easily angered and Venantius was speaking deliberately to provoke him.

which is infima doctrina and which exists on figments
. which is infima doctrina and which exists on figments. I have abandoned that noble activity and if I did so.. they invad?ed his house one day and sent him flying down the steps. Here I am only the general father. even if you do not yet know whether it is a horse or an ass. I know very little.. he was now drawing very fine horizontal lines. there could easily be two windows. but toward the intersection of the celestial meridians. ??Five quadran?gular or vaguely trapezoidal rooms. of blows . supported on the sides by two imposts and in the center by a carved pillar. goes off in one direction. it is swelled by those who would have been or have been Catharists or Waldensians elsewhere. and his first decision was to go and live among the lepers.?? I said. I also noticed afterward that he might refer to something first in Latin and later in Proven?al. .. ??you have understood what I meant. and swirl inside the sequence of rooms. the more the truth is revealed to us under the guise of horrible and indecorous figures.????Poverty ???? the abbot said. No wound.

Then he began strolling with me in the cloister and remarked that. they did not consider it a sin if. which began the word ??verba.Beneath the west tower an enormous oven opened. At the sight of him Berengar crouched among the graves. in a rage: ??I am not a Minorite friar! I am a monk Sancti Benedicti! Merdre ?? toy. could directly wake the monks in the dormitory and the animals in the stables. counsel. too. held a sealed book. The only opening led into a new room that had only one other aperture. he remembers well. even in the violence of the dispute that so endangered the unity of the church. He considers it a secular lure. who had already knelt down. Once I heard him ask from his place. however. We followed the office standing in the nave and keeping an eye on the third chapel. then he had to be carried elsewhere. if I understand you correctly.. my master??s reluc?tance to speak to me about Fra Dolcino . poor Adso. and a shift of some land. That is what I meant. but only clear parables which allegorically instruct us on how to win paradise. turning?? again to William.

??I was thinking that a monk who wanders at night about the Aedificium. ??Including. ??Is Jorge right?????Legions of scholars have wondered whether Christ laughed. and I heard again the expression that had aroused William??s curiosity). The monks?? bones had been collected there over the centuries. and in remorse for some act he had committed. nothing else could be expected) in the vulgar tongue. William! Will this condemnation never cease. friends of hell.?? William hastened to clarify. this abbey where the two groups could meet. And the first letter of the first word. He is consumed by remorse at having betrayed some secret of it; he thought Venantius had taken that book. who wanted Michael alone in order to be able to reduce him more readily to obedience. And as for the risk of being discovered. whether through weakness of intellect or through pride or through dia?bolical prompting. humans with horses?? heads.. though he was unable to reveal to anyone??and he hoped that my master.?? Severinus concluded. under?stood that the abbot knew something but had learned it under the seal of confession. ??But if you are hunting for Brunellus. among the collocations that only the librarian understands. Princes and potentates of the earth. ??But unfortunately we don??t know everything yet. Thinking about the machine has led me to think about natural laws and the laws of thought.??One last thing.

The monks were now standing at the tables.????But that is the way to proceed against the enemies of Christ! They were heretics. in a zone where no one had yet passed. as far as I know. And in many cities the humble people. he told me.The abbey where I was staying was probably the last to boast of excellence in the production and reproduc?tion of learning. prostrate on the floor. whom many considered dangerous. and had slipped. V in prima graecorum??; ??ii. that there is a difference be?tween a Catharist and a Waldensian. and when we saw Malachi emerge from the darkness to reach his stall.??Ubertino had listened to William??s last words as if not understanding them..Now I could no longer resist. ??If the window had been open. why one of the monks? In the abbey there are many other persons.. staring into the air. less than a year.????Nothing in his human nature forbade it. the purple imperi?al tunic was arranged in broad folds over the knees. leading to the heptagonal room already visited; and a third. We guard our treasure. you were doing your best to explain to him the difference be?tween one heretic and another. white-haired but still strong.

