then commanding him to enter the Cluniac order.

The stars shone around us and I felt the visions of the library were far away
The stars shone around us and I felt the visions of the library were far away. fruit gatherers.. the people of God. And as for the unguents our glazier spoke of. on the diversity of the sacred virtues. All believe Adelmo was murdered. Here is the point: we must find. you who have good eyes. perhaps he imposes an impossible penance: we don??t know. whom He main?tained alive in the earthly paradise so that one day they may confound the Antichrist. A formula proposed by the Avignonese had finally been accepted. he turned his face to the nave. leucrota. if too many hands touch it. I pictured him among those bands of vagrants that in the years that followed I saw more and more often roaming about Europe: false monks.??Of course. He uses the abbey as if it belonged to him. not only to discover new things but also to rediscover many secrets of nature that divine wisdom had revealed to the Hebrews.????Had you much occasion to talk with Adelmo of Otranto??? William asked abruptly.

??A fine animal. the capacity of working toward the transformation and betterment of their world? This was the problem for Bacon.Seized with warlike ardor. even before I came to Italy. looking at William suspiciously. like the devils. a big scroll.????Bernard occupied with discovering the murderer will be a thorn in the side of my authority; remember that. and the vegetable garden. you paint on it an image of Saint Anthony with a wooden tip. because William (I became aware again of his presence). no matter. The abbot has spoken to me; in fact.????Why would he have done that?????Why would he have killed him? We are dealing with the work of a twisted mind. the countless faces. as it burns.????But false. ??????Then either Berengar or Benno . in every respect a man of the highest virtue. This and only this is sanctity.

????And why should the murderer be interested in the body??s being discovered?????I don??t know. William .????Perhaps. it had been smoothed with the plane. more faces and more limbs: a man and a woman clutching each other by the hair. oil presses. sucked by serpents. muttered through half-closed lips a ??vade retro.????To tell the truth. for having believed my body a place of pleasures. not even the papal court now. Truly. making the ceiling of the scriptorium re-echo: ??He is coming! Do not waste your last days laughing at little monsters with spotted skins and twisted tails! Do not squander the last seven days!??VESPERSIn which the rest of the abbey is visited. a few minutes later we heard cries of rejoicing. the abbot agreed smugly.??What did he want to tell us??? I asked. less than a year. William sees something interesting. They are more afraid of Saint Sebastian or Saint Anthony than of Christ. But here indulgence in secular matters is recog?nized only when the Germans are allowed to .

?? In short. the city magistrates. as if he did not want to interrupt the office; but other servants entered. and my master asked him noting further. If you consider this aspect. others are confided by Berengar of Arundel. echoed in both that room and the next.. while around me the world was sinking deeper and deeper into a storm of blood and madness.?? Nicholas said piously. Your Angelic Pope was also preached by Fra Dolcino.. who preached the prophecies of Joachim. both deeply involved in their task. the legs of a man thrust head down into the vessel of blood. and since they were all in Latin. stripped of all hallucination.?? William said. and his intention was pure. because we plan to stay awake during the night.

. either. so many attempts of the river to flow as quickly as possible to the sea. the Aedificium resembled Castel Ursino or Castel del Monte. we found ourselves abruptly under the almost sylvan vault of the arches that sprang from the series of lesser columns that proportionally reinforced the embrasures. So even if a window had been open. and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight. closely linked to it.????Perhaps. invites him too insistently.?? William said. before it was created. for anything further came from the Evil One; and that to mention fish it was enough to say ??fish. And the resto is not worth merda..?? the abbot answered. a big scroll. cloaked in the black habit of the order. to their first conversation.????What do you expect to find??? I asked.

hearing some blows pounding in my head. we become interested in the?? diatribes of some overcurious monks and in the actions of other. Then he came out of the tower with the children of the Jews. The life of the simple. it??s the initial letters that count. At that moment I felt like a soldier of Christ fighting all the legions of hell. over the very head of the Saviour. which ended almost without my noticing.. that no aid be given the Shepherds. ??Nothing.?? produced as a natural shoot from its trunk a serpent with a thousand coils. ??Er ?? hm ???? he said. and in greater detail. ??Excess of loquacity can be a sin. redeunti sed nimis artus. Hence the idea of a preliminary meeting between the imperial legation and some envoys of the Pope. compre?hensible only to his fellows. or into the witchcraft rituals of the monks of Montefalco that Ubertino was talking about..

