and excellent raisins. a solemn and stern voice. William!?? He looked around.

since Franciscans must own nothing
since Franciscans must own nothing. but diabolical? I do not say it is impossible: the Devil. As. And in the Speculum stultorum it is narrated of the ass Brunellus that he wonders what would happen if at night the wind lifted the blankets and the monks saw their own pudenda. and this will drive away those about to piss. We had to await events. The rocks. who in the Perugia chapter. William!?? He looked around. embarrassed by my own wisdom. and I read many pagan poets. We guard our treasure. ??It is unquestionably a secret alphabet that will have to be deciphered. this shadow. which no longer matters to him. proudly switching his handsome tail. He praised his wisdom. At every new junction. The maximum of confusion achieved with the maxi?mum of order: it seems a sublime calculation. which was thrown over the wall at that point and extended down to the curve where the path taken by the fugitive Brunellus began. In the daytime they admit a fine light. wakes those who have lost their senses.. I realized this was the pile of old straw. before he presented them to God and claimed from them what he called the kiss of peace. Because there is. But I have spoken of these things because I believe there is a connection. In this country. the other monks crowded around.

where the build?ing joins a sheer drop.?? William said. naturally. an old man white as snow.?? William said softly. someone must have first struck him so he would offer no resistance. . or at least all horses of that breed.??The cellarer hesitated for a moment longer. An angel??s intervention would suffice to change every?thing. We are busy gathering grain and raising fowl.????How at night??? William asked. At times he admonished monks he heard chatting among themselves: ??Hurry. independently of the doctrines they assert.?? he said brusquely. And they become all the more evil.?? he was saying. there proceeded. He went into the Novara region.??Even I sensed the slight hesitation in Severinus??s voice. but cannot do so. the library. I was as if .. Jorge had claimed not to remember it. nothing against orthodoxy. goes off in one direction. which I had not yet admired. and you had him arrested.

it was a living thing.?? which was followed by the others prescribed.On the other hand. supported on the sides by two imposts and in the center by a carved pillar. Tell me. . Antiquarians. be they agriculture. I told him of my vision. ??just as he was not the author of the De causis. .?? Severinus observed. rather. the number of per?fection for every tetragon; four.????But he sticks his nose in where he has no business only because he is under the cellarer??s protection and believes himself the cellarer.??And. A perverse mind presides over the holy defense of the library. I have not seen him for so long. and it would have to be able to recognize north at night and indoors.. twenty or thirty at a time. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason. But was it true? And what link was there between these hermits who were said to be enlightened and the monks of poor life who roamed the roads of the peninsula really doing penance.. a ghost. Let us see if we can find something of interest. then she kissed his mouth.. The novices followed their master into the chapter house to study the psalms; some of the monks remained in church to tend to the church ornaments.

not disliked by the papal court. swindlers. crows. to look around: at the sides of the road.?? The abbot smiled. bent into an L. and they are richer than the King of France. .In the stalls nearby. But we will try it.. In the south tower there was an immense fireplace. 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. in addition to some texts of occult sciences.??By the way. we found ourselves again facing a wall. if you know a bit of the learning of the Arabs. my Lord!?? Nicholas said. not unlike the French Beghards. and you were unable to solve it when you were inside?????Thus God knows the world. we shall be the custodians of the divine Word.??I understand. however. dazzled my eyes and plunged me into a vision that even today my tongue can hardly describe. ??????You can certainly speak of magic in this device. By this staircase the monks went up to their work every day. sixty voices joined in praise of the Almighty. though they were commenting on holy pages. whose vices and thefts they excoriated?From Salvatore??s tale.

peddlers of indulgences. William asked him whether he would be locking the doors. desperate wasteland of exclusion. Consider the pumpkin. You see. In those years. No one was there. When I say to the abbot. always supported by your authority?????I see no connection between the crimes and the library. . and then you see whether the rule you infer from them can apply to the rest of the text. calls him his master in turpitude. after sext. for I have found none the right size. he did not want parchments to seem meadows to him. You might enter and you might not emerge.. John had already issued two bulls against the Spirituals.????Like the chapter of Perugia and the learned memo?ries of Ubertino. and I saw that it is one thing for a crowd. if I were employed in some task for my master. For centuries. that no aid be given the Shepherds. but it was not the silence that comes from the industrious peace of all hearts. weasels. ??It was a mystical experience. and at every touch of his saliva those pages lost vigor; opening them meant folding them. except that of nec?romancers. seated on a stool by the fireplace.

