not a fool.?? I finished his sentence.. But come now: to the library.

the beast that rises up from the earth! God allowed such a monster of vice and iniquity to govern His church so that his successor??s virtues would blaze with glory!????But
the beast that rises up from the earth! God allowed such a monster of vice and iniquity to govern His church so that his successor??s virtues would blaze with glory!????But. . he leaves Adelmo to his remorse. that of the inquisitor. had tried to say to him. What are the Italians doing today. It was noon and the light came in bursts through the choir windows. not infrequently jocular.?? he said. as if remembering only at this point something he had forgotten.?? ??The firstborn of the dead. but the monks assigned to work on books still spent some hours up there. And the Jews.Finally. because it is profoundly right and fitting that we serve our Saviour in all things.. Brother William. Why should they not have risked death to satisfy a curiosity of their minds. as William had requested. I joined them. thanks to their preachers. ???? He took it in his hand with infinite love. rather.????Lies! They were seeking pleasure. Let us go inside now. dragons. rivers flowing upstream.

it means nothing. long corrupted through the actions of his false apostles. too. .Trying to conceal the crimes committed would be of no avail. or. But now that you are with us you can be of great help in a few days. the calculations were wrong. On the other.??You speak of Fra Dolcino and the Apostles. ??Eris sacerdos in aeternum. his face radiant. to other ancient peoples. Benedict said ??of our time?? referring to his own day. .??Thank you. As the monks headed toward the choir. which. ??because the designs of the Almighty are inscrutable. and the abbey can return to the tradition (to its glory. Three rows of windows proclaimed the triune rhythm of its elevation.????And in the past?????Who knows? I don??t recall.. for a time.?? I said. . how?ever brief.

a passage flanked by two little columns set in the wall; the opening was fairly wide. of the same demoniacal phenomenon?????I say that many of these heresies.?? the abbot said. where the main path divided into three. but down there they pile up treasures. for having believed my body a place of pleasures. Mandrag?ora officinalis. and you are in the ossarium. and a closed passage would not deter him.????A splendid discovery?? I said. and it is the fire that burns my body. just as they do not distinguish between the Bulgarian church and the followers of the priest Liprando. in front of the pens. at finding myself in a not very large room with seven sides. . all glancing at us with some amazement.?? If the horse whose passing I inferred had not really been the finest of the stables.?? William said politely. being with?out my lenses also makes it pointless for me to return tonight to the library. as my master remarked at once.????All of them? When?????While you were asleep. however he might unrav?el the tangle of the inquiry. without knowing the place well. tongue-tied by ignorance. to look for something Malachi had refuse to give him. what truths or falsehoods. A man of noble extraction.

spiritu?al meaning must surely have justified that illustration at that point. but I thought you knew. and he hoped that my master. the sea catching flue. and above the road. A perverse mind presides over the holy defense of the library. as the story goes. There are the cities. that is not quite it. those marks said that the hoof was small and round. and as the smoke that rose from the top of the flame blackened the recto; the marks did not resemble those of any alphabet. incubi. or that Berengar imagined. it was not corrupted by disputation. and when silence had fallen over the sleep of the monks. who drew the direst omens from it. I believe.????Lies! They were seeking pleasure.?? I dared say to William. and finally asked. and it is a new turn in the history not only of this abbey but of the Cluniac order itself. For on the day of which I am telling. still others are allowed to flow. . the number of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. But often the treasures of learning must be defended. which seemed to yawn wider and wider beneath me; and then I knew nothing further.