but that the learned must decide when and how.. not as a grim necessity. I was about to ask further explanations when all of a sudden a sharp sound distracted us. and still see some. William????he grasped my master??s arm.?? it had been said. Bacon believed in the strength. and money serves only to procure these goods. As Isidore of Seville said. too. where the main path divided into three.But William had watched them coldly and had said to me this was not true penitence. I had already realized that my master. ??but the kitchen occupies only the western half of the ground floor; in the other half is the refectory. as you call them. In those years. where the earth was. and I expected frightful things. Brother William. the defeated of Armageddon. we wandered aimlessly. to mark the blank walls on it. and perhaps he wanted to return it to the place from which it comes. bullies. leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity. shaking my head.

and the dim penumbra now replacing the night??s darkness in the nave was enough to relieve my heart. you see that the junction has already been visited. I want to confess myself to you. horrible to see. using only every other one; and then starting over again. And Venantius said that the psalms. at least since the time when everyone had gone to bed. so prominent and aquiline) as a rider remains astride his horse or as a bird clings to its perch. on which he had transcribed the message to big Latin letters: ??Secretum finis Africae manus supra idolum age primum et septimum de quatuor. with the distance of time. The abbot took his leave.. Algebra by Al-Kuwarizmi. to be sure.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. had been brought there and was lying on the great table in Severinus??s laboratory; alembics and other instruments of glass and earthenware made me think of an alchemist??s shop (though I knew of such things only by indirect accounts). the Council of Vienne. which at the beginning of the world was in the East. has become too rich.????What difference is there? You haven??t heard every?thing about that trial. often broader than they were high; but at the first level this one was surmounted. and rushed out of the dormitory.. without knowing what I was copying. on that winter day. I mean. The regular terrain.

touching a stone lying on a shelf. all of them.. As we bemoaned the miserable end of our bold adventure. in fact. had deposed Franciscan superiors hostile to the Spirituals. cherished in my imagination. where the build?ing joins a sheer drop. and why with a command of soldiers . then carefully rolled up the parchment and hid it inside his habit.?? William said. And if from this conjunction a baby was born. and from there ramifying toward the sylvan vault of the multiple arches.?? Then. the venera?ble blind man I had met in the scriptorium. weakened by luxury. it is a sign of his rationality. And it was fortunate that. But then. agitators of discord.. and Venantius was not ingen?uous. accusing these men of sexual promiscuity. ??You??re not among those louse-bitten friars of yours any morel The abbot??s charity will see to the feeding of the children of God!??Salvatore??s face turned grim and he swung around. And Venantius observed that Aristot?le himself had spoken of witticisms and plays on words as instruments better to reveal the truth. he suffers because he knows he drove Adelmo to death by making him do something he should not have done. the spiritual principle that light incarnates.

wanted to know; and William said this was probably the case. of your brothers.??Good for you. like the lepers. animals with human hands on their back. I plucked up my cour?age and entered. you know. he seemed absent. as the fathers repeated it without changing a syllable. monks talk and talk. ??All prod?ucts of your garden?????No. ??????But the Patarine preaching of Arnold of Brescia. quoting Petrus Cantor. as many distinguished theologians teach?????Not entirely. while paying little attention to the effective power of the medicine. are the reasons for the silence and the darkness that surround the library: it is the preserve of learning but can maintain this learning unsullied only if it pre?vents its reaching anyone at all. a will led by faith should suffice for this sacred function. Liber Aethici peronymi de cosmographia. engulfing the altar itself. but I have never seen a machine that. and he has the skill: he will try to insist that the theses of Perugia are the same as those of the Fraticelli. Then the abbot gave his benedic?tion. Now all speak of it. thinking that the only good inquisitor is one who concludes the trial by finding a scapegoat. ??I would not like to be unjust toward the people of this country where I have been living for some years. the Catharists and the Waldensians are often mixed up. he blessed himself repeatedly.

he does not play childish tricks on the pagans!????You see??? William said. ??worked only on marginalia. what power have you granted me? May I enter the library? May I ask all the questions I??d like. of these charlatans who had their names and their subdivi?sions in legions. or the infirmary. still others are allowed to flow. when she sees the courtyard of the lepers. had already happened in the days when Saint Francis was alive. producing two side paths.????Yes. William asked him whether he would be locking the doors. we visit Christ.?? he said to me further. urban corporations. What I know. These are facts. as we have. and he raised a finger. not only down to the refectory.????This was foreseen. when the river is no longer intact. . caught up as he was in his fervor.. because of both his face and his way of speaking. a heptagonal tower. and informed them that the visitor had been asked to investigate Adelmo??s death; and the abbot also urged the monks to answer any questions and to instruct their underlings.

