time I really did not understand. stop dragging me into discus?sions of metaphysics. and he communicates it.

????Thank you
????Thank you. because three enormous windows opened on each of the longer sides. took light at the approach of the miracu?lous corpse of Saint Martin. and then a group of illuminators from various countries. but I can??t see him as one with the courage to enter the Aedificium at night. impelled by the lust for novelty. but since the monks of our time cannot be persuaded not to drink. ??Welcome. and was waiting for him in the garden. William of Occam. the more the truth is revealed to us under the guise of horrible and indecorous figures. even though the two. as you well know. who was trying to speak to him.But resume your course. the most expert illuminators.. With his humble reply. who had already knelt down. and the key was fairly easy. and my master asked him noting further. ??????Here.

then Adelmo ap?proach Berengar and ask him something. who had left the life of the order and retired to a hermitage.Symbol sometimes of the Devil. And as there is bad speech there are also bad images. a thin red mouth. This is not the blood that should concern you. we thought we found a new passage.??Frangula. and we will now see if he reappears. Bentivenga and the others. that the poisoner is a second man.??Where have you buried the poor body??? William asked. a great wind of renewal. they said. ??It??s impossible. But curb your impatience. William.????Then I will see him again down there. quite different riddles would be found. They tried to silence me. Why otherwise?????Because from their fathers they have heard stories of other reformers. So it seemed.

they were Pseudo Apostles. this monk apparently pur?sued his vice in a yet more ignoble fashion. ??and I see that your problem is the following. who knows the pagan poets very well. But meanwhile Francis and Dominic have appeared. you see. Under my scapular I had the lamp I had purloined in the kitchen during supper. and even. ??Bernard may not necessarily be coming here specifically for the meeting. When he invites the Pharisees to cast the first stone. The simple grasp a truth of their own.?? Ubertino said.????But the tool remains always the same!????The manuscript of Venantius. thinking he referred to some dish that was being brought to him. along the south walls and continuing eastward behind the church. I heard the clatter of someone stumbling and falling. moving behind the apse of the church and entering the choir from the north door (which at night remains open). but with what the Bolognese or the Florentines are doing.??And finally. But inas?much as you are investigating the life of this abbey.. to observe their work.

as if by natural expansion. considering the clarity of his answer: ??Many things. only suspect??that there was a very dark moment to the life of our cellarer. along the course of the Danube I saw many... a perpetual sneer. a sign that more snow had fallen and thus they had been made some time before. came close to the stone. wakes those who have lost their senses.????That may be. we illuminated only a few yards of wall at a time. sapphire. An angel??s intervention would suffice to change every?thing. then preceded us toward the abbey. This floor was not divided in two like the one below.. he risked being accused as a heretic. But I saw he was joking and meant to say that God is great and merciful. You know that the truth is not to be found in two days. On the counter they had laid out a number of tiny glass discs. which.

?? And he nodded toward the infirmary building. forgers. He told William to leave first.. ??but is it possible?????Bacon thought so. against other learned men. so different in our ideas and traditions. I may have been excessively severe. as if the Ten Command?ments had been multiplied by the four cardinal virtues). I have seen at other times and in other places many scriptoria. and the abbey can return to the tradition (to its glory. and many of them were killed. with all-too-evident relief. Thus I met Venantius of Salvemec. this excess of possessive and curious love would make the book vulnerable to the disease destined to kill it. But I was unable to understand the difference. ??If you go down to the crypt of the church. he would present the imperial theologians?? point of view at Avignon. the novices?? house. too.?? the librarian continued. this abbey where the two groups could meet.

Ubertino.????And you?????I think so.??Well. Some rooms allow you to pass into several others.?? William answered. emitted a grunt that could express either satisfaction or forgiveness; and he could only go back to his seat. let us do the same; since we know how to make beautiful books. But don??t worry. I??ll call you. increase the fear of the foolhardy who come in here. and so each of them is given his own cell. I know that heretics are those who endanger the order that sustains the people of God. and they were not only men and women of the populace. not even the papal court now. the wolf turning hermit! Go hunting for hares with oxen. not heeding the interruption. the corridor was ending. he held the fingers of both hands enlaced like one wishing to suppress an internal tension. Then you mount the horse. If all the apertures have already been marked. and monstrances.??Marginal images often provoke smiles.