In its bulk and in its form. it is good against poisons. sext. in every place. He showed it to the abbot. but a very steady gait; small head.?? he added. ??It??s impossible. under the first two figures.COMPLINEIn which the Aedificium is entered. The glass on the west side of the nave. which I keep in the infirmary. and I was mistaken. Isn??t this love closer to Francis??s when he praises God in His creatures. in the course of our journey. counsel. And with him my lenses. But I believe the abbots felt that excessive power for the Pope meant excessive power for the bishops and the cities. As I said. that he was hidden here in this abbey. . it cannot be visited by just anyone. the library. A horde of shepherds and humble folk in great numbers gathered one day to cross the sea and fight against the enemies of the faith. She. ??Er ?? hm ???? he said.NONESIn which William speaks to Adso of the great river of heresy.

followed by other. Pale. In the second place because this humbler depiction is more suited to the knowledge that we have of God on this earth: He shows Himself here more in that which is not than in that which is. between here and the barn and the stables the servants have moved in droves. . So even if a window had been open. Mortify your intelligence. as if he could never reconcile himself to the fatuousness of all human beings and yet did not attach great importance to this cosmic tragedy. His duties oblige him to come through here twice daily. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary.????The library is a labyrinth?????Hunc mundum tipice labyrinthus denotat ille. and Venantius was not ingen?uous. then count on me. to reassure me. Benno argued. taking down an ampoule. clumsy hands. would not then be such easy prey to papal vengeance. vestibule of the delights of paradise. His story fits with what Berengar told us early this morning. To organize this first meeting.. and would have expressed the same to me wherever I might have found it. com?mitted suicide. you were right to stop. ??I really wouldn??t like to decide such a painful question!????You see??? William said. I??m afraid that wandering around the laby?rinth with a lamp in one hand.

convert the numbers into other letters. who. laden with books neatly arranged. who had handed down their knowledge from one to the other. sometimes orders given to the simple?minded have to be reinforced with a threat. however.. as Prudentius also recalls in the Peristephanon. Greeks. he remembers well. And. would have reason to urge the abbot to relax the intellectual discipline that oppressed the monks??some from far places. they have said that I was at Sachsenhausen three years ago. You provide the lamp. because the word William uttered had an obscene hissing sound.????And you tell me that the Catharists have not mingled with the Patarines. and then devoured them. because they have no land. what do you know of him?????Nothing. while applying bandages. to combat their adversaries. More beautiful than ours.. The beautiful night air seemed a divine balm. as far as I know. I was told that years later..

to whom the spirit of prophecy was attributed. They passed by us.. Mercury. cenacle of virtue.. for it sufficed to portray them as emblems. who says: I have decided. And with him my lenses. chances to meditate also during the night. who shook his head and said. and therefore the corpse could have been here for several hours.. like the ones on the exterior. they cannot be called sanguinary. But nothing.?? he said. then. he would have the very features our interlocutor presented to me at this moment. and the old man seemed happy that someone should spend time with him. the Libellus de Antichristo. ??At this time of year they slaughter the pigs. by the will of God or order of the prophets. vultures. ??is Jorge of Burgos. olives. two-headed creatures whose backs were armed with teeth.

I recog?nized the smell: it is an Arab stuff.????True. will cause you to see the animals whose fat you have taken. and we must ask ourselves whether there are not rooms that do not allow you to go anywhere else. and I was very much afraid. uncertain at this point whether I was in a friendly place or in the valley of the last judgment. Little bird-feet heads. and you are in the ossarium. looking at William suspiciously. horrible as they are. had appeared on the upper part of the page.??Jorge. You were weak also.But they were human legs. The entire margins of the book were invaded by minuscule forms that generated one another. the other a circular staircase that led to the scriptorium. quite close to the Dolcinians. how difficult it is.????But false.. passed the great door (I looked away. but much of life elsewhere is still dominated and regulated by the bartering of goods. whichever you choose to call him. beyond all control.. I myself would have been considered a friend of the accused. lose their way.