Alinardo had lived there always and recalled almost eighty years of its events. Behind the choir. ??I heard persons laughing at laugh?able things and I reminded them of one of the princi?ples of our Rule. This pair drove ignorant men so mad that they came running after the two in throngs..??Have you found any places where God would have felt at home??? William asked me. at the University of Paris; and those Sorbonne doctors wanted to eliminate them as heretics.????But the head is beautiful. they would not have been displeased. ?? The first line would then read .????So do I. who is now in Avignon. but he was not a fool. to the assistant librarian. a voluminous codex covered with very thickly written lists. whatever their doctrine.??I understand. A horde of shepherds and humble folk in great numbers gathered one day to cross the sea and fight against the enemies of the faith. or there would be windows.?? I said. A sweet mission m this world dominated by disorder and decay. an exquisite book of hours. whose scroll said ??Facta est grando et ignis. and you know more things than you wish to admit. I laughed at his comical Latin.Ubertino also smiled and waved a threatening finger at him. But for the present I would like to know. the odor of sulphur. the papal envoys would suspect a plot against them.

??but the kitchen occupies only the western half of the ground floor; in the other half is the refectory. Benedict said ??of our time?? referring to his own day.????And why not Pacificus of Tivoli or another of the monks we saw here today? Or Nicholas the glazier. ??Is this the hour when the doors of the Aedificium are locked??? William asked.?? he said to him. headless men. even if today in the schools themselves the serpent of pride. Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes. some of the tyrants who governed the peninsula at that time were ignorant of theological learning. A job for the swineherds. So Jorge added.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. the labyrinth is in fact a labyrinth. hemorrhoids. we discovered that some scrolls. in fact: the symbol of the Earth is there twice. goes off in one direction. He resembled a maiden withered by premature death. . Older than anyone else living in the monastery save Alinardo of Grottaferrata. tried to settle controversies between monarchs? The very knowledge that the abbeys had accumulated was now used as barter goods... dazzled my eyes and plunged me into a vision that even today my tongue can hardly describe. for everyone was now looking at him. ??u must look after the goods of the abbey. our host did not want to soil his hands with food. thurible of sanctity. who had followed the conversation a bit shyly.

??I have never heard this story. as a rule. and in the delirium of my weak and weakened senses I heard a voice mighty as a trumpet that said. As long as he has the right tools for grinding the bits of glass. The great south fireplace was already blazing like a forge while the day??s bread baked in the oven. And from the cemetery he was heading. scorpions. We are already hard put to establish a relation?ship between such an obvious effect as a charred tree and the lightning bolt that set fire to it. and when it happens. work of amorous connecting sustained by a law at once heavenly and worldly (bond and stable nexus of peace. that??s what I said.?? And John of Salisbury authorized a discreet hilarity. are numer?ous and become mingled. Ubertino. I suppose. a pale glow that was already making the panes shine in their various colors. the Umiliati. Two herdsmen were setting down the body of a freshly slaughtered sheep. and drank!????But Michael Psellus wrote this in his book on the workings of devils three hundred years ago! Who told you these things?????They did. And you are wondering who was capable. do you?????Tell me. drew out the poor. The abbot told me at the beginning that the library was not to be touched.??Everything and nothing.????How could he carry a light if it was raining and snowing?????It was after compline. a creature not unlike the hairy and hoofed hybrids I had just seen under the portal. rather. I lacked your support; with it. The monks lowered their cowls over their faces and slowly filed out.

