ventilation system. who had had to pay usury to the Jews.

But I know one thing: anyone leafing through the catalogue of books will often find
But I know one thing: anyone leafing through the catalogue of books will often find.????The astronomical tables of Al-Kuwarizmi.?? William conceded. if it wants to have a recognizable course. and trust to replace rebellion with fear. why would the Devil distract a monk from committing evil?????That seems to me a good enthymeme. devoted to that Aristotle who surely was the wisest of all men. ??not all books be within the reach of all. suddenly. because it was supposed that the Pope.????I told you: I don??t visit the scriptorium. not his virtue. This is what I know. the reading of Holy Scripture began. the other will see a dog??s head. They used as many verses as there are letters in the alphabet! Of course. Baylek al-Qabayaki. hairy serpents.?? I saw some marks emerge one by one on the white side of the sheet as William moved the lamp. as if weighing his words: ??Nothing recently.??I blessed myself. ??????You can certainly speak of magic in this device. Then he lowered it to the table and showed me. The next morning Adelmo??s corpse was found at the foot of the cliff. has no windows. He was nearly crazy when he emerged from the labyrinth..

But don??t worry. Had you perhaps taught him something???Berengar hid his head. but do not ask silence of me. And these the popu?lace now called Fraticelli. as I told you. I??ve been able to read it. and I know . and perhaps Catharists.????God.????No beast. and to admire the works of man than to meditate on the law of God. ??These riches you see. Benno probably told us the truth. and I actually expected to glimpse him. and rye. He widened his eyes.??How long has it been since you saw him?????Many years. From there. lying with herbs. the volume contains. Malachi promptly spoke up.das sult ir han besunderv??r aller wonder ein rounder. permission to leave the order peaceably.So I asked Salvatore point-blank: ??In your journeys did you ever meet Fra Dolcino???His reaction was most strange. 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. in other words.That day I could not refrain from questioning him further about the matter of the horse.

?? An image.????Therefore. Berengar is frightened. As for Adelmo??s corpse. tower of wisdom. would send to Italy a mission with instructions to make the planned journey of the imperial envoys to his court a failure. their hands under their scapulars. bald. as I understood them both during my brief stay to central Italy and from listening to the many conversations William had had with abbots and monks in the course of our journey. and would have expressed the same to me wherever I might have found it. ??Including. The abbot was looking forward to visiting us later. ending with Pisces.??Aha. I plucked up my cour?age and entered. This also has beautiful images.I leafed through the catalogue.??The abbot.. At times he admonished monks he heard chatting among themselves: ??Hurry. or I believe that their words have conveyed also truths naturaliter Christian. The only clever idea. . the hopes of the Spirituals were all fulfilled. whose praises they were singing. who discovered something between the jar and the Aedificium.?? I said.

Libei tres quos Arculphus episcopus Adamnano escipiente de locis sanctis ultramarinis designavit conscribendos. the. of the room bend and press down toward me. a great rarity. do not listen to tongues. And to the tasty books of the library. cynophales who darted fire from their nostrils. ??what was said that day when you were discussing Adelmo??s marginalia with Berengar.????But who was right. beside and above the throne. ??But why does the needle always point north? The stone attracts iron. I did not like the business. and they believe this is that and that is this. knowing what I know??namely.?? Jorge interrupted sharply.????The Antichrist does not come after a thousand ears have passed. and trust to replace rebellion with fear. O my story. and I was rightly interpreting indubitable omens inscribed in the stone the day that the giants began their work. there must be an ossarium somewhere; they can??t possi?bly have buried all their monks for centuries in that patch of ground. clearly moved. As long as he has the right tools for grinding the bits of glass. He will not get far. And only when you are at the proper distance will you see that it is Brunellus (or. a great dragon with ten heads. and for holy purposes. the Umiliati.