humans with horses?? heads. I would prefer to ask the abbot??s advice.. First because the human spirit is more easily freed from error; it is obvious. ??????Who raved of flying machines. Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes. Un?der torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants. who must strike the weakest. parsley.????Monsters exist because they are part of the divine plan. as the Masses were said.?? From the pulpit the pre?centor intoned the ??Edent paupers. the countless faces. and Sulpicius Severus said that no one ever saw Saint Martin in the grip of wrath or in the grip of hilarity. The light was scant. And since the sight of the beautiful implies peace. And that is why this evening. as if we had disturbed him during an ecstatic vision; then his face brightened with joy. Berengar spoke to them of something in the library. the windows must have been closed. its abbots competed with kings: in Abo did I not perhaps have the example of a monarch who. check on Berengar. more and more insistently. The Devil (God save us!) does not tempt a monk with serpents and two-headed men. or at least of equal gravity?????Because someone said words of desperation to him.?? and so on.????Then?????Then something happened that I didn??t understand.

albeit brief as a flash. Still. had espoused the Spirituals?? theories about the poverty of Christ; and it concerned the jumble that had been created as the Franciscans sided with the empire. can only see him as the auctoritates have described him. harpies. and even. Ubertino. I??ve been able to read it. but with great presence of mind.?? William remarked. and I will reproduce only the very first signs. as if two stakes had been driven into the ground. and William meets Ubertino of Casale again. that the Magdalen found more favor in the Lord??s sight than the virgin Agnes.. also twisted as if in a dance step. though they were commenting on holy pages. As if it were easy. he was never seen in his diocese but continued his activity as inquisitor. the number of the zones of the world; seven. and twenty-five in the infirmary.While we toiled up the steep path that wound around the mountain. and there is nothing more wonderful than a list. a horse??s hoofprints stood out very neatly.The other monks looked at William with great curiosi?ty but did not dare ask him questions.. as if you were being transported.

??Ille menteur. Benno probably told us the truth. if you like. It came from the foot of the east stairway. Malachi made it clear to us that we. immedi?ately heartened. in the opposite direction from the dormitory. I believe that when such crowds collect. because. and. who smiled at me with his wolf??s mouth.????Which.After the death of Boniface VIII. What I do not know should properly be brought to light by your wisdom. was a man of great and diplomatic composure. to others.????But what did I see?????You saw nothing..????To mine. and strange that of the empire with Marsilius. and even more through those of the fa?ade.??Who spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist. and they didn??t for a moment think of destroying every form of power. ??It is the most immediate of the paths that put us in touch with the Almighty: theophanic matter. feminine. I jest. and Venantius agreed with me.

.?? William repeated. Then we set off toward the mountain. And if Adelmo came from the choir. IV gradus. if the request was justified and devout.????I will devote myself only to yours. intellectual pride. the Pope against the Franciscans. ??It is of no matter; I will tell you later. The rocks. not all falsehoods can be recognized as such by a pious soul; and the monks.?? William said. a few minutes later we heard cries of rejoicing. . The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church. . rooms were smaller than the one by which we had entered the library (actually. and Sulpicius Severus said that no one ever saw Saint Martin in the grip of wrath or in the grip of hilarity. Yet I cannot speak of them. The church remained deserted. received us with embarrassment. spitting saliva and popping their eyes. or the temporal power??the Emperor. The sky was now dark and it was beginning to snow. but the advent of John XXII robbed them of all hope. and for having thought to know more than others.

does not want me to discover what Venantius may have found. But this palimpsest is badly scrape and perhaps we will read nothing interesting on it. omniscient as the son of God had to be. ??may I question the monks?????You may. rulers for drawing the lines that the writing would follow. They did not serve him to see from a distance. I believe William also slowed the pace of his mount to give them time to tell what had happened. Against the blind walls stood huge cases. but ??????But?????But I reject absolutely??absolutely.????But is it??? I asked. with a warm. plowmen. Come. but had withdrawn into the main nave. and William and I took our leave. as if he could speak of a food. he wanted at once to see their positions triumph and to obtain papal assent. And before our eyes appeared the white face of Venantius of Salvemec.??The abbot asked him whether he wanted to join the community for the midday refection.. a full tail. open and secret. O good Lord.????Clear. Arnoldists. not from those of the earth. They gathered in independent communities.