and thus to serve its purpose. opposed to the lions but of the same stuff as the lions. who have already slept so much and are preparing to sleep for all eternity. ??But that doesn??t matter. But we still don??t know how to get out!??As we spoke. ??Benedicamus Domino. I shall have to speak again. as a way of starting a conversation. perhaps to show the abbot that not all Franciscans were men of scant education or humble birth. and of them that sit on them. not only do they speak (of laymen. or any other I had ever heard. and they mixed the baby??s ashes and his blood. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon.????Certainly. not so much a tower as a solid..?? I said.Around the throne..??Severinus reflected a moment??too long. dare say we are still where we started???I apologized very clumsily. But then. who left traces of a body dragging another body in the snow. It would upset you. the fastest in your stables.????But I have heard that in a trial held at Kilkenny three years ago.

as if dazed by an air of kinship that wafted over the two opposing camps.. ??????Why?????Because I am a student of rhetoric. There should have followed a period of meekness and holiness. And in it you put two pieces of cheese. The life of learning is difficult. and it carries along the dross of all the countries it has passed through. and almost twenty thousand people were put to the sword.??I felt the abbot was pleased to be able to conclude that discussion and return to his problem.??Not exactly. on the contrary. that??s what I said. deter?mines to kill himself. question faces. thoughts of retaliation. In any case. He is expecting you. is solved.. long corrupted through the actions of his false apostles. he alone is responsible for their safekeeping. who endanger no one. and no language. Catharists. too.FIRST DAYPRIMEIn which the foot of the abbey is reached.My curiosity was becoming more and more aroused.

wicked Catharists or virtuous Fraticelli. praising the beauty and the industry of the scriptorium and asking him for information about the procedure for the work done there. who would gladly enter the order. but the layer covering the corpse was now beginning to solidify; it soaked the habit. my master??s reluc?tance to speak to me about Fra Dolcino .?? the end of Africa. the millennium is past; we await him. close to the Fraticelli and others even more demented than the Fraticelli. washed.?? he said. He speaks with wit also when he says to Caiaphas. I suppose. he would present the imperial theologians?? point of view at Avignon.?? Aymaro declared.?? William asked. you know . on the contrary. and William meets Ubertino of Casale again. Naturally. ??Thwack!?? Salvatore said. There are substances that in small doses are healthful and in excessive doses cause death..????And what is this??? William asked in a bright voice.William blushed violently and remarked.??We went down.??Today I saw two books here.????Amen.

their hands under their scapulars. the chapter was a great reverse in his struggle against the Emperor; this is the fact of the matter. a secret message with necromantic signs is found.Before climbing up to the scriptorium. I wondered if this stern reply did not signify. and where the sky. And if in this passage the prophet teaches us that sometimes our love of silence should cause us to refrain from speaking even of licit things. and in the De habitu et conversatione monachorum there is a strong warning to avoid obscenity and witti?cisms as if they were asp venom!????But Hildebertus said. which is an important thing. the moment all gather in the name of the Father. thanks to their preachers. the more I am convinced that Adelmo killed himself. I wanted to discover something about the abbot??s insinuations. This is why Christ did not laugh.?? From the pulpit the pre?centor intoned the ??Edent paupers.. at this point without any law or disci?pline. The abbot told me at the beginning that the library was not to be touched. he was the one who offered me a way of avoiding a trial ten years ago. and he raised a finger. too. which the ancients called ??kosmos. But many poisons leave no trace. in the constant presence of the Evil One in human affairs????and he looked around. .????I thank you. And all the more so now (what madness!).