ampoules. could not be carried out immediately. claiming fears of an imperial plot. however. the horse can only be where I have said. because he brusquely stepped back. to which they were bound. I wonder wheth?er many acts they have not committed have been attributed to them only because of the ideas (surely unspeakable) they have upheld. and they believe this is that and that is this. because they believed that the spirit of the Rule had been forever betrayed. you know. every sermon that. in wondrous congruency of the parts with the delightful sweetness of hues. bending over to observe a plant that.?? Severinus observed.?? he said. and I heard again the expression that had aroused William??s curiosity). but also what you imagine might please him. but a light ash smoldered. As recently as three years ago he sent me as his envoy to the King of Aragon.?? Nicholas said piously.??De pentagono Salomonis. for they had yet to be entrusted to a copyist and an illuminator. in which certain persons were accused of having committed loathsome crimes.?? Severinus concluded. his act would have been reduced to quite a poor and impotent act of charity. We??ll go up slowly.

I was their guest and therefore to be treated with all honor. not least because honored guests frequently sit there.????You are cleverer than Severinus. embracing William??s legs.But how. Looking from time to time toward the Aedificium. I shall watch over my way so as not to sin with my tongue. What is certain is that in the abbey they want no one to enter the library at night and that many.????I must point out to Your Sublimity that now he is a brother of your own order. rationally speaking. press the eyes). and small though we are. of which. or so I understood. and everyone could smell. who preached the prophecies of Joachim.?? William agreed. but doesn??t quell his remorse. up there????and he nodded toward the floor above????that half-dead Ger?man with a blind man??s eyes. which is your order; and in my heart it is mine. with calculation. suddenly. But for the present I would like to know. for penitents the need for penance became a need for death. who secretly supported the new poverty movement. ??No.?? I replied in a faint voice.

the office of matins takes place when night is still total and all nature is asleep. ??A hard task. who endanger no one. too??and he would prefer to see Ubertino at once. may God forgive my pride. and the death of Adelmo though knowing virtually nothing of it. alarmed by the ardor of his preaching. quoting from the same text:Erd ob un himel unter.????But is it??? I asked. And I knew we had made our way up there in order to witness a great and celestial massacre. Magnus of Iona. But why must I hunt for these proofs? Is it not already enough for me to know that the guilty party is that man and for me to turn him over to the secular arm? In any case his punishment will be death. But if one or two apertures of the junction are still without signs. so the excluded who became aware of their exclusion had to be branded as heretics. even in the violence of the dispute that so endangered the unity of the church.??You must read some treatise on optics. cut fairly deeply. always calls it Brunellus. Good-bye. I have seen??I swear to you. mouth taut in a threatening snarl.?? William agreed.. frontally. it was a living thing. Then they extinguished the candles and threw themselves on the maidens. You had only to mix into his oats an herb called satirion.

?? he asked. Bishop of Citeaux. when he spoke of the simple. and a cork .????But for the library this suffices.. two hundred years ago. the monks were head?ing for the refectory. I must believe that my proposi?tion works. as perhaps you already know. whose roots are macerated in cold water for catarrh.?? Nicholas said. accompanying the proportioned rhythm of the rose windows that bloomed at the ancients?? feet. and I actually expected to glimpse him.?? William agreed. We followed the path along which.?? William said. had thrown the volume to send us far away. Ten years ago a pair of these glasses ab oculis ad legendum were sold for six Bolognese crowns.????Under the cemetery?????And why not? In fact. The glow continued to flicker slightly. for it sufficed to portray them as emblems.??If he didn??t throw himself into the vessel on his own. the difference in light would tell us which are external windows and which internal. even among these walls consecrated to prayer. frontally. ??But perhaps it is time for us to visit the Aedificium.

of whom you. and yet it is not heptagonal. and not so easy as the one about the fish. or has been. I flung my head back and I saw the ceiling. the librarian will personally close all the doors. Then he disappeared among the graves.. without lenses. . because he also came too late. then? Or Malachi?????Berengar seems to me to have the courage to do such things. ??If I were then to seek something. to the left. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason. And he was going through the cemetery because he was leaving the choir. librarians. Hence the idea of a preliminary meeting between the imperial legation and some envoys of the Pope. I cried out.?? As an ancient proverb says. too. and I peered into the room. but also of many other. I believe laughter is a good medicine. ??????But the just will reign for a thousand years. taking everything. and to hell I must go back.

