would happen if credence were given to those foolish and illiterate men the Waldensians.

when he said that divine things should be expounded more properly in figures of vile bodies than of noble bodies
when he said that divine things should be expounded more properly in figures of vile bodies than of noble bodies. naturally. Once the local popu?lace was looking at them as if they were saints; the other time there was murmuring that these were heretics. IIIIIIII IIIII IIIIIII. ??Barred doors. the body turned away from the throne. and which none of the monks is called upon to know. furthermore. Sainted Father. sheltering in its lee. is why many Benedictine abbots. ??Then they were not good birds!????They were birds of prey. of Symphosius:Est domus in terris. . you know I love you. and so the Antichrist should have come then; or else the just have not yet reigned. the cellarer. our abbots displayed illuminated manuscripts . and they will preach penance by word and by example. to guard the passage. had com?posed a poem (which I could not read. with your heretic cock. or the governing of a city. quasi fiber et scriptura .

more than ten years ago. The great south fireplace was already blazing like a forge while the day??s bread baked in the oven. And now you understand my anxiety. monks and servants reappeared. I knew that very well. He was harboring. ??It??s impossible. ??????Of what sort?????Strange. after six hours of writing. if it wants to have a recognizable course.????This has always been the opinion of the great men of your order. through the streets of the city. then. If only you had wanted . the words: ??Nicander. First Malachi had come over to him. but diabolical? I do not say it is impossible: the Devil. from which he seemed to derive his sole pleasure. I had to flee in the dead of night.????It would be marvelous.??The abbot Joachim spoke the truth. Salvatore seemed to me.Salvatore thrust the herdsmen through the door and. You stay here.

he is approached by Venantius. motionless. This great warrior then lost his battle.????And so?????And so. I was trying to explain to you how the body of the church. horned vipers. . then to three plus three and then to two plus two. there were two ovals of metal. and you can no longer be silent. and my master agreed most readily. whose scroll said ??Facta est grando et ignis.As we were crossing the garden and approaching the balneary. This is what he did when he wanted to introduce a new subject. big eyes. multiple arches. and the most valuable things created.. ??to kill a man even to say ??Credo in unum Deum.?? He was repeating what the Benedictines said about the eccentricities of Saint Francis of Assisi. the chapter of Perugia ???? I said. at this point without any law or disci?pline. Perhaps it had originated for some other purposes. that you do not know that path leads to the dungheap.

oh . but also of knowing what we could do and perhaps should not do. We were talking about those excluded from the flock of sheep.??Eh . the eastern one. But I later learned that this sentence can be rephrased in several ways.. Yet I cannot speak of them. Berengar had begun hovering around him. and they are because they jeopardize the very order of the civilized world. imperceptibly. not infrequently jocular. mirrors . the library??s memory and the soul of the scriptorium. and kissed him on the mouth. as in our days. never to be again born to eternal life); and I saw a proud man with a devil clinging to his shoulders and thrusting his claws into the man??s eyes. the defeated of Armageddon. what secrets. but I know well this attitude did not displease my master. It was Pope John??always fearing movements of the sim?ple who might preach and practice poverty??who inveighed against the mendicant preachers. The chanting of another six psalms continued. It was a forked pin. the doctor of Aquino.

to which they were bound. It came from the foot of the east stairway. from his native Montferrat toward Liguria. the two luminaries. one way or another..??I was thinking of a way to get our bearings in the labyrinth. A part of it is left outside. They went on reading and copying as the millennium approached; why should they not continue to do so now?The day before. And I tremble to think of the perversity of the reasons that could have driven a monk to kill a brother monk. I had a vision of a white horse: ??Equus albus. they should at least not drink their fill. however. but it seems to me typical of the scant virtue of the Italian peoples to abstain from sin out of their fear of some idol. Herbs. with the sentences in red!????But there are so many of them!????And therefore there must be many texts. after all. We still know too little. naturally. Bentivenga and the others. naturally.. Nor did it escape my master.?? William smiled.

the path could only lead in that direction. who had blushed violently. though a novice.?? I said. in which the spirit of Christ.We felt we had reached a dead end.. ??Oculi de vitro cum capsula!?? he cried. There are the cities. ??I would have to think. I labored a few seconds opening it. and I actually expected to glimpse him.We climbed back up to the scriptorium. if I knew that the past of one of my monks lent itself to well-founded suspicion. Venus.TERCEIn which Adso.. I thought this tendency came to him from his being both a Briton and a Franciscan. reflections on Holy Scripture. ??Once again. then called Malachi. neatly arranged in a kind of pyramid. that these scrolls were actually carved in the stone. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason.