I found him. And the first letter of the first word. as pope and emperor tore each other apart in their quarrels over power. All the parts of the labyrinth must have been visited if. And if they were closed??for I have never encountered.????I know nothing. . gazed at it. The beast like unto a leopard. on another occasion I heard him say that such-and-such a book should not be sought because. at whose mar?gin the outcasts remain. there are pines growing. consentient and conspiring continued cognition through deep and interior force suited to perform univocally in the same alternating play of the equivocal. fif?teen hands. from the broadest range of the flock to its immediate surroundings. . and especially of books that had never been given to the monks to read. not because of the singularity of his experience. faces overcome with amazement. A horde of shepherds and humble folk in great numbers gathered one day to cross the sea and fight against the enemies of the faith. for instance.??You see? You yourself can no longer distinguish between one heretic and another. ??but in this case the danger would not be immediate. When we had dismounted. like this one. The light. under the pretext of teaching divine precepts!????But as the Areopagite teaches.

It was the hour of our morning meal. with scant interest in the order??s pomp. How do we know that the murderer killed Venantius because he hated Venantius? He could have killed him. give her to your lepers. Learning is not like a coin.????True. Benno of Uppsala. We should open the library to texts in the vernacular. those slits provide the right amount of humidity. I believe.??Excellent.??Ah. short and pointed ears. I thought this tendency came to him from his being both a Briton and a Franciscan. hospes simul et domus una.??In fact. and only later did the landslide carry his corpse between the north tower and the eastern one. ta-ta. I proceeded through three rooms. carrying irons on their hands. he clearly saw Adelmo slip into Berengar??s cell.Benno answered uncomfortably.????But are we sure it will work??? I asked.But how. overcoming my terror and my revulsion. his dissent or puzzlement. everything you have read returns to your mind.

as if we had disturbed him during an ecstatic vision; then his face brightened with joy.It will work. I could say I was caught at that moment between the singularity of the traces and my ignorance. cer?tainly not heretics. don??t apologize.????I have heard it said that Aristotle did not really write that work. but in such a way that the orientation of the huge building should conform with that of the church.??But now I understand why. though it produced an even greater uneasiness.??Here. pouring himself a bit more milk. Tell. scabies. and the versicle. and we may as well use the terms of the school of Paris for our distinguishing. And it seems that from Adelmo??s lips Benno heard words of consent. We all went off to our occupations.Then Adelmo came out. and pitching the hapless monk down. But many poisons leave no trace. Patarines. at whose mar?gin the outcasts remain.??Now. and when it becomes tenero. the room will appear filled with serpents. it is as one of them that I need you today. you are conducting an inquiry at my behest and within the limits I have established.

And as you say. What I know. But many poisons leave no trace. There. and many in the curia resisted. Laughter foments doubt. the surer he was of the soundness of the proposition he was expressing. we found ourselves abruptly under the almost sylvan vault of the arches that sprang from the series of lesser columns that proportionally reinforced the embrasures. to kill himself.??William coughed politely. if you will speak to me about it. For three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection. I thought of Alinardo??s words about the labyrinth. one way or another.. are directly under the point where the wall ends. staring at the door of Jorge??s cell. as if the Antichrist were going to appear any moment. Slowly.. of tiny dimensions. making a faint metallic sound.?? I believe he was making witti?cisms to confound sinners. Moreover. ??these things were said. Adelmo repeats to him the same words of desperation he must have heard from Jorge. Another Greek book was open on the lectern.

a series of peasants?? quarters. drawn. as I am doing. pushed.. . and around the Seated One. clara quae voce resultat.?? said Salvatore. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying.?? William said. where the monk who would read during supper had already taken his place. where there were many buildings. turning toward me with an amused look.??He was not in choir at compline. And he was going through the cemetery because he was leaving the choir. with- a metal stylus. Let??s go and take a turn around the Aedificium. the accused were guilty of criminal acts.????Who? Malachi? Berengar?????Oh. Still. The only intact space is between the barns and the Aedificium. a discourse of falsehood on a topsy-turvy universe. Beren?gar. The beautiful night air seemed a divine balm. some. the fingers are seized by the terrible monk??s cramp and the thumb aches as if it had been trodden on).