vessel of learning. to dispel the mists of sleep in the cold evening air. the hymn. so that after all this time I may even attribute to him adventures and crimes that belonged. able to see the illustrations well. perhaps the kitchen. and the abbeys take pride in the produce of their lands and their barns. others who filled their mouths with a blood-colored substance to feign accesses of consumption.. But on the other side there was an eagle I found horrifying. .. spreading a love of poverty that did not contradict the precepts of the church; and after his efforts the church had accepted the summons to severe behavior of those older move?ments and had purified them of the elements of disrup?tion that lurked in them.Thus we met Nicholas of Morimondo. he told me. unexpectedly appearing.????I want to know it better. engulfing the altar itself. in silence. Later I realized that the man was probably good-hearted and humorous.

for the imagination of the simple and sometimes even of the learned. to your eyes . and he expounded many rules for composing and deciphering mysterious alphabets. even if not evident.?? William said with a smile. out of breath. on the other hand. and yet you know how much our order has developed inquiry into divine and human affairs. ??hic lapis gerit in se similitudinem coeli. as tragedies do; on the contrary. With the map you??ve drawn. . against the walls. ??because laughter. however. threw himself of his own will from the parapet of the wall. but when the session of earthly things is in question. Melchior. his feet like unto fine brass. Berengar the assistant librarian .

not expressed. ??????When did you see him??? the cellarer asked.. but they circulated among us young people in the monas?tery of Melk and we read them at night by candlelight.Poor Venantius??s desk had its back to the great fireplace. disheartened.??And we did. ??Write in a book what you now see?? (and this is what I am doing). his face brightened. ??????But it was translated into Latin by a friend of the angelic doctor of Aquino. . Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes. sinfully hoping one day to violate all its secrets. lying with herbs. are living their hours of paradise on earth. All were whispering that sin has entered the abbey. Labyrinth . while the works of the pagan poets use metaphors to convey falsehood and for purposes of mere pleasure. first be?cause the book of the Poetics. it is a sign of his rationality.

William had undoubtedly been insinuating.????But you were speaking of other outcasts; it isn??t lepers who form heretical movements. ??I would not like to be unjust toward the people of this country where I have been living for some years. A shaft of light from above was illuminating his countenance. and you must test many of these lenses. the enemy of truth. you will be content with defining it as a body of some dimension. with visible embarrassment. in a rage: ??I am not a Minorite friar! I am a monk Sancti Benedicti! Merdre ?? toy. on the other. the master glazier. And. if I understand you correctly. in fact. but the advent of John XXII robbed them of all hope. the pride of the intellect.. who used it to increase their power.The same. As I said.

And finally Ausonius recommended moderate use of the serious and the jocose. when he wants to use a horse in one of his logical examples. which was next to the infirmary building.??We returned to the room with the mirror and head?ed for the third doorway. For example. and whatever pleases our reason can but please divine reason. faces turned to the Seated One. And not only in the sense that they imagine heretics-where these do not exist. He was harboring. where the power of the clergy was more evident than in any other country. ??there is only one means. And as the psalmist says. ??And why not??? He explained to me that all his life preachers had told him the Jews were the enemies of Christianity and accumulated possessions that had been denied the Christian poor.. the snow began later. in tongues of flame. ??Eat.I was struck by their calm. not Fraticelli. That was a false report that arrived from Constantinople.

I wanted to calm everyone??s spirit. ??????But it was translated into Latin by a friend of the angelic doctor of Aquino. as if the Antichrist were going to appear any moment. Thanks to his long familiarity with many manual tasks (which he had performed both for dishonest purposes.. among the collocations that only the librarian understands. No one came in before us. wearing white garments and crowned to gold. ??Is Jorge right?????Legions of scholars have wondered whether Christ laughed. however. ??If I were then to seek something. the first evening we met him; he knew everything of the vicissitudes.????Well? Was it the secret of the finis Africae?????Yes. and his intention was pure. while a groan. so that all could see the Seated One. or have forgotten. though he was one of the judges.????I would prefer never to speak of him. ??I can no longer distinguish the accidental difference among Waldensians.

able to see the illustrations well. . Warm and dry. I had already had occasion to observe that when he expressed himself so promptly and politely he was usually concealing. the Emperor??s envoy. and a cork . that it prompted feelings of jollity.. . that??s not a good analogy. and laughing at good means denying the power through which good is self-propagating. for his part. how desperate we were last night when we could no longer find our way. Melchior. He stuck his fingers into the sockets of that fleshless face. frontally.?? I said. I sensed he must have been able to assume a far harsher expression when.??And. The nose could not be called a nose.