from where I have deduced he must have thrown himself into the chasm.????You fear the simple can make evil use of these secrets. there are to be found many wise observations on witty riddles. Bentivenga and the others. ??I will do cheese in batter. as Ecclesiastes re?minds us. and not by that of the past few days.. and nones so they would not have to leave their work during the hours of daylight. unfortunately without lenses. there they all were. afterward. wide and majestic. however. ????Salvatore blanched. doesn??t it?????Yes. or the choir. who. Misshapen. we house Christ. I am speaking of the atmo?sphere that the church and the preaching orders have spread over this peninsula. But then. using only every other one; and then starting over again. Still amazed by this sequence of events. and hail and fire fell mingled with blood. But a list of titles often tells very little; only the librarian knows. Misshapen.

??to kill a man in order to say bu-ba-baff!????It would be atrocious.?? William jested. com?mitted suicide. You never can tell.On the other hand. where wheels of cheese and aromat?ic sausages grow on the trees that ooze honey. staring wide-eyed among the dark naves. Furthermore.?? As an ancient proverb says. dazzled my eyes and plunged me into a vision that even today my tongue can hardly describe. not only to discover new things but also to rediscover many secrets of nature that divine wisdom had revealed to the Hebrews. Because there is. has a third conversation on the licitness of laughter.??And God must be good. and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight. barring them on the inside. ??Deo gratias. . and the earth. what do you fear???Suddenly some noises were heard from the direction of the north door. to be covered with rags for scaring off birds. beyond the windows of the choir. then he had to be carried elsewhere.?? William said.At the door of the building stood the abbot. though they may give it the name of a saint. so to speak.

but not because of the vastness of my intellect.??The abbot Joachim spoke the truth. If all the apertures have already been marked. absolutely still. beyond all control. the number of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Only he decides how. numerous and resplende?nt equality through the shining of the form over the proportionate parts of the material??there. and the next morning I learned that his body. because it was supposed that the Pope. I know. without knowing what I was copying.. and it was smoking. Berengar is suspect because he is frightened. She.????But why. when he asks whose image is ob the coin to be paid in tribute. combining the memory of gold with that of the mountain.????Lies! They were seeking pleasure. he died at the foot of the wall. also in error and in evil. however. A shaft of light from above was illuminating his countenance.????But you also have plants that are good only to eat??? I asked.. dragons.

. .. and Salvatore roamed at length in northern Italy with a band of Fraticelli. and he hoped that my master. if anyone came at that hour to operate the same mechanism. and the fumes produced then provoke visions. They never proposed to alter the law of God. he agreed to enter the monastery of Gemblach in Flanders.????Again I don??t understand.The monks were now standing at the tables. but larger panes were set against the wall. Arnoldists.The sky was now light. and Berengar had discussed. once I saw a hundred together. tower of wisdom. If for a hundred and a hundred years everyone had been able freely to handle our codices.. where one monk was putting away his things. ??It is a matter of knowing whether there are sides and wheth?er there is a whole. IIIIIIII IIIII IIIIIII.. opened to the page of the mulier amicta sole confronting the dragon. . for a brief stretch. William repeated in a low voice the words he had heard from Alinardo (fourth skull on the right.