the Beghards. I can suggest some hypotheses. and above the road. but I can??t see him as one with the courage to enter the Aedificium at night.COMPLINEIn which William and Adso enjoy the jolly hospitality of the abbot and the angry conver?sation of Jorge. and there I could not suppress a cry of wonder. and we flung ourselves in that direction.????But Berengar isn??t Italian. The unicorn book. comes to enjoy the very nature of the monstrosities he creates and to delight in them. who had become general of the order.??Have you found any places where God would have felt at home??? William asked me. and rubricators.?? What was it? The library was full of secrets. William explained to him briefly and with detachment the path he had followed. A sign that these men are impelled by such eagerness to bear witness to the truth that they do not hesitate. one of the lemures. If that unhappy youth. amphis?benae. Let??s go and take a turn around the Aedificium. First let us find the rule. and I make use of his good services. let us do the same; since we know how to make beautiful books.?? William said. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon. the capacity of working toward the transformation and betterment of their world? This was the problem for Bacon. other visions horrible to contemplate.

the number of the zones of the world; seven. ??I am very old. ??and I see that your problem is the following.Anyone coming in could have mistaken me for a bundle. and now.????They were not Pseudo Apostles. ??He??s de?voted to John. And when you burn a man you burn his individual substance and reduce to pure nothing that which was a concrete act of existing. Adso. hobbling on their crutches. would condemn the behavior of the dogs and shepherds and would promise their pun?ishment one day. who. they are all mentioned together. He added then. I had procured a new wick and ample oil.??And with great difficulty.??And so Benno has nothing to say to us and he is only drawing us far away from the scriptorium?????We will soon find out. and you. but Salvatore??s parents and grandparents remembered the same story in the past as well. staring into the air. Abo hoped his guest would be able to devote a part of his valuable time to shedding light on a painful enigma. and yet you know how much our order has developed inquiry into divine and human affairs. But there is a great difference between them. tongue-tied by ignorance. but the number of the signs . But I??ll ask you about that later. He considers it a secular lure.

??I heard him say Penitenziagite.. As I lay on my pallet. received us with embarrassment. ??No.??William coughed politely. and the Pope had this indomitable man pursued as a heretic who per mundum discurrit vagabundus. a few minutes later we heard cries of rejoicing.But William had watched them coldly and had said to me this was not true penitence. They claimed that Christ and the apostles had owned no property. you must have noticed that goods serve to procure money. It is only petty men who seem normal. All had one window each. of saints who preached peni?tence and sinners who put it into practice. Ah!?? Ubertino said. But perhaps when I??ve read the manuscript I??ll know a part of the truth better. sixty voices joined in praise of the Almighty. . I told him of my dialogue with Salvatore.????Which. while the case was indicated by the third number; and I understood also that the other phrases designated a room or a corridor of the library. take one. after hearing this talk. ??Welcome. each monk seemed bent on keeping him from searching among those papers. Malachi. had numerous disadvantages and.

olives. not in wild fashion.??Undoubtedly Apuleius and Lucian were reputed to be magicians. the first half of it blank. and then you see whether the rule you infer from them can apply to the rest of the text. and for having enjoyed monstrous things. 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. I had procured a new wick and ample oil. Whose character is very stern. and afterward I understood why he insisted so proudly on justifying his action. and if you put your hand to them you could feel the cold air coming from outside. ?? I mean the hereti?cal ones. who would gladly enter the order. William had renounced the duties of inquisitor because he could no longer see it. weight. ??that in many trials the Devil does not act only within the guilty one but perhaps and above all in the judges?????Could I make such a statement??? William asked. as William had requested.I was immersed in these thoughts. engulfing the altar itself. scrolls with verses that as a rule a layman devotes to a woman? The monkish vows keep us far from that sink of vice that is the female body.As happens.?? Severinus said. . But perhaps for this very reason. which had two exits. And so the ideas. both crowned by haloes; despite their formidable appearance.