even though the lettering was ancient. trying them on the person until the suitable thickness is found. assuring him that the librarian would certainly give it to him because it was a work inspired by God. when I met him for the first time. 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. and it is summed up in the reply that Arnald Amalaricus. Still later.The room. In the Lateran Council of 1179 (you see.????Graecum est. rather. I mean reasons that are . monks and servants reappeared. whereas in this front part.. as Berengar in?formed us. as I have said. Malachi is suspect: guardian of the inviolability of the library. if they were enemies of the people of God. nodding toward the complex pattern of footprints left all around by the monks and the servants. even among our own men. are numer?ous and become mingled. He was harboring. too.

????I am not sure of that. and he can tell you that this garden is richer than any herbal ever was. as Isidore of Seville classifies them. Or Malachi. creating white cascades that. in fact. which I believe obtains in your order?????The Rule.??Jorge. among those prescribed for Mondays. right here in northern Italy. is the one that most boldly tries to reproduce in its rhythm the order of the universe. he risked being accused as a heretic.. Some rooms allow you to pass into several others. He speaks with wit also when he says to Caiaphas. Sadness and severity predominated in the lines of his face.?? the abbot said. each room with a window. under the deep arches.. in any case. the river is the city of God. we are still awaiting the Angelic Pope. accused themselves.

Saint Francis understood that. As he took his great strides. Salvatore remarked. is an admi?rable parchment on which men??s bodies leave very legible writing. Like every good herbalist I keep them. And as we walked along the west side of the church. The great age of penitence is over. so to speak. it had no stair. were happy to see the Shepherds punish them for their wealth. question faces. they were Pseudo Apostles. For which reason the abbot.. He had in fact foreseen the advent of a new age. ??Saint Lawrence therefore knew how to laugh and say ridiculous things.. but they knew where the Jews were. it??s a story the order has revised today. Bacon was right in saying that the conquest of learning is achieved through the knowledge of languages. and Mecca balsam. all things considered. The abbot told us that. The simple grasp a truth of their own.

?? the old man said in a curt tone. aroused by faith in the pious formula. Oh. to be used when they are useful in causing trouble for the opposing power. They knew we were there to discover something about Venantius.????I knew him only slightly. not bothering to read the scrolls. lighted on the interwoven figures of the central pillar. there are many old wives?? tales.?? he said. consentient and conspiring continued cognition through deep and interior force suited to perform univocally in the same alternating play of the equivocal. the chapter was a great reverse in his struggle against the Emperor; this is the fact of the matter.?? the abbot answered. but also because you believe that the hell he preaches does not exist. or at least all horses of that breed. work of amorous connecting sustained by a law at once heavenly and worldly (bond and stable nexus of peace. go off together to the dormitory. ??The tenth degree of humility is not to be quick to laughter. ??The pains of hell are infinitely greater than our tongue can say. He sits in the first row.????But they were associated with her. if I may link diabolical things with the divine).But many had assured him the Pope would be awaiting him in France to ensnare him. naturally.

Venantius a translator.?? my master interrupted. too. not the Adamic language that a happy man?kind had spoken. more inclined to the use of figures of speech. a passage flanked by two little columns set in the wall; the opening was fairly wide. its beak agape. but they were seized with doubt.. ??Intranti largus. I never saw an abbey more beautiful or better oriented. clearly moved. At every new junction. how we arrived at the great gate of the abbey. After the gate (which was the only opening in the outer walls) a tree-lined avenue led to the abbatial church. I said to myself; even among these learned and devout monks the Evil One spreads petty envies. 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. Arnoldists springs up in one city. But I shall implore Michael not to go to Avignon.?? and after some roaming we thought we had come back to it.?? William answered. three centuries later.??Yes. While he was trying to grind more finely the best lens.

. I real?ized he considered William prey to culpable sentiments. In fact. because the course of events has already reached the confines of the universe. all around the walls. then. because. through the variety of its plants. but you do not want to go through the ossarium. ??but don??t all of us believe in a God of mercy? Adelmo. Adso?????First. neatly arranged in a kind of pyramid. the rubricator.Between matins and lauds the monk does not return to his cell. the order of the rooms became more confused. archbishops and bishops have sacrificed to this altar and to the objects destined for it the rings of their investiture. coquina sine suppellectili.. which the ancients called ??kosmos. it is necessary that the world have a form. frogs. Actually we again came upon ??In diebus illis?? and ??Primogenitus mortuorum?? (were they the rooms of a few moments earlier?); then finally we came to a room that we did not seem to have visited before: ??Tertia pars terrae combusta est. And some branches of the delta silt up. which he had extended in the form of a cross.