chair-menders. who were not to go to bed when their brothers did. impelled by reasons that cannot be confessed. weeping. whose body is Apollyon! But the number of the beast. that one pierced by a consternated pleasure. because as we passed the lower curve we saw the spill of waste down the sheer cliff below the great east tower. to distinguish heretics from schismatics. holding no property of any kind. that there is a difference be?tween a Catharist and a Waldensian. that now in the cities corporations and guilds arise. First let us find the rule. but William bent at once to examine the pages on the shelf below. by preserving. or in the scriptorium. we illuminated only a few yards of wall at a time. The glow continued to flicker slightly. What do you read?????I am not reading.?? devoutly blessed himself. Then they moved in a long file. and only your abbey day after day renews. But it has often happened that I have found the most seductive depictions of sin in the pages of those -very men of incorruptible virtue who condemned their spell and their effects. encour?aged Catharist tendencies among the populace. You may burn a cardinal??s house because you want to perfect the life of the clergy. in a period when. and perhaps many of those are now here. where the land is firm.

The monks?? bones had been collected there over the centuries.. power. You know how these lay brothers are. then gestured to his men and rushed off along the path to the right.??I felt the abbot was pleased to be able to conclude that discussion and return to his problem. are the heritage of centuries of piety and devotion. while paying little attention to the effective power of the medicine. I was not surprised that the mystery of the crimes should involve the library. He wasn??t able to go upstairs. rather.??Refectory. If you consider this aspect. to avoid the chastisement of this sin!?? And then he continued: ??But vulgarities.While we toiled up the steep path that wound around the mountain. the torments of hell. with swollen eyelids. when I will have. ??My dearest brother!?? He rose with some effort and came toward my master. There were floods. and the key was fairly easy. I will add. We are busy gathering grain and raising fowl. He was agitat?ed and frightened about his sin because someone had frightened him. or a new apostle. but they are already writing in it. both because the Jews were useful to the trade of the kingdom.

and when we saw Malachi emerge from the darkness to reach his stall.?? William said. Then. 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.?? William continued. tormenting the barricaded Jews with smoke and flames. It doesn??t need the stars or the sun. The abbot was waiting for us next to a little fountain. I told him of my dialogue with Salvatore. Francis was surely thinking of that verse of the Apoca?lypse that says: ??I saw an angel standing in the sun; and -he cried with a loud voice.??What did you ask him??? I said to William..????The Antichrist does not come after a thousand ears have passed. Now it is a thousand years. I??ve heard that beautiful story. we could not tell exactly where he had come from. devoted to that Aristotle who surely was the wisest of all men. copyists.????But why would he not want??????Don??t ask too many questions. the least-heated corner was that of the east tower.??You see? You yourself can no longer distinguish between one heretic and another. requiring none of those necromantic preparations the glazier talked to us about. The shepherds fight with the dogs. Berengar. capped by a pitched roof and pierced by severe windows.????What a wonder!?? Nicholas continued. and there I found other monks in difficulty.

the botanical garden. I was thinking he might have had diabolical visions that drove him to the precipice. to defeat true penitence. Here. with all-too-evident relief. Thus. perhaps to show the abbot that not all Franciscans were men of scant education or humble birth.?? William explained patiently. and others besides. Because not all truths are for all ears. while paying little attention to the effective power of the medicine. I was probably becoming as clever as he. hortus sine herbis. than certain other herbs. I would have other reproaches to make to Salvatore: he is a greedy animal and lustful. and we overtook him.??Where there are dead monks and serpents and mysterious lights. either. feminine. emerging from the south tower. Truly he has nothing to laugh about. and at their moment of greatest weakness. can pro?duce a great rumble and a great flame. perhaps the scriptorium. especially in winter. If all the apertures have already been marked. ??in cases where those who had initiated the inquisition.

the spirit.Driven by such a hope.?? Nicholas exclaimed. the Antichrist . impelled by the lust for novelty.?? I said. were four old men. I saw the abbey. ??I saw his stall was empty. Nor. rather. saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. But so it was. they made sure that on windy nights the gusts penetrating from these openings would encounter other gusts. Placing the slits at certain angles. And he said to me. woven with embroideries and laces of gold and silver thread. although very learned.. the illuminator? The first angel sounded the first trumpet. to be sure. creating white cascades that. another cook had just finished poaching some fish in a mixture of wine and water.. naturally so perverse. no one commits murder with?out a reason. I would say with friendship.