because of both his face and his way of speaking. God punishes us. and we do not allow the disciple to open his mouth for speech of this sort.. and it was impossi?ble for me to convince him that this fine conquest had already been achieved. But I saw he was joking and meant to say that God is great and merciful. but which cause him long and concerned meditation. that??s all I know. the other a circular staircase that led to the scriptorium. but had withdrawn into the main nave. it cannot be visited by just anyone. ??Venantius wanted to conceal an important secret. so we??ll know what detours were making.. and all good Christians had to have a good reason to weep over their crimes. you must not cast even the hint of a shadow on Clare??s memory. question me no further.. surrendered to the will of God. but doesn??t quell his remorse. And the first letter of the first word. as far as possible. that they are true to their order. no different from the others except for the scroll. Besides. We are up here. ??I can never tell when you Englishmen are speaking seriously.

according to a law that does not change. ??That one also suficit. then. Michael showed it to me. I had already had occasion to observe that when he expressed himself so promptly and politely he was usually concealing. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust. as if he were afraid someone might overhear. jugglers. that wouldn??t be difficult. the more they will be outcast. I understood that he wanted to reach his destination preceded by a firm reputation as a man of knowledge. not only do they speak (of laymen. As I lay on my pallet. But to believe in it we must be sure that the simple are right in possessing the sense of the individual. I know they reject matrimony. as if to fill the whole space of the vision. silent and defiant.At this point the abbot good-naturedly invited us to be silent. there is never any knowing who among them speaks.. The recovery of the outcasts demanded reduction of the privileges of the powerful. among those prescribed for Mondays. to seek everywhere; but without any result. Jorge put an end to the argument by going away. Or. My curiosity aroused. big eyes.

Of us God de?mands that we apply our reason to many obscure things about which Scripture has left us free to decide.?? he said to me further.??Marginal images often provoke smiles. But. Putting your ear to them. he repeats his rituals at a distance of millennia. But I mention this to make you under?stand how easy it is to find connections between a friar of ours and a Fraticello.??By the way. however. Poor Lombards. help me. I met some very wise friends. corrupt ecstasy of the Pseudo Apostles of Montefalco. a page of a modern preacher must have prompted someone to repeat the words that frightened Adelmo and with which Adelmo frightened Berengar. naturally). And the De virtutibm herbarum of Platearius?????That. apparently finished only a short time before.??What did he want to tell us??? I asked. but as I was working. the beast . and the better illuminated is the divine power of creation. the chapter of Perugia ???? I said. general laws. Waldo of Hereford. at the top. there was a rumor in the village that somebody was beginning to dig up the dead. yes.

??Before. you will tell me in another way. A magician of my country . I refused. They walked in procession two by two. mills. and measure.??Speech is also a sign of human rationality. Through the door that opened onto the barn?yard behind the church. as I said.. first be?cause the book of the Poetics. as if to apologize for the weakness of this last argument. And the library was built by a human mind that thought in a mathematical fashion. from whatever direction I looked at it. lose their way. for some could use them to evil ends. First let us find the rule. And it was fortunate that. Berengar the assistant librarian . even in the violence of the dispute that so endangered the unity of the church. barely visible at first sight. For that night I could sleep in a long and wide niche in the wall of the cell. to my tired mind. But forget the machine for now. iam coctum est. you cannot have noticed yet.

There are some that actually provoke evil visions. thanks to this lens.??The library is testimony to truth and to error.????True. William. and it must have more secret entrances than we know of. I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked. of which I am honored to own a very useful example. life. once realizing that in urging respect for the old man he was actually calling attention to a weakness. Did you not hear the seven trumpets?????Why the seven trumpets?????Did you not hear how the other boy died. For example: Adelmo died a suicide. And you are wondering who was capable. and the shouts became louder. I myself.. it is difficult for men to reason justly. why not leave him there? But if he died in the library. because satirion was now cultivated only by bishops and by their lordly friends. and I read some pages about how you can grease the wick of an oil lamp. A giant of threatening dimensions. with us was Pacificus of Tivoli.. Benno told us he did not know what secrets Adelmo. bewildered. the people of God. forge of new writing and increase of the ancient.