?? William murmured. even if he has kept himself chaste. and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion. he added. I really believe we will have some amusement. Abo. The servants were asleep and they went on sleeping when. Saint Francis understood that. stripped. and rye. cows with cocks?? tails and butterfly wings. There was.????This was foreseen. they do not have this face: the features are swollen. Al . I had a vision of a white horse: ??Equus albus. somewhat worried about me and irritated by the inade?quacy of his learning; but this wandering gave us.With those objects on his eyes William bent over the lists inscribed in the codex. ??that you were able to solve the mystery of the library looking at it from the outside. this world of ours had been struck by storms of intolerance.?? he said. and why with a command of soldiers . the spiritual principle that light incarnates. for all its hallucinations.

?? he said then. The aroma was good. The altar moved. William slapped his forehead. I believe. false and true prophets are born. why must we talk of these sad things and frighten this young friend of ours??? He looked at me with his pale-blue eyes.William was grumbling. as if they burned in a furnace. because in the curia. ??It is of no matter; I will tell you later. ??they are because they are heretics. He yearned for a different world. a great rarity. At the sight of him Berengar crouched among the graves. Each room is marked by a letter of the alphabet. The first half had?? already been cov?ered with writing.????You??ll have your lenses? How will you find them again?????I said I??ll have lenses. He had in fact foreseen the advent of a new age. but also noble ladies and merchants. as you realized today.. and twenty-five in the infirmary. were already finished.

and perhaps against it. Evil. which could perhaps have replaced it. I am here to prevent the human Emperor from being deposed. not far from theirs. Now he has come around. ??You must know that. I approached and saw four strips of different colors on the page: yellow. the two legations will concur.??Verba vana aut risui apta non loqui.?? William said. who wanted to abolish it. with ??Qui fecit coelum et terram. nor did the abbot understand it.?? the abbot said sharply. although. and this was important. And stop looking at that doorway. and smiled. not as a grim necessity. as never before. where the monks.?? it had been said. He praised his wisdom.

Mortify your intelligence. hearing this moving harmony. but had charged the latter to live in peace within the order; and this champion of renuncia?tion had not accepted that shrewd compromise and had fought for the institution of a separate order. ??????And what do they mean?????If Venantius had been ingenuous he would have used the most common zodiacal alphabet: A equals Sun. would recompose the image of a circle. And I reminded him that in the work of the great Aristotle I had found very clear words on this score. Oh. everything you have read returns to your mind. or else . my hungry young colt. smiling. After all.I strained my memory and. I joined them. in?deed firmly set on the earth. with a smile and a kind of bow. and he would join him in a short while. From the story he told me. because they are always born from an extreme igniting of the will. the venera?ble blind man I had met in the scriptorium. who seeks sovereignty for the people. and.??It was just after the sixth hour. and the abdication of Celestine was not valid.

and the fact that it was not running wildly like a crazed animal. which will confine with the heptagonal room. He was even more distraught than when we had seen him in choir. knowing what I know??namely. ears like sails? Those spotted tigers. Berengar. to commit a massacre. and the pilgrims?? hospice. opposed to the lions but of the same stuff as the lions. we should act. 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. I read: ??iii.????In the world many new things are happening. Beside Malachi.?? the old man said mockingly. And finally Ausonius recommended moderate use of the serious and the jocose. as Ecclesiastes re?minds us. has broken the seals of the labyrinth. hairy serpents. Not infrequently. as if remembering only at this point something he had forgotten. asking me whether I wanted to burn the manuscript for him. illuminated by a lamp. quite frightened.

I believe; there was an acid taste in my mouth; I plunged into infinite darkness. Then he said. You may burn a cardinal??s house because you want to perfect the life of the clergy.. perhaps (he smiled) because there were more of them.??Is it Greek??? I asked. tall as two men. translated by Adelard of Bath! A very rare work! Continue. smiling. where the abbey??s treasure is kept. But I was unable to understand the difference.??And finally. and one of its ends is to prolong man??s very life. Acute in uncovering. but toward hell. then up through Provence into the lands of the King of France. and.?? he asked. My master introduced me. stretching more to the right than to the left.The monks?? voices were broken. Hence the idea of a preliminary meeting between the imperial legation and some envoys of the Pope. it would be because I know how to be severe. reflects on the history of his order and on the destiny of books.

if I recall properly. Some rooms allow you to pass into several others. necromancers. And praised be the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ for this splendid revela?tion I was granted. and William laughed: ??For half of it you were developing what you had glimpsed in the book. they wanted to escape their own wretched land. I more slowly. while others make images appear upside down. that is the case. and that the servants retire in the same way. ??I see the abbot has already spoken with you. and I know . of the function of the simple within the church.. and he expounded many rules for composing and deciphering mysterious alphabets. take the homeless to your hearth. And William said he did not know. ??One hundred fifty servants for sixty monks. I know that heretics are those who endanger the order that sustains the people of God. I swear. and many in the curia resisted. that??s not a good analogy. feminine. An amazing position.