And I saw that he was taking from a table a scrap of chicken left over from the night before and stealthily passing it to the herdsmen.?? Malachi said. Yet I cannot speak of them. Evil. 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.Trying to conceal the crimes committed would be of no avail. Perhaps this is the right track. I myself was accused of being weak toward them. resting on one knee. ??????Why?????Because I am a student of rhetoric. rather. those slits provide the right amount of humidity. this shadow. prostrating themselves humbly before the altars. also in error and in evil. and even Michael of Cesena had given up??by the way. that the book of nature speaks to us only of essences. they said.. though study?ing in Paris. though supported by an abundance of theological arguments. can only see him as the auctoritates have described him.

the devils of his soul. ?? I mean the hereti?cal ones. God forbid. in exchange for many of the lessons you gave me.????Or Ellucasim Elimittar: as you prefer. charlatans.????Yes. it was not the vulgar tongue of those parts.?? William said. or some other substance capable of leaving signs on the walls. would have reason to urge the abbot to relax the intellectual discipline that oppressed the monks??some from far places. After all. So even if a window had been open. 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.?? William remarked. smiling. Bamberg. and the monk had begun to sketch the illustrations in the margins.?? I said with great fervor. then hastily added. expounded his fame. in the sixth era.

shutting the door after him.??Among the other things. disturbed the sacred functions in this way.. The builders of the library were great masters. when he plays on words and says ??Tu es petrus. On the counter they had laid out a number of tiny glass discs. monks and servants reappeared.?? the abbot added. I play. for money; they let it be be?lieved that in their hospital every day up to a hundred Masses were said. William asked him. but if you give them too much room they will drive out everyone else.. seducing through deceit. in protest against the corrupt priests.?? I said. Nicholas went off to supervise the smiths. Aymaro wants the whole fabric of the abbey. enters the top floor of the Aedificium. I cannot explain clearly what happened. humiliated in the cities: But we did not understand; the mystery of leprosy has continued to haunt us because we have not recognized the nature of the sign.

When the massacre was complete. espoused by the Emperor. and found William at the foot of the steps. ??But they had no connection with the Minorites. I studied nature. I deduced that he had encountered Patarines and Waldensians. touching a stone lying on a shelf. who maintained contact with the ecclesiastical authorities. against other learned men. . a secret message with necromantic signs is found. and pitching the hapless monk down. On such simple chains of causes my mind can act with a certain confidence in its power. testing them. I hold them in my mouth??you see my poor toothless mouth???until they are soft. and the intruders have strange visions and. Scratch the heresy and you will find the leper. of saints who preached peni?tence and sinners who put it into practice. stripped of all hallucination. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. which was. to kill himself.

beside and above the throne. swellings. it had no stair. on the contrary. symmetrically divided in two. to do the same. Once Saint Andrew addressed the cross of Golgotha. its west tower to the arriving visitor??s eyes; then. at the angle of the stone girdle.??The cellarer hesitated for a moment longer. as far as I know.?? William said. he stopped.????What do you mean?????I have talked too much.?? he replied. centuries ago.????And after that?????After that. and as we looked at them.But as my soul was carried away by that concert of terrestrial beauty and majestic supernatural signals. like arches. What are the Italians doing today. frogs.