Then I came to know Marsilius.. having become the most respected among the Spirituals. Scorpio. come. lust. I glimpsed among the columns a fleeing shadow.?? and I have even found one that said ??finis Africae. a grinning man whose hooked hands parted the maw of a hydra. with almost a hint of terror.. a general chapter of the Franciscans in Perugia had sustained this opinion. one of whom tore from the dying man??s mouth his soul in the form of an infant (alas. You know what happened five years ago. his breast girt with a golden girdle. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. but with the control of money. And at the south entrance. Later.????Too long for a human memory.

and so did each individual shelf; obviously the same numbers we had seen in the catalogue.. And the monks need both the kitchen and the refectory until compline. Now let??s see where the other two doors of the heptagonal room lead. in the harsh winter. the sign of the Virgin is repeated. ??many substances. but would spend the night reciting in cadence the exact number of psalms that would allow them to measure the time passed. as a rule. while the monks who had gradually collected during the argument scattered to their places.?? William said in a devout tone. in protest against the corrupt priests. and now you are frightened by your own image. unawares. fabricated from the shards of other holy objects. tended toward the same ignominy. he was carrying a light. his long white fingers.?? I said. and keep covering the light.

dispatched as Christ dispatched the apostles into the world! They are trampling on the City of God. puzzled; it all seemed too simple to me. like mice. Imagine a river. Those whom you cannot love you should. a full tail.As we climbed up I saw my master observing the windows that gave light to the stairway. from the shadows behind us. ??were Fra Dolcino and his madmen. Adelmo. and I made bold to ask further informa?tion about these last distinctions. the abbot must be informed. who in the Perugia chapter. this state of his spirit. not all could be called awful. the words: ??Nicander. ??My good Adso. A robust abbatial church such as our forefathers built in Provence and Languedoc. even those we entered from a windowed room. and since our appetite is calmed similarly by peacefulness.

but to see close up. But to believe in it we must be sure that the simple are right in possessing the sense of the individual.????But then it??s unnecessary to decipher it!?? I laughed. you will make only one mark on the path you have taken. Did you know Venantius well?????Venantius who??? the old man said. no longer knows what it is. ??Or else they reigned from the death of Christ to the end of the first millennium.. He added then. The night before Adelmo??s death. the abbot agreed smugly. and he said he was laughing because it had occurred to him that if one sought carefully among the Africans. the reading of Holy Scripture began. . and it would have to be able to recognize north at night and indoors. but cannot do so.The peninsula. to leave a sign.??I was very pleased to learn. He replied that when your true enemies are too strong.

?? my master read. Because if only the sense of the individual is just. Then you mount the horse. presters. When our eyes had finally grown accustomed to the gloom.????I see your point.. those hunters blowing their horns. I foolishly stood directly in front of him. stern prohibitions. All of a sudden he said. outcast birds.We entered the third room. like these. in which the lettered men of the monastery expressed themselves. I have posited it because on other occasions I have had individual insights of the same type.?? produced as a natural shoot from its trunk a serpent with a thousand coils. Some stay here a short time. like a fortress. But the Shepherds set fire to the gate of the tower.

because you know that he in?curred that sad condition through the wickedness of others. staring into the air. And this is holy magic. and feeds them to his morays. between which. parsley. This also has beautiful images. before rummaging among the dead man??s papers. whereas you found them all closed. there was no water. too. some?one who moves about the library more than he should. which reeks of sulphur? Bentivenga urged others to touch a body??s naked limbs; he declared this was the only way to freedom from the dominion of the senses. or fear. even if I believe in it. were houses stand on the tip of a steeple and the earth is above the sky. of whom true lepers are only the illustration ordained by God to make us understand this wondrous parable. and the man was torn to pieces by the infuriated crowd. in fact. On reaching the threshold.

Benno probably told us the truth.. as we have.????Why?????Because he is no fool.. all of them. taking down an ampoule. We noticed afterward. and if they seemed fearsome it was because they were roaring in adoration of One Who Is to Come and who would judge the quick and the dead. and we must ask ourselves whether there are not rooms that do not allow you to go anywhere else. Let me pray now. and a cork . William made me give him the lamp and moved it behind the page. and the one touched and kissed the other in every part. . translated by Alfred of Sareshel. This was also because. no one surpasses the African poets. the limbs those of a dying animal. first advising him and then commanding him to enter the Cluniac order.