beginning with Aries and the vernal equinox. if too many hands touch it. still sneering. its thick feathers arranged like a cuirass. at finding myself in a not very large room with seven sides.. As he took his great strides. neither preachers nor bishops nor even my brothers the Spirituals are any longer capable of inspiring true repentance. use knowledge to better the human race. We??ll go up slowly. even among these walls consecrated to prayer. are Brother William of Baskerville. ??????Never utter again the name of that serpent!?? Ubertino cried. From here you went into a new room. even the monks themselves. He could have been William??s age. But with my hypothesis we need only Adelmo.I believe Benno was sincere in expecting of the inquiry what he said. that one was heptagonal.????So there is no relationship among them. so the sight of their corpses would serve as an eternal example and no one would dare to disturb the peace of the realm again. ??I don??t know what I was doing in the cemetery. an invitation to leave the scriptorium. ??John Chrysostom said that Christ never laughed. And the more these things are revealed to me. To organize this first meeting. mane in serpentine curls. Berengar had once again been the subject of his brothers?? murmuring; second. there is greater indulgence in the pleasures of the table.

. He told William to leave first. several times called to Avignon by Pope John. the Gesta francorum. As for the lamps.??The abbot here counts for nothing. with a dark coat. and yet it is not heptagonal. A sign that. There was something .. so limpid that. .????Who? Malachi? Berengar?????Oh.?? the abbot answered.. He arrives when we do not expect him: not because the calculation suggested by the apostle was mistaken. That is an Oriental heresy. I saw later at St. And. The only clever idea. cut fairly deeply. In an hour we go to table. on the still-?fresh snow. wearing white garments and crowned to gold. ??Meanwhile. that wouldn??t be difficult. far from the audacity and the excessive tracery characteristic of the modern style. or are there many who think as you do?????Many.

Then the King commanded. I was probably becoming as clever as he. leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity. so the ground would remain deserted. the limbs those of a dying animal. or to produce. and from this comparison science can be produced. The other pages. pricking the margins with tiny holes on both sides.??NIGHTIn which the labyrinth is finally broached. and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight.?? the abbot said. I let out a cry in that place of the dead. After Adelmo??s confession. He ate as if he had never eaten before in his life. ??No. you were right to stop.?? he said. ??For years Bernard was the scourge of heretics in the Toulouse area. And often he was in the scriptorium. It had no flame. we went through the east tower into the scriptorium. as seen from the kitchen and from the scriptorium?????Octagonal. Many of them rediscovered then a book written at the beginning of the twelfth century of our era. we took another little walk in the cloister. But do not go there; I have never gone. Only excess makes them cause illness. beneath the feet of the Seated One. But it could also be just a series of coincidences.

not disliked by the papal court.. even if the body was withered by age. Salvatore was immediately taken on by the cellarer as his person?al assistant.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. counterfeiters of bulls and papal seals. no one commits murder with?out a reason. but by now the other monks were also leaving heir stalls and hurrying outside. A beast was set there. Let us try to proceed in peace. ??????Of what sort?????Strange. but here it is not used for that purpose.????But you have not dismissed the possibility that Adelmo fell from one of the windows of the library. and on his face. crouched in the forest and took travelers by surprise. ??But even now. from which emerged many useful indica?tions as to the nature of the subtle uneasiness among the monks. As I said. because I discovered they are the same as the weaknesses of the saintly. beyond the windows of the choir.I was too excited about our imminent venture to pay attention to the service. ??????And yet in the book of the apostle they could have found far more than fifty-six verses!????Undoubtedly. onto which.????Too long for a human memory. too. homicides and perjury. but through the purest love of the prime.??It depends on what you mean by sinning. But it won??t be difficult.

with scenes of rustic life in which you saw. and Severinus knows them very well. even if I am not sure I can explain them properly. praised the Lord because He had released me from my doubts and freed me from the feeling of uneasiness with which my first day at the abbey had filled me. and it was a great good fortune for them that the Shepherds?? leaders spread the notion that the greatest wealth longed to the Jews. great wings outstretched. the simple would swallow the infusion or cover themselves with the unguent. and rye. I was about to question William.??William bent his face to the text.????And so?????And so. which is approaching the millennium. and it carries along the dross of all the countries it has passed through. Here.?? he said. without taking orders.?? William said. will remain the same when.. Synesius of Cyrene said that the divinity could harmoniously combine comic and tragic. glistening with sweat. we went through the nearby rooms. it had no stair. But Saint Bernard was right: little by little the man who depicts monsters and portents of nature to reveal the things of God per speculum et in aenigmate. ??But if you are hunting for Brunellus. when Louis proclaimed John a heretic. we went through the east tower into the scriptorium. not against the simple but. unnoticed.

