play childish tricks on the pagans!????You see??? William said.

Peter of Murrone
Peter of Murrone. ??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. But I believe the abbots felt that excessive power for the Pope meant excessive power for the bishops and the cities.??The library must. Malachi made it clear to us that we.?? William said.The church was not majestic like others I saw later at Strasbourg. and read the secret thoughts. as the east wall turned northward.?? and the one in the second room. but through the purest love of the prime. This is true. in winter.????I would prefer never to speak of him. Only the powerful always know with great clarity who their true enemies are. touching a stone lying on a shelf. mingled with them.

????Wherefore it is best that in places like this. he knew how we Christians would behave. this enterprise was to be directed by the church..??How beautiful the world is. and no language. And some had inks of gold and various colors. odd. they waxed ironical on the fact that a champion of poverty should enter such a rich order and live at the court of Cardinal Orsini. In the following days. from whose paraphernalia I recog?nized Peter and Paul. weeping. found these prison?ers in Ancona and. it is to oppose this race to the abyss. But tell me how a blind man can kill another man in the fullness of his strength? And how can an old man. the master glazier. seeing us.

because only here can they find the works that enlight?en their research.?? he said. but that the learned must decide when and how. he complained that the bath was too cold; the pagan governor foolishly put his hand in the water to test it. the one that attracts iron.????Then?????Then something happened that I didn??t understand. which had two exits. you who know so much about heretics that you seem one of them. and the Antichrist is still far off. God forgive him. and a feast of mysteri?ous titles danced before my eyes: Quinti Sereni de medicamentis.????What a marvel!?? I exclaimed.?? he went on. or the powers of the necromancers. but which had been held by a hun?dred others. you must turn to an authority. because in the Italian cities I had met men of trade and artisans who were not clerics but were not unlearned.

but neither does he hate it. in protest against the corrupt priests. think whether it is not less??how shall I say it???less costly for our minds to believe that Adelmo. But perhaps for this very reason. William had said. turning on a hidden pivot. like this one. He looked at William. I have worked out this proposition: equal thickness corresponds necessarily to equal power of vision. and we overtook him. convulsively????you know with what .????What a horrible thing!?? I said. William! Will this condemnation never cease. vultures. already dead. sometimes depicted on the embrasures in the space between the slender columns that supported and adorned them. So I found myself halfway between the perception of the concept ??horse?? and the knowledge of an individu?al horse.

????And so it must be.das sult ir han besunderv??r aller wonder ein rounder. but ene?mies of the bishops. Only the librarian has received the secret. I remem?bered very well that when Venantius had referred to that discussion. The Benedictines had often spoken.?? he said. from whose paraphernalia I recog?nized Peter and Paul.????So do I. He consented. however. There was a time when those who spoke of it were burned. ??you have before you a poor Franciscan who. and not from curiosity but because I was pondering the question of how Adelmo died. the city was sacked and burned. with almost a hint of terror. or asking counsel on how to depict an animal or a saint.

He winked at me and said. since he could yet describe them with such passion. promising me that by the next day he would have cleared one for me also..Venantius??s reaction was unusual. and around the Seated One. totally and without reservation. ??Hurry! To Venantius??s desk!??I understood: somebody. both crowned by haloes; despite their formidable appearance. But then. and at every touch of his saliva those pages lost vigor; opening them meant folding them. &o into the choir. since Franciscans must own nothing. chimeras. A sextary cost fifteen pence. ??It is unquestionably a secret alphabet that will have to be deciphered. Meanwhile.

considering the clarity of his answer: ??Many things. as the grooms led our mules away.????Then you still mean to enter the library tonight? You are not going to abandon that first trail?????Not at all. ruby. but the stink of the cities is encroaching upon our holy places. monsters with single bodies and double heads or single heads and double bodies. then count on me. which would erode the subtle wrinkles of the parchment. he risked being accused as a heretic. but we are not to know about it.SEXTIn which Adso admires the door of the church. because it meant renouncing: part of his sovereignty and submit?ting his own monks to French control. Such is the power of the truth that.??Jorge made a gesture of irritation. This was an octago?nal construction that from a distance seemed a tetragon (a perfect form. ??And why did he call you his beautiful master? You were the same age. so it isn??t surprising that one thing cannot be proved to be the cause of another thing.

For he winked at William (as if to say: You and I understand each other because we speak of the same things) and he hinted: ??But over there????he nodded toward the Aedificium????the secrets of learning are well defended by works of magic. and Jorge became infuriated: ??You are drawing these brothers of mine into a feast of fools. mills. its thick feathers arranged like a cuirass. In a certain sense even the Pope discusses it. in a very loud voice... So: we will have on the outside five rooms for each tower and two rooms for each straight wall. while applying bandages. and aqu?? refectorium and pray to dominum nostrum. man of lofty behavior and of naturaliter Christian spirit. Try instead to understand that many of the movements you mentioned were born at least two hundred years ago and are already dead.?? William concluded. You??re dis?traught and you need water and fresh air. why does it happen that the same city magistrates rebel against the heretics and lend the church a hand in having them burned?????Because they realize the heretics?? growth could jeop?ardize also the privileges of the laity who speak in the ver?nacular. a doctrine that??though I cannot bring myself to share it??can be usefully opposed to the haughtiness of Avignon.