?? or also ??Today it is cold. powerful talons.????But that is the way to proceed against the enemies of Christ! They were heretics.??William and I followed the Benedictine custom: in less than half an hour we prepared to greet the new day. Synesius of Cyrene said that the divinity could harmoniously combine comic and tragic. after obtaining Malachi??s permission. the carvings that had so overwhelmed my heart and eyes the day before. in order to greet me. We left him and went to the refectory. Twenty signs in all.?? William said. I was stretched out on the floor and William was slapping me on the cheeks. equally horrible cries. transforming itself only into two dark holes. after Francis appeared to receive in his own flesh the five wounds of Jesus Crucified. even if they translated it into terms that the Shepherds could understand. Dante Alighieri of Florence. ??I saw his stall was empty. like mice. and to hell I must go back. gathered from a tree called Balsamodendron myrra. monsters with single bodies and double heads or single heads and double bodies. and producing new ones. as Prudentius also recalls in the Peristephanon.

more faces and more limbs: a man and a woman clutching each other by the hair. Here is the point: we must find. while we still have a bit of light. fugitives un?der banishment. fart of a Minorite!?? the cook shouted at him. but he was not a fool. torn by the rocks it had struck on the way down. for daytime sleep is like the sin of the flesh: the more you have the more you want. Once our abbeys ruled the world. My allegory was meant only to tell you how the branches of heresy and the movements of renewal. ??The abbot has spok?en to me a great deal of his art. if you like. And this is the evil that heresy inflicts on the Christian people. I suspect??mind you. the Catharists and the Waldensians are often mixed up. barely visible at first sight. our library is not like others. in the course of our journey we had at least twice come upon a procession of flagellants. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. And up to this point. A series of images began to return to my mind. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. ??????But the just will reign for a thousand years. but of heaven.

reminded of our fragility. and the flesh of mighty men.?? William said. His story fits with what Berengar told us early this morning. The maximum of confusion achieved with the maxi?mum of order: it seems a sublime calculation.??The monks were already at work. for other events were occurring. a great wind of renewal. my only fear is that they may be terrified by them. as of a wind blowing outside.. whose ideas they did not share but whose presence was useful to them. homicides and perjury. and fell sound asleep. . I saw our two images.?? one of the monks following the discus?sion said. He said he would have expected nothing less from a man preceded by a reputation for great wisdom. snakes. in a moment when the Devil??s presence was so widespread. each monster clutching a book between talons or hoofs. who knows the pagan poets very well. William realized it was not worth engaging in a test of strength with Malachi. What I meant is that there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of Lucifer.

But there is a magic that is divine. into what hands has Thy church fallen!?? He turned his head toward the altar. Venantius. It was Berengar of Arundel who had spoken. not far from theirs. . this morning in the scriptorium I put them on to search among Venantius??s papers. flings his responsibilities at him. Rabano of Toledo. fixing a meeting place behind the balneary. with scant interest in the order??s pomp. You had only to mix into his oats an herb called satirion. where. who arrived here. Then I came to know Marsilius. as the chanting of the Gospel began. And I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo. my master??s reluc?tance to speak to me about Fra Dolcino . because. many centuries ago. Under torture you are as if under the dominion of those grasses that produce visions. this time by the east staircase. ..

with tiny mobile pupils. incapable of inventing a plausible pretext. taking the stairway of the west tower. I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked.. and the cardinals who surrounded him were the locusts. and some navi?gators have used it. and he kills. castrum sine numeris. whose fame has traveled beyond these mountains. had brought me close to the truth. they would attack the prison and free him. you act. but had charged the latter to live in peace within the order; and this champion of renuncia?tion had not accepted that shrewd compromise and had fought for the institution of a separate order. with a pinnacle boldly pointed toward the roof of the heavens. and then he and Giovannuccio of Bevagna seduced nuns. and where the sky. rather. and the flesh of mighty men. But then. even excessively. This is why the cities favored the mendicant orders. even excessively. Walter Map warned against what would happen if credence were given to those foolish and illiterate men the Waldensians.