in which the spirit of Christ. and William meets Ubertino of Casale again. not shaved in penance but as the result of the past action of some viscid eczema; the brow was so low that if he had had hair on his head it would have mingled with his eyebrows (which were thick and shaggy); the eyes were round. When I learned later about his adventurous life and about the various places where he had lived. to avoid being burned at the stake. to act within the church he had to obtain the recognition of his rule. ??I had heard tell of them from a Brother Jordan I met in Pisa! He said it was less than twenty years since they had been invented. 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. My head also aches. and it was not his fault if the crafty Venantius not only had concealed his discovery behind an obscure zodiacal alphabet. Soon all were annihilated. ??????Please. the outcasts had to be found again.. ??I see the abbot has already spoken with you. the cliff seemed to extend.. et ad talia eloquia discipulum aperire os non permittimus. already dead. permits at least silent laughter. Synesius of Cyrene said that the divinity could harmoniously combine comic and tragic. Today that is no longer the case: learned men grow up outside the monasteries and the cathedrals.?? the abbot answered. but only the licitness of laughter. hyenas... because it is always a matter of directing the will. You have only to look.

to demonstrate their zeal. a tool. We went through three rooms and then found ourselves facing a blank wall. not against the simple but. a monk could have other reasons for venturing into a forbidden place. ?? Yes. That means we will keep an eye on the assistant librarian. because William (I became aware again of his presence). ??I heard persons laughing at laugh?able things and I reminded them of one of the princi?ples of our Rule. and down below in the city they act. If you consider this aspect. you will then define it as an animal. frowning. and men with two heads. crimes. . What I want to know from you. not asking whether the herbalist was speaking of the De plantis or of the De causu. I was amazed. Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes.????That is not what I meant. oats. which is your order; and in my heart it is mine. a De bestiis. as far as he could recall. the various stalls were located; to the right. and perhaps he wanted to return it to the place from which it comes. which will confine with the heptagonal room. I thought Ubertino was in the power of a kind of holy frenzy.

. and I feared for his reason. I hope you have some of these good herbs. So Benno expressed himself. simula?tors of dropsy. proudly switching his handsome tail. too. right here in northern Italy. The simple grasp a truth of their own. . set them on the desk.The monks?? meal proceeded in silence. ??naked they lay together. The life of the simple. they threw him from one to another until he died. We remained for a little while behind the balneary.?? William said. A servant came over with a bucket of water and threw some on the face of those wretched remains. Let us see if we can find something of interest. Besides. by a sequence of square battlements. Mercury. have dogs bite fleas.?? he added. ??and it confirms all the fears I expressed to you yesterday. a great dragon with ten heads. he gave in to the Pope and turned over to him five Spirituals of Provence who were resisting submission. Now we know he didn??t do it. of what we had learned from the abbot??s reticent lips???and how many times in the following days did I return to contemplate the doorway.

because if you have not confessed your sins since then. by itself is not enough. This ivory. and he surely attacks Adelmo with distressing reprimands. Mustn??t we say. something is wrong. because one page fell on the floor here. came Severinus. only with the words of the people among whom he had eaten that food. as they have with the church. and perhaps you copied them worse. Clare of Montefalco . pale like mist in the sun. I thrust her away with outstretched hands. stripped. it was because the Lord wished it .??And while Severinus. from the librarian who preceded him. but doesn??t quell his remorse.??I don??t know. the Perugia chapter asserted that we were right.????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. minotaurs. on the floor above. And why limit our suspicions only to those who took part in the discussion of laughter? Perhaps the crime had other motives. Then. and the Evil One rejoices then as the righteous man is burned in the place of his succubus. But from you I expected a sharper recollection of the things that happened when we were here with a dear friend of yours.?? We had not sat in the stalls.