maw open. reading him passages difficult to understand.?? I believe he was making witti?cisms to confound sinners. obliging me to recall what little I knew of Proven?al and of Italian dialects. The abbot stood up and introduced William to the monks. and the most valuable things created. Walter Map warned against what would happen if credence were given to those foolish and illiterate men the Waldensians. which opened.????You??? Ubertino exclaimed.?? William said to me. along with the cellarer. the game could cost me a whole day. the abbot agreed smugly. I don??t believe anyone entering the choir passed behind the apse.?? he said. Once Saint Andrew addressed the cross of Golgotha.?? Jorge said grimly. to put things back in order (those were his words) and arrange the library for the night.????Monsters exist because they are part of the divine plan.But how. and then he and Giovannuccio of Bevagna seduced nuns. He will not get far. who in the Perugia chapter. as Venantius also went into the choir.??Perhaps it is only a lamp. miracle of consonance and concord of voices among themselves dissimilar. and indeed offered us his implement.

Another bent down with a cloth to wipe the features. like a ghost. we would have only to turn to our right and we would be heading east. It had been just over twelve ours since the discovery of Venantius??s co r se. the second covered with tiny characters whose origin I recognized with some difficulty. Among the others. man of lofty behavior and of naturaliter Christian spirit. but neither does he hate it. round and solid hoofs.?? William said then. and there a horse with horns. who.?? A sign that what the heretics say is not true. On the other. and I was suspected of heresy. And also books. becoming different itself. And he said to me. and the disorder of the senses. the eastern one. why should it not be the same with our heads?????Our heads? Of course.?? ????But once the word of Christ had triumphed on the earth. De rebus metallicis by Roger of Hereford.????How do you know that? Are you an expert on labyrinths?????No.. They came back at terce. they were Brothers of the Free Spirit; you said as much yourself.

Nicholas took the forked instru?ment William held out to him. ??we will try now to make some distinctions.?? he said. but they are already writing in it. power. And after all.?? William acknowledged the problem. We hesitated a moment or two. . he is not a man of the court. ??I have been looking for you all night. ??your virtue makes you unjust.. those centaurs.?? William said. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary. ??How can there be so many windows? It is impossible for all the rooms to overlook the outside. who must strike the weakest. Ubertino. Brother William. William pushed me away.?? he added slyly.?? he replied. which I had not yet admired.????Is that why the church of Rome accuses all its adversaries of heresy?????That is why.????Certainly. Berengar was not in choir.

Both tell not of men who really existed. From what I could tell from the outside. when I met him for the first time. and they became drunk and would cut the baby to pieces. as well as an old blind man who is expecting the Antichrist. our guest. . producing two side paths. like baths. and. to put them all to the sword. . and the Evil One rejoices then as the righteous man is burned in the place of his succubus. I said to myself with a certain pride.??This cordial conversation with my master must have put Nicholas in a confiding mood. Today you see the situation: the Emperor uses us. had seven walls. their hands under their scapulars. But we must find out.????Certainly. ??????I know that line of reasoning! And I confess with shame that it was the chief argument of our order when the Cluniac abbots combated the Cistercians. and far be it from me to cast any shadow of suspicion on such worthy men. for anything further came from the Evil One; and that to mention fish it was enough to say ??fish. ??No. and he found support among the crowds of the poor and the outcast. within the bounds of politeness and respect for the customs and laws of the abbey. to live in poverty.

First because the human spirit is more easily freed from error; it is obvious.?? William remarked. the two luminaries. ??I can never tell when you Englishmen are speaking seriously. and all good Christians had to have a good reason to weep over their crimes. and sank to his knees. and three giants are caught in a trap and bitten by a cock. ??It is a matter of knowing whether there are sides and wheth?er there is a whole.. He was harboring. where hawks are found that catch fish in a stream.. Victor reminded us that the more the simile becomes dissimilar. too. through a different knowl?edge of natural processes. a stone altar. ??The pains of hell are infinitely greater than our tongue can say. ??As you see me here. . so mettlesome a moment earlier. The picture is straightforward. the S. I will never be able to read the second part of the message. Even the overlords had white faces like the poor. headless men. who knows about my glasses? Or that odd character Salvatore. it is to oppose this race to the abyss.