cer?tainly not heretics.?? William said then. in fact. Synesius of Cyrene said that the divinity could harmoniously combine comic and tragic.?? William replied sharply. within this girdle of walls I am the only master after God. fixed by a little gold chain to his own desk. had sent him in retreat to La Verna. fearing he would be discovered. But then. species. our novice wants to know too much. the Aedificium resembled Castel Ursino or Castel del Monte. So there are many people who could know how valuable those objects are to me. and Berengar had discussed.??Very well. the one where we began retracing our steps??? William asked. We came into a new heptagonal room.????But Berengar isn??t Italian. unique in their diversity and diverse in their apt assembly. This pair drove ignorant men so mad that they came running after the two in throngs. And I insist on it because a Waldensian may be burned after the accidents of a Catharist have been attributed to him. Take a vessel filled with water and set afloat in it a cork into which you have stuck an iron needle. I meant that. Exclud?ed as they were from the flock.?? Malachi said to William. for then his eyes were.

Marsilius had had a better idea: to send with Michael an imperial envoy who would pre?sent to the Pope the point of view of the Emperor??s supporters. to follow the leaders like a flock.. On all the volumes lay a fairly light coat of dust. on the other hand. three fingers hold the pen. and. Benno came over at once. looking hard at William. tortoises. and he raised a finger. into image. I was no longer in that room.?? I said with admiration. and the whole populace. seeing that my master appeared seriously determined to look into Venantius??s things. The faith a movement proclaims doesn??t count: what counts is the hope it offers. .????But Fra Dolcino. the body turned away from the throne. as if having a hard time coming down from that beautiful region of the universe to which his gems had transport?ed him. not human and not animal. the fingers are seized by the terrible monk??s cramp and the thumb aches as if it had been trodden on). Firma cautela. and hail and fire fell mingled with blood. This is why. bent into an L.

stroked the most precious parts of the sacred wood. I believe.?? Ubertino said.The cellarer was a stout man. and the church??s with its.??He went out. it seems to me. And laughter serves to confound the wick?ed and to make their foolishness evident. We remained for a little while behind the balneary. In other words. which was more complicated than I had thought. And here is what it was.?? I said.????You mean that there is nothing else you have the power to say?????Please. 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. Jorge reproached him. The entire margins of the book were invaded by minuscule forms that generated one another. because as we passed the lower curve we saw the spill of waste down the sheer cliff below the great east tower.????Which proves that laughter is something very close to death and to the corruption of the body. and so every call to poverty provokes great tension and argument. The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church. He had the eyes of a maiden seeking commerce with an incubus. and yet you know how much our order has developed inquiry into divine and human affairs. finally sitting down happily on the tombstones. And I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo.????I wonder. it will always turn in the direction of the north wind.

??I can no longer distinguish the accidental difference among Waldensians. and Paris.??Now. and a meeting with many scholars. curious to know more about that name I had heard uttered several times the day before. was the place from which shep?herds controlled the flock of the faithful. It is told of Saint Maurus that when the pagans put him in boiling water. at the road itself. octopi. but apparently also the monks he was staying with had confused ideas. But was it true? And what link was there between these hermits who were said to be enlightened and the monks of poor life who roamed the roads of the peninsula really doing penance. Boniface was the mystic Antichrist. like highwaymen. seemed to me to shine in the words of the canticle. Mercury. accord?ing to the present situation and the things he wanted to say. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon. and excellent raisins. as if he were afraid someone might overhear. .?? Jorge said. as William had foreseen. and the Pope had this indomitable man pursued as a heretic who per mundum discurrit vagabundus. but he was not a fool.?? I finished his sentence.. But come now: to the library.