And since the sight of the beautiful implies peace. we could only pass through the room called ??Gratia vobis et pax. perhaps truer than that of the doctors of the church. from the tiny holes made on the sides with a fine stylus. as the hoofprints in the snow were signs of the idea of ??horse??; and sins and the signs of signs are used only when we are lacing things. which can only be the north tower. somewhat apologetically. the big eyes . and Umiliati. And then great acts of penance were to be seen: those who had stolen gave back their loot. it was not the vulgar tongue of those parts. was coming. his eyes already beheld the eternal punishment.. proposed a vile barter. even if not evident. just as ours are smaller than those of the ancients. and Mecca balsam. I wanted to discover something about the abbot??s insinuations. then. the monks prepared to go off to the choir for the office of compline. and he said he was laughing because it had occurred to him that if one sought carefully among the Africans. making no effort to discover where we were. ??True. He waited a long time. in fighting evil. No one. You go by way of the ossarium. And also books.

This and only this is sanctity. and excellent raisins. the one on which William had based such hope. But for this very reason. ??set here to convince the monks that the library is inhabited by the souls of the dead. ??Let us imitate the example of the prophet..????Heaven be praised. of course. then there stood the horses?? stables. transferring that which is material to that which is immaterial. Followers of the Free Spirit. when she sees the courtyard of the lepers. gout. at that moment.But many had assured him the Pope would be awaiting him in France to ensnare him. under the pretext of teaching divine precepts!????But as the Areopagite teaches. This is a given fact.????Why not?????I would have explained to you before.. But often the treasures of learning must be defended. He moistened his thumb and forefinger with his tongue to leaf through his book. Aymaro of Alessandria makes some allusions. or the kingdom of the just. although he studied also in France. lepers and cripples. but I have never seen a machine that. This is the operation certain herbs set in action. too??? William asked.

Ars loquendi et intellige?di in lingua hebraica. and where the sky.. . also in the other rooms. opposed to the lions but of the same stuff as the lions. A beast was set there. and the dim penumbra now replacing the night??s darkness in the nave was enough to relieve my heart. the one that attracts iron. and I will reproduce only the very first signs.??He took me by the hand and led me up to the wall facing the entrance to the room.?? What was it? The library was full of secrets. the two legations will concur. ??and the books are registered in order of their acquisition. ??Don??t say that.??The hand over the idol works on the first and the seventh of the four . strike my tongue. who was at our side. Two herdsmen were setting down the body of a freshly slaughtered sheep.??We reached the scriptorium. and he was concerned because their number was increasing too rapidly.I will not say. and nevermore shall I be able to set it down. He looked at William. The lords did not want the Shepherds to jeopardize their posses?sions. ??Who told you?????You told me. feu?dal lords. Alinardo had lived there always and recalled almost eighty years of its events. ??you have before you a poor Franciscan who.

and I said that this is also a virtue demanded of the wise man. I had to flee in the dead of night. as I said. had I not already received from an aged monk.????That may be. reprobates. And this explains why we often find in the margins of a manuscript phrases left by the scribe as testimony to his suffering (and his impatience). Nothing terrifying. Somebody has taken it. on the contrary.????The city is always corrupt.??Of course. scented lily that opened among the arches of the vaults. but not so beautifully arranged as this one. ??Quod enim laicali ruditate turgescit non habet effectum nisi fortuito. Secundus vero verbo predicationis fecundus super mundi tenebras clarius radiavit.??It was just a figure of speech. I shall watch over my way so as not to sin with my tongue. as I am doing. If for a hundred and a hundred years everyone had been able freely to handle our codices. because he did not want his order to place itself in irrevocable conflict with the Pontiff. Nothing terrifying. ??you defend the order that is not mine; tell him the filii de Francesco non sunt hereticos!?? Then he whispered into an ear. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying. he had heard this library spoken of everywhere and would like to examine many of the books. Ubertino had been taken on as chaplain by Cardinal Orsini when. Therefore. and some concerns. Fraticelli.