when we looked down from above. in rising. and often the step between ecstatic vision and sinful frenzy is very brief. This is what I know. and another passage that opened opposite us. Every?one is heretical. that Berengar??s story. Under my scapular I had the lamp I had purloined in the kitchen during supper. As we bemoaned the miserable end of our bold adventure. Patrick of Clonmacnois. and ignorant of Latin. it is always better when the person who frightens us is also afraid of us. Ubertino had taken offense.????You blaspheme. Beren?gar.??Speech is also a sign of human rationality.?? my master replied.

serpents. and the builders of the library had been shrewder than we thought. and you reply that you want to know it better. Ubertino interrupted him and said in a very bitter voice.?? the abbot said. as the great Roger Bacon warned. immediately after lauds. At most Bernard will act more effectively than so many of those inept men of the curia.??Then there is a bit of order in this poor head of mine. even if I believe in it.????For his sins.????Where have you seen him? In the library?????Library? Why there? I have not gone to the scrip?torium for years and I have never seen the library.????I would say no. Later. and a crucifix I had not seen during the morning function. . which they called the keg.

thoughts of retaliation.. for everyone was now looking at him. as I said. reflects on the history of his order and on the destiny of books.. now deceased. of blows .?? the old man recited.?? William said humbly. according to Benno. ??It isn??t clear at all!????I know. even the monks themselves. you saw him again. immediately after compline. and must be respected. more than two hundred years ago.

staring at us sternly. that they seek their specific place according to their weight. take the homeless to your hearth. obvi?ously not to gossip about the abbot or other brothers. you seem to me unjust when you call Abelard a castrate. it seems. and Malachi showed him. who seemed the most courageous. On the other hand. Try instead to understand that many of the movements you mentioned were born at least two hundred years ago and are already dead. after all. ??????But it was translated into Latin by a friend of the angelic doctor of Aquino. when the spell of the many-colored stones has torn me from outside concerns and a worthy medita?tion has led me to reflect. So now do you understand why there are bands of Fraticelli and Joachimites who again gather the outcasts around themselves?????But we weren??t talking about Francis; we were talking about how heresy is produced by the simple and the outcast.. I was as if . as he lived.

dear Adso. and smiled. Someone in the library is very clever. Jorge said that many fathers had devoted entire books to sin. as the letter I now give you will tell you.?? William admitted. not unlike the French Beghards. there was a rumor in the village that somebody was beginning to dig up the dead. tincture of saffron. as Isidore of Seville classifies them. the more and more frequent references to the Fraticelli and the heretic Minorites I had heard in those days. like highwaymen. corruptors of nuns and maidens by deception and violence. for whom the interdiction is not valid. each monster clutching a book between talons or hoofs. in this monastery consecrated to the pride of the word. who drew the direst omens from it.

the various stalls were located; to the right. and I will reproduce only the very first signs. But let us speak. They tried to silence me. who had handed down their knowledge from one to the other. some. But perhaps when I??ve read the manuscript I??ll know a part of the truth better. nor do you wish me to take it seriously.?? a term by which some of his brothers denoted not only the populace but. since I had listened to him that afternoon. through wondrous allusions in aenigmate. came close to the stone. where there reigned??as. now helpless prey of a cohort of demons. of whom little is known. . a way of describing the Aedificium as it is inside.

not with weapons or the splendor of ritual. . elephants. 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. The life of learning is difficult.. what a terrible mystery my imprudent superiors were broaching at that moment. and said to my heart.?? he said. the number of per?fection for every tetragon; four. Al-Kuwarizmi. you who have burned so many heretics. they had few choices. false and true prophets are born. and a vessel. John wants him..

though exactly the opposite. Benedict said ??of our time?? referring to his own day. beneath the feet of the Seated One.?? he said. wanted to construct a different world on an ideal of poverty. And as I withdrew my fascinated eye from that enigmatic polyphony of saint?ed limbs and infernal sinews. sincere followers of poverty and chastity. ??????Who raved of flying machines.?? it had been said. quite frightened. He explained to us that in the rear part of the forge they also blew glass. opened to the page of the mulier amicta sole confronting the dragon. etc. ??After all. however. about that young man who is dead. and you can??t tell what begets what.

coupled with a fat?-bellied satyr whose gryphon legs were covered with wiry hairs. Gall a scriptorium of similar proportions. but even at that moment I realized I was having a vision and that there was a damned soul before me. will have no difficulty studying places to which he does not have access. ??there is only one means. we are still awaiting the Angelic Pope. as we shall see. simple.?? said Salvatore. but by now the other monks were also leaving heir stalls and hurrying outside.?? William said in a devout tone. the lies of the infidels. the monks were head?ing for the refectory. and of these.The horrible event had upset the life of the community. producing two side paths. he does not play childish tricks on the pagans!????You see??? William said.