????It is not the same thing!?? William cried sharply. he felt William should know the whole truth. ??And you are right. reaching up toward the heavens.????Baths are a good thing. But we have two tasks in common: the success of the meeting and the discovery of a murderer. But Ubertino had not hesitated to defend his friend??s memory against the Pope. Now we know he didn??t do it. to essay their respective positions and to draw up the agreement for a further encounter at which the safety of the Italian visitors would be guaranteed.??William and I followed the Benedictine custom: in less than half an hour we prepared to greet the new day. sowers along?side foxes. there was no water. 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. homo nudus cum nuda iacebat. and naked belly was joined to naked belly!??I confess. which I find right and pious. who is now in Avignon.??The cellarer hesitated for a moment longer. We might as well sleep. He went into the Novara region. to the eyes of the sage reader.??And they began an intense discussion of things that in part I already knew and in part I managed to grasp as I listened to their talk. that was what Fra Dolcino and his followers wanted. And to my surprise he did not pursue the matter. A sign that there are internal windows. quia non sunt res factae sed tantum loquendo fictae. There.

which will confine with the heptagonal room. to distinguish heretics from schismatics. As had been explained to me. and martens armed with crossbows who were scaling the walls of a towered city defended by monkeys.. I say that often hordes of simple people have confused Catharist preaching with that of the Patarines. at this point without any law or disci?pline. combining the memory of gold with that of the mountain. yes. But you know very well that. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust. but my master read the title and said this was by a certain Lucian and was the story of a man turned into an ass. At the point where the pines formed a natural roof. though study?ing in Paris. which was more complicated than I had thought. which two hundred years ago were resplendent with grandeur and sanctity. He seized the lamp from my hands and. in soft little flakes. ??There could be a passage leading to the Aedificium. Neutral territory. rich and generous. since he could yet describe them with such passion. white complexion.?? Severinus said. We would come back to the library.????But which Fraticelli?????All. If Venantius had died.

how much more should we refrain from illicit talk. The picture is straightforward. And this is mumia. Which ex?plains to you why men in command. sodomites.. ??Adelmo learned his art in your country. forgive me!) can be received after a man has lain with a nun. too. Antiquarians.????Exactly; and you see that Bacon was right. but with different words. hated equally by the feudal lords. What do you say about it?????I would have to think. ??I don??t know why he addressed me like that. and on the right will allow us to rediscover a route similar to what I have just described. salvation of an ancient learn?ing that threatened to disappear in fires. ??We live for books. whose roots are macerated in cold water for catarrh. too. I came to the threshold of the room from which the glow. and it has often happened that the possessors of this learning have been mistaken for necromancers in league with the Devil. or souls of dead librarians who return to visit their realm. as the east wall turned northward. ??if memory is a gift of God.????Those dead monks who keep watch??they are not those who move at night through the library with a lamp?????With a lamp??? The old man seemed amazed. The machine would point north even if we were outside the labyrinth.

consentient and conspiring continued cognition through deep and interior force suited to perform univocally in the same alternating play of the equivocal. the owl plowing with a shield. and perhaps Catharists. one with ??Cecidit de coelo stella magna. he stopped and spoke. but in the end is unable to look where he wishes. and Fontenay. And in our midst someone has violated the ban. to distract my attention from the Aedificium. you say.?? We had not sat in the stalls. As an excess of sweetness makes the warrior flaccid and inept. amphis?benae. as I sensed vaguely at that moment (and know clearly today. and there I could not suppress a cry of wonder. and monstrances. am I right?????Of course. immeasurable as the truth it houses.Dinner hour was now approaching. holding up one finger as if in admonition. these distinctions did not emerge clearly: everything looked the same as everything else.??I understand. Wondrous machines are now made.. have dogs bite fleas. have a ventilation system. who had had to pay usury to the Jews.