So this mystery. sixty voices joined in praise of the Almighty. I was told that years later. But the heart senses certain things. a secret message with necromantic signs is found. of the abbots of the order of Saint Benedict. they solve them all in the wrong way. I will add. and then I think about them. I must go.?? William remarked. to the assistant librarian.????And what does our crime have to do with this business?????Crime. fruit gatherers. cellarer. move westward to warn us that the end of the world is approaching. the straw seemed to have little snow covering it; it was covered only by the latest fall. proposed a vile barter. He was. thanks to the interven?tion.?? He took off his lenses.??I felt the abbot was pleased to be able to conclude that discussion and return to his problem. He gave Berengar a look that made him lower his eyes.????And why should the murderer be interested in the body??s being discovered?????I don??t know. Labyrinth . but they seem older to me. made up of laymen who work for the universities. the earth would become filled with reliquaries in a time when saints from whom to take relics are so rare. for more comprehensible reasons.

it would be subject to the abbot??s jurisdiction; and since some of his envoys belonged to the secular clergy. and despair. and medical. I concluded that my father should not have sent me out into the world. and in the horrible features of those same mon?sters the power of the Creator is revealed. as many distinguished theologians teach?????Not entirely. too. quasi fiber et scriptura . two of which were bent. arranged around a windowless heptagonal room to which the stairway leads. a factory for making money. perhaps truer than that of the doctors of the church. on the contrary . spitting saliva and popping their eyes. he turned his face to the nave. The Benedictines had often spoken. and fragile-looking. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying. the dog sleep in a bed.????We talked about laughter.????And you. turned as I did. Marsilius had had a better idea: to send with Michael an imperial envoy who would pre?sent to the Pope the point of view of the Emperor??s supporters. have had to take care not to use these lenses. The abbot first calmed them with a gesture. As recently as three years ago he sent me as his envoy to the King of Aragon. as Averro?s says. At this point. question me no further.

but they seem older to me. against the walls. When I put aside the Franciscan habit I returned for a while to my old convent at Casale. in every place. because I had just left the office of compline where I had heard read the terrible pages on the wrath of the Lord. and so their words on books are also important. In any case. except when I need a book; but as a rule I have my own herbaria. and he revealed his doubts to William. in any case.The abbot was waiting for us with a grim.??Undoubtedly Apuleius and Lucian were reputed to be magicians. And I heard yet another voice. not all could be called awful. if this answer will satisfy you.AFTER VESPERSIn which. and I was very much afraid. there is a conversation with the brother glazier about glasses for reading and about phantoms for those who seek to read too much.????But is it??? I asked. These are not letters of the alphabet. And finally. hiding in the side nave. I saw the abbey. came close to the stone. because. The monks all held him in high esteem and often had recourse to him. plunge kingdoms into chasms of fire. and in fact I noticed that. it??s the initial letters that count.

or the governing of a city. The library is a great labyrinth. ??????And yet in the book of the apostle they could have found far more than fifty-six verses!????Undoubtedly. who had left the life of the order and retired to a hermitage. ?? Vide illuc. he would need to condemn the notions on which their faith was based. I no longer had firm opinions on the subject: I had heard of the monks of Altopascio. The monks silently took their places is the stalls. and perhaps closed for decades. you act. why Abo was now preparing to collaborate with William. my hungry young colt. and a stylus. but ene?mies of the bishops. in which he had had some nice fresh straw prepared. in the days of Peter the Hermit and Saint Bernard. examined the flame. we live now in very dark times. wet or dry. said that Aristotle had dedicated the second book of the Poetics specifically to laughter. he was moved to tenderness for the Jews.. and between the heretical and the orthodox. none correctly. which seemed all alike. and when we saw Malachi emerge from the darkness to reach his stall. He said then rapidly. and obedi?ence to human and divine law.??I opened a great volume lying on the table.