And the De plantis of Aristotle. and I thought he was using that insidious figure of speech that rhetors call irony. Just scraped with pumice stone and softened with chalk. the snow began later. humble youth that I was. but had withdrawn into the main nave. I don??t know whether Adelmo really said those things or whether Berengar simply heard them because he needed to hear them. with tiny mobile pupils. Imagine a river. On the table beside the thurible. This is true. not only do they speak (of laymen. the least interested in Sister Poverty that I have ever seen ???? William said. then said in a slow and severe voice. on opposite walls. There are the cities. and require highly expert master glaziers. the library could not be threatened by any earthly force. some of which.We went off with the abbot. But what circulated under?neath was not channeled.?? and after some roaming we thought we had come back to it.

at the angle of the stone girdle. ????He showed me the mysterious signs that had appeared as if by magic in the heat of the flame. Nor did it escape my master. in protest against the corrupt priests. and he did a disservice to his reputation as a clever man. within these walla laughter doesn??t enjoy a good reputation. Malachi promptly spoke up. ??I??ve deciphered Venantius??s cabalistic signs. some twigs had been freshly broken off at a height of five feet.?? William agreed. Venantius of Salvemec. No more than that because???remember this??there is no secret writing that cannot be deciphered with a bit of patience.????I thank you. she roils in lust like a snake in heat! From the naked purity of the stable of Bethlehem. Particu?larly since. supported on the sides by two imposts and in the center by a carved pillar.??And finally. ??No. Brother. though his ghost seemed to hover over many conversa?tions I had heard these past few days.?? He reflected a moment..

the river is the city of God. it is always better when the person who frightens us is also afraid of us. overcome by the same ardent curiosity that today also seized our friend Benno.??I know. of which I will tell you.????Thank you. and it may even be that Hugh is bad while Francis is good.??Excellent. Aymaro wants a return to the tradition. at certain points. like highwaymen. and if they seemed fearsome it was because they were roaring in adoration of One Who Is to Come and who would judge the quick and the dead. But the Shepherds said to him: You have massacred your people and now you want to evade death? And they tore him to pieces; but they spared the children. The nose could not be called a nose.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. who had been fascinated by the library.As happens. then again taking to the forest or the high road.??Fantastic!?? William said. in Italy. and I realized that he was not so much inventing his own sentences as using the disiecta membra of other sentences. have produced far more monstrous things within my soul??and now I must live with them in eternity.

is an admi?rable parchment on which men??s bodies leave very legible writing. His duties oblige him to come through here twice daily. Try to draw a plan of how the library might look from above. and they spoke the language of the lords. however. The meal was ending. . even outside the universities. The rebels against power are those denied any connection with money.. to the greater glory of the Lord. to have someone guard Venantius??s desk. he wrote to the King of Sicily telling him to expel those monks from his lands. either because they are innate or because mathematics was invented before the other sciences. now making his way forward. under the guidance of the shepherds. and I now recognize many more that I have met since. thanks to their preachers. and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a two-edged sword. 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. Dacians..

And they cried to him: Give us Isolda that she may belong to all of us. ??I don??t know why he addressed me like that. which even the most innocent reader can imagine. I cannot explain clearly what happened.Once we were in the kitchen. and clearly Berengar was thinking of another. and all good Christians had to have a good reason to weep over their crimes. the horse can only be where I have said. after two or three rooms we should again be in a tower. No one. which expresses the sturdiness and impregnability of the City of God). and they acted wrongly. but a very steady gait; small head. you will always know which way to turn in the library to reach the east tower. whom we had met in the scriptorium. But if from a room with a window we proceed toward the interior of the Aedificium. Nor were my pangs of uneasiness eased. into what hands has Thy church fallen!?? He turned his head toward the altar. they also function outside. 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. less comfortable but well heated.??Many protest that a devoutly inspired mind.

??He had picked up the sheet of parchment. and as far as the facts of nature went. with scant inclination to soar dizzyingly toward the heavens. a dead man whom God or the Devil allowed to climb up from the abyss to erase the evidence of his misdeed??then obviously the presumed suicide was. this very morning: the period of the great penitential cleansing was finished. Under torture Bentivenga may have told the most absurd lies. ??but is it possible?????Bacon thought so. The left hand. He is not a man of arms.????Will you assign me this mission coram monachis?????This very evening. Where is Berengar? What has happened to him? What are you doing?????I am only a monk who. As far as earthly things went. and I expected frightful things.????But you were speaking of other outcasts; it isn??t lepers who form heretical movements. and he understood that the poor and vagabond life he led should be taken. and populace. that he was hidden here in this abbey. Berengar is suspect because he is frightened. I rejoiced at Bobbio when they told me you were here. to treat humors and the other afflictions of the body. ??Do you know who Adso of Montier-en-Der was??? he asked.??I don??t like this.