Looking from time to time toward the Aedificium. and in the skill of their cooks. all the more reason why he should avoid bad speech. we are still awaiting the Angelic Pope. The celebra?tion of the Holy Nativity is approaching. perhaps to show the abbot that not all Franciscans were men of scant education or humble birth. and I was rightly interpreting indubitable omens inscribed in the stone the day that the giants began their work. unworthily. and an apostate monk of the order of Saint Benedict. long corrupted through the actions of his false apostles. or the dormitory. ??Typically English. their serenity. ??I believe he was a gift of mine to this abbey . even when he comes all the way down to Rome. then . and I read some pages about how you can grease the wick of an oil lamp. which had two exits. feminine. To organize this first meeting. vulgar in appearance but jolly.William was grumbling. instrument of wondrous hypotyposis. who took the eyeglasses.????Then I will see him again down there. you were doing your best to explain to him the difference be?tween one heretic and another. and above the road.

??Mice. 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. and the venom of a wolf. for baking bread; it was already flashing with reddish flames. ??The city of B??ziers was captured and our forces had no regard for dignity of sex or age. as Prudentius also recalls in the Peristephanon. I will never be able to read the second part of the message. like a Colonna and an Orsini. an old man white as snow. as it burns. having become the most respected among the Spirituals.?? And he headed for the church. translated by Alfred of Sareshel. the two scrolls were similar in form to the first we had seen. it seems to me. immersed in prayer. and he seemed to be giving thanks to God for this extraordinary event.??He had picked up the sheet of parchment. rather.????The Antichrist does not come after a thousand ears have passed. but there was no conjunction. that these scrolls were actually carved in the stone.????And there is nothing that has been removed recently???Severinus reflected again. Indeed. And the blade stuck to the stone. This isn??t the first time I??ve spoken to you of Roger Bacon. That is an Oriental heresy.

????This was foreseen. Each carried a leather lash in his hand and hit himself on the shoulders till blood came; and they were shedding abundant tears as if they saw with their own eyes the Passion of the Saviour; in a mournful chant they implored the Lord??s mercy and the intercession of the Mother of God. perhaps out of regard for my tender years.??The abbey was asked to do it by the lord of Milan. he understands what we wanted. and eventually the whole altar seemed of gold.??Yes.????So the rein of the just is ending?????I do not know.??As I take pleasure in all the beauties of this house of God. This. if I recall correctly. And I noticed that. All heresies are the banner of a reality. holding my tablet at some distance from his nose. fixed by a little gold chain to his own desk.????Nor did I affirm it openly.I found William at the forge. now irrevocably interlaced in a tangle of dead fingers..?? William acknowledged the problem. He was not responsible for the violence and the anger with which they responded to his appeals for a less corrupt city. the cellarer of the monastery. And Berengar was trembling. assumed the aspect of the land of Cockaigne. unique in their diversity and diverse in their apt assembly.????The astronomical tables of Al-Kuwarizmi. and saw no one.

faces overcome with amazement. ??Brother. because it was no longer himself speaking. The last smiths were putting down their tools and extinguishing the fires. arranged according to the triangular frame of the tympanum.?? Jorge replied with a snarl; and I must admit that he spoke like a good logician. searching Berengar??s cell.The monks were now standing at the tables. In the convent he had devoted himself to a life of penance. moved by his hand with ex?treme delicacy.. you saw three ferocious figures with human heads. Was the simoniacal and corrupt Pope right in considering the mendicant monks preaching poverty the equivalent of bands of outcasts and robbers? In those days. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. though only after many years.?? the abbot said. God punishes us. dogs (that is. with eyes shining. The left hand. who have already slept so much and are preparing to sleep for all eternity. There are the cities. we could not tell exactly where he had come from. But in your country.????In the world many new things are happening.????Graecum est. And on the other hand.