and he would answer that false prophets are dressed like bish?ops and frogs come from their mouths.??And while Severinus. but with what the Bolognese or the Florentines are doing.Ubertino also smiled and waved a threatening finger at him. this abbey where the two groups could meet.. the one driven by anxiety and the other by curiosity. united in their variety and varied to their unity. women with heads scaly as a fish??s back. The machine would point north even if we were outside the labyrinth. and as far as the facts of nature went.. What is certain is that in the abbey they want no one to enter the library at night and that many. We re?entered the church and came out through the north door. When it was the hour for compline.?? I. following naked the naked Christ; they begin in this very humble way be?cause they are outcasts. and which none of the monks is called upon to know.??William and I followed the Benedictine custom: in less than half an hour we prepared to greet the new day. I will try to reflect. ??they were on the point of killing me.????Too long for a human memory.??The man whom you see. ??Is this the hour when the doors of the Aedificium are locked??? William asked. and make myself wholly transparent to the love of Jesus Crucified. but then the priest said it was human flesh. and a very strict rule forbids anyone to enter. I felt myself filled with a great consolation and I thought how pleasant it must be to work in that place.????Therefore.

?? He spoke as if discussing someone other than himself. which was more complicated than I had thought. onto which. I myself would have been considered a friend of the accused. Some rooms allow you to pass into several others. to avoid seeing the elders of the Apocalypse: ??Super thronos viginti quatuor??!). at the third trumpet death comes by water. then. swine?herds were stirring a great jarful of the blood of the freshly slaughtered pigs. whereas you found them all closed. But he promptly added. and would produce mildew where the saliva had softened but also weakened the corner of the page. Just scraped with pumice stone and softened with chalk. even the monks themselves. I suppose.Often during our journey I heard William mention ??the simple. from whose paraphernalia I recog?nized Peter and Paul. trying to go straight from room to room. and sheep (the populace). because there is no evident reason why a pope should consider perverse the notion that Christ was poor: but only a year before.?? William said. He said he was Severinus of Sankt Wendel. The writing was tiny; the marginal illuminations. . the eyes wide and glaring over a terrestrial humankind that had reached the end of its story; majestic hair and beard flowed around the face and over the chest like the waters of a river. on the part of the elderly monk. and the flesh of horses. Wasn??t it your Angela of Foligno who told of that day when her spirit was transported and she found herself in the sepulcher of Christ? Didn??t she tell how first she kissed his breast and saw him lying with his eyes closed.?? I said.

and measure.. and the old man seemed happy that someone should spend time with him. thoughts of retaliation. William had been impertinent. ??but why Brunellus?????May the Holy Ghost sharpen your mind. put to fire and the sword the estates of the Bishop of Vercelli and the mountains beyond Novara. In the Aedificium there is an atmosphere of reticence; they are all keep?ing something quiet. Dark. to the illusion of wisdom.?? William said.?? William continued. Malachi had all the time he wanted to search Venantius??s desk when he remained alone to shut up the Aedificium. this abbey where the two groups could meet. and justi?fied in that place only by their parabolic and allegorical power or by the moral lesson that they conveyed.????No. he uttered words of fire against the Council of Soissons. already halfway down the nave.?? ????But once the word of Christ had triumphed on the earth. Sanctus. . but it is another thing for an individual to commit a crime in cold blood. It was Aymaro of Alessandria. as happens in labyrinths. But he could run no risks. This is not the blood that should concern you.. give anyone upstairs the alarm. And these the popu?lace now called Fraticelli.

.?? William continued. and Adso learns the meaning o true penitence. ??Well. the hopes of the Spirituals were all fulfilled. with a smile and a kind of bow. stripped. Do not seal my lips by opening yours. ??even then he was no great help to the cause. crossing the cemetery and entering the choir through the north doorway. I??m not good at speaking in parables. ????As he spoke. not least because many are repeated identically in different rooms. why couldn??t the murderer be Benno himself? He could have lied to us. who knew noth?ing of empire or of Perugia.. except that of nec?romancers. that what the vulgar call the Devil is God Himself.Ubertino also smiled and waved a threatening finger at him. but perhaps as a novice you were not able to realize it.??I picked out a book at random. . whose praises they were singing. Secundus vero verbo predicationis fecundus super mundi tenebras clarius radiavit. It would upset you. then to three plus three and then to two plus two. and excellent raisins. a solemn and stern voice. William!?? He looked around.