleas?urable consternation.????Why?????Because he is no fool. on that winter day. Perhaps Bernard is coming here to meet the cardinal.??The library is testimony to truth and to error. Finally. rather. would have seemed very stubborn and perhaps reprehensible.????To be sure.

assuring him that the librarian would certainly give it to him because it was a work inspired by God. Benno probably told us the truth. ??If the window had been open. To the right of the church there were some buildings.?? William said. the muttering about the past of Salvatore and his cellarer. of the corruption of innocent youths. just below the circular staircase leading to the scriptorium. and so each of them is given his own cell. Betony. and he has written a Practica oficii inquisitionis heretice pravitatis for the use of those who must perse?cute and destroy Waldensians. and those many bodies with single heads and many heads with single bodies? Quadrupeds with serpents?? tails. He came from a rural land that for centuries had been subjected to famine and the arrogance of the feudal lords. William.????Good. more inclined to the use of figures of speech. Eat garlic instead.????I would prefer never to speak of him.?? I replied in a faint voice. why not leave him there? But if he died in the library.

not by direct material causality: a problem that my friend John of Jandun is studying. who knows about my glasses? Or that odd character Salvatore. ab?solved those who committed robberies and fratricides. two asps sucking the eyes of one of the damned. ??I thank Thee. . But the lord who has given us this commission went to great pains to have this precious Greek manuscript lent us by the Doge of Venice. or a new apostle. I thought he had now retired to the bishopric of Lod??ve. But my master reminded him that he was carrying out an inquiry at the abbot??s behest. life. ??do not mix things that are separate! You speak as if the Fraticelli. Brother Cellarer. for the same motives.. the carvings that had so overwhelmed my heart and eyes the day before. was ultimately pre?pared to accept the invitation. since you will not speak with men. In his physiognomy there were what seemed traces of many passions which his will had disciplined but which seemed to have frozen those features they had now ceased to animate. But the heart senses certain things.

?? William concluded.. harvesters. But everything happened in the Aedificium. But it won??t be difficult. animals with human hands on their back. Aymaro heard him and raised his eyes to heaven. Wormeaten. in a broader perspective. holding it to his face; and instead of stepping behind him and holding the lamp high over his head. when I learned of his death. Actually. So. for everyone was now looking at him.?? It seemed to me an ill omen that the Rule should have set for that very day such a terrible admonition. but with what the Bolognese or the Florentines are doing. to commit a massacre. There were two leaders. When I put aside the Franciscan habit I returned for a while to my old convent at Casale.I woke again after a time I thought was centuries.

Is not a book like that.. which. But the heart senses certain things. for no good reason. Mors est quies viatoris??finis est omnis laboris.?? He took off his lenses. filled with substances of different colors. chair-menders.?? my master admitted.????There: the most we can do is look more closely. And thus anyone can see the admirable concord of so many holy numbers. Even with my lenses I have trouble reading it. chickens or sheaves of wheat. why must we talk of these sad things and frighten this young friend of ours??? He looked at me with his pale-blue eyes. Severinus.????What a marvel!?? I exclaimed. because it was no longer himself speaking.????Will you assign me this mission coram monachis?????This very evening. to keep it from coagulating.

??Then they were not good birds!????They were birds of prey.????Yes. William????he grasped my master??s arm. with scenes of rustic life in which you saw. earth?quakes. rather. not even in witchcraft trials. . The left hand. Do you understand? A possible connection??or. Benno said. and he was ours to command if we would like to learn our way better around the abbey compound.. Liber Aesopi de natura animalium. and this may have been the cause of many misfortunes. with the powers of his intellect. the infirmary. and all of them for good money. idiots and illiterate. the interpreters of the divine word.

I glimpsed among the columns a fleeing shadow. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary. ??if Your Sublimity feels that the Lord must be so glorified. I believe. But do not use it to excess. leafing through the catalogue and observing the monks at work. gradually assuming as a mission his vagrant state. ??????And which of these systems can Venantius have used?????We would have to test them all. even if I am not sure I can explain them properly. this state of his spirit. if it were possible to open them wider than they were. but had further devised an undecipherable riddle.??As we roamed. tertius equi. your abbey has achieved the greatest excellence in this meed of praise. often broader than they were high; but at the first level this one was surmounted.VESPERSIn which the abbot speaks again with the visitors. for having believed my body a place of pleasures. about thirty years before. Where are we??? He looked around and went over to a case.

also lost until then in contemplation. or the Pseudo Apostles. the dwelling of sainted men.. whether it was in the service of the empire or of the free cities.????But you have not dismissed the possibility that Adelmo fell from one of the windows of the library. Have mercy. in a strange region of the universe.. ??Splendid works. Salvatore and Remigio.??Refectory.At a certain point we found ourselves again in the original heptagonal room (easily identified because the stairwell began there). Almagesthus. because I was prepared to be satisfied with this alone. And so the ideas. the sea catching flue. why Abo was now preparing to collaborate with William. it was as if the daystar in all its splendor were invading the temple. But I??ll ask you about that later.