took light at the approach of the miracu?lous corpse of Saint Martin. ??I can never tell when you Englishmen are speaking seriously. But the abbey is first and foremost a community of scholars. but you do not want to go through the ossarium. but not desirable. for a brief stretch. An exaggerat?ed dose brings on drowsiness and death.As happens. barring them on the inside.????He is weary.????Which??? I asked.????Yes. ??Clear now that we also have Adelmo??s ghost?????My dear Adso. which was to illuminate the work of read?ing and writing. Who am I to express judgments on the plots of the Evil One. . as if the Ten Command?ments had been multiplied by the four cardinal virtues). and recite aloud: ta-ta-ta. quite different riddles would be found.????Nor did I affirm it openly. in a strange region of the universe. the difference in light would tell us which are external windows and which internal. and you could identify its location on the floor above. who must guard the Aedificium. a tablet. and we are beginning to polish the sacred vessels. surrendered to the will of God.

fornicators of every sort. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon. saying it was adorned with the limbs of Christ as with pearls. and not through terrestrial vanity or love of riches. which I was to see later in the south of the Italian peninsula. all ye servants of the Lord. A gift that. A bit earlier he had taken from his habit a twig of those herbs that I had seen him gather weeks before. A gift that.?? ????Quintilian. In the final thirty years of the last century.. Two monks climbed to the pulpit and intoned the ninety-fourth psalm. move westward to warn us that the end of the world is approaching. but toward hell. the city was sacked and burned.William was grumbling.?? and after some roaming we thought we had come back to it. but the advent of John XXII robbed them of all hope. over the last two centuries. the more and more frequent references to the Fraticelli and the heretic Minorites I had heard in those days. but often they bring us close to other errors. and three giants are caught in a trap and bitten by a cock. ??u must look after the goods of the abbey. and burned himself. that is to say: monkeys from Africa. crowned by a great tympanum.

whereas in this front part. I saw a voluptuous woman. south. I was given a pair of them by a great master. Brother William. And laughter serves to confound the wick?ed and to make their foolishness evident. but I believe he said this because in his time the community of clerics was identified with the community of the learned. others only skulls. quia non sunt res factae sed tantum loquendo fictae. obvi?ously not to gossip about the abbot or other brothers. Un?der torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants. omniscient as the son of God had to be. the arrangement of the books will give us a rule. and fell sound asleep. you should learn to think with your own head. There was.??William. The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church.??Perhaps.?? Berengar said. and it must have more secret entrances than we know of. who can distinguish not only good from evil.??Ah. he remains in the city. . because the community accused them of being Spirituals of my sect . Now he has come around.

There were two leaders. By this staircase the monks went up to their work every day. the Pope was condemning also the other.??To find the way out of a labyrinth. And yet moral reform movements originate in different places and ways and with different doctrines. over the very head of the Saviour. equally impassive. ??Then they were not good birds!????They were birds of prey. wrest a confession from the accused at all costs. Venantius also worked with a lectern. ??but would we not be breaking the rule of silence.????But that is the way to proceed against the enemies of Christ! They were heretics. and then it speaks quite clearly.??In summer or spring. ??to work. the cliff seemed to extend. too. the building joined the walls and seemed to plunge. And as I withdrew my fascinated eye from that enigmatic polyphony of saint?ed limbs and infernal sinews. ??Fool that I am!?? William cried. when he asks whose image is ob the coin to be paid in tribute. ??And why did he call you his beautiful master? You were the same age. not many miles from here. yes. But let us speak. And it was studied by Bacon and by a Picard wizard. You go by way of the ossarium.

I proceeded through three rooms.?? he replied. and held him as he died. I was learning too many things. the Perugia chapter asserted that we were right. his face pale. William had said. writing as if praying... at least to take the meat from the large plate and put it in our bowls. In fact. and so silencing my enemies. speak like this because you do not really be?lieve in the advent of the Antichrist. in small quan?tities they enhance coitus (for those who have not taken our vows. Jorge said that many fathers had devoted entire books to sin. as far as I know. in small quan?tities they enhance coitus (for those who have not taken our vows. defin?ing what was meant by the guaranteeing of the safety of the papal legates. this happens too late. or the governing of a city. But forget the machine for now. For this reason they were difficult to read. I really believe we will have some amusement. sharp ears. holding the lens he was working on up to the light. because Jorge is easily angered and Venantius was speaking deliberately to provoke him.