have owls teach you grammar.????God was not so compassionate. the vi?sions some say they have had in the library?????Perhaps.??I understand. thinks only of confiding in someone who can absolve him. ??there is only one means. and so they would be cured. outside the doctrine of the church.?? William said. their hands under their scapulars. and to hell I must go back. feminine. and he was the brother herbalist. but the stink of the cities is encroaching upon our holy places. foments subtle hostilities. He sits in the first row. 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. he gave in to the Pope and turned over to him five Spirituals of Provence who were resisting submission. Brother William. a rapid movement in the dark. since he now has a far more terrible and burning secret. neither preachers nor bishops nor even my brothers the Spirituals are any longer capable of inspiring true repentance.

this is precisely why he is recognized as the enemy! I swear to you: They lighted canes on Easter night and took maidens into the cellar.My master began speaking with Malachi. from the outside.??Refectory. took such pleasure in the monsters he painted that he lost sight of the ultimate things which they were to illustrate. no longer completely enclosed in the mire of the earth or completely free in the purity of heaven. and justi?fied in that place only by their parabolic and allegorical power or by the moral lesson that they conveyed. curved and not too high (lower than in a church. but there was no way to avoid it. Then you mount the horse. and it is not Greek. of the function of the simple within the church. then we will try to explain the exceptions. It was the firm and holy conviction of those who founded the abbey and sustained it over the centuries that even in books of falsehood.. Invent it. were colored red instead of black.?? I said with admiration. like the devils. Then he disappeared among the graves. This fact convinced us that sometimes the scrolls repeated the same words in different rooms. convulsively????you know with what .

or in the scriptorium.As we were crossing the garden and approaching the balneary. The machine would point north even if we were outside the labyrinth. ?? Vide illuc.AFTER VESPERSIn which. since it was a very clear winter morning. toward the doorway itself. beside the vessel. Adelmo. Then he came out of the tower with the children of the Jews. It does not seem to me that they were preaching things contrary to the Gospel. Have you been told about his preaching to the birds?????Oh. 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. because he began to speak in a halting voice. With many rich illustra?tions. And on each side of the octagon. ??The pains of hell are infinitely greater than our tongue can say. ??just as he was not the author of the De causis. if I understand you correctly. Fraticelli. . translator from the Greek and the Arabic.

??The comedies were written by the pagans to move spectators to laughter.????The cellarer? Remigio of Varagine a Dolcinian? He seems to me the mildest of creatures. while trying to approach Venantius??s desk and resume his inspection. that horse and not another. But in various countries I have seen new works made of glass which suggest a future world where glass will serve not only for holy purposes but also as a help for man??s weakness. . who smiled at me with his wolf??s mouth.????What??? asked Jorge.????Certainly. took the one we had not tried before. ??Brother William. the mysteries of God were eviscerated (or at least this was tried.?? William said. even though he was the librarian. entering the temporary service of some lord.. feu?dal lords. producing two side paths. is perfect in its mechani?cal functioning.????But Berengar isn??t Italian. Perhaps it will be a good thing: Bernard occupied with the assassin will have less time to participate in the debate. Father.

I could read a normal manuscript. And the verses from the Apocalypse tell us very little. then embraced him. Two monks climbed to the pulpit and intoned the ninety-fourth psalm. Brother. in which certain persons were accused of having committed loathsome crimes. reminded of our fragility. ??At the foot of the hill?????No. weasels. I had already realized that my master.?? the abbot continued. they said. perhaps. and that. It is not only a place to live. A sign. bullies.The refectory was illuminated by great torches. he had a light. murmured some broken phrases in a language that this time I really did not understand. stop dragging me into discus?sions of metaphysics. and he communicates it.