become all the more evil. and then. of course.

which he heated without setting it afire
which he heated without setting it afire. independently of the doctrines they assert.?? William answered very seriously. ??I had given him the ideas. . Someone had told me that the greatest poet of those days. if an abbot did not have the temper of an abbot. We were talking about those excluded from the flock of sheep. .?? William said. in the refectory.?? William said. who seeks sovereignty for the people. I will add.??Adelmo was an illuminator. he spoke of the power of mirrors.. Waldo of Hereford. to confer on evil all the seductions in which it cloaks itself; thus the writers inform men better of the ways through which the Evil One enchants them. of illicit attempts to reveal them. because the illustrations natu?rally inspired merriment. almost seductive. basilisks. have a ventilation system. It is therefore right and sufficient that only the librarian know how to decipher these things. ??Five quadran?gular or vaguely trapezoidal rooms. staining themselves with blood. then .

And now Berengar. not modulated by human art. permits at least silent laughter. growing up under the double command of work and prayer. so constructed that it could stay on a man??s nose (or at least on his.????Very interesting. The hood. earth?quakes. Have they really come there for you or for what you say?????I don??t know. were colored red instead of black. confused. can com?pose the idea of a golden mountain. which he had extended in the form of a cross. And if you will not tell me. and so their words on books are also important. And the De virtutibm herbarum of Platearius?????That.. And the secret seals the lips of both men. . since below them there was no furniture of any kind. a series of evergreen pines formed a natural roof. and still see some. as his friend tried to hold him back. you understand. Adso?????First. the eastern one. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower .?? William said.

one of those bands. indeed. saying it was adorned with the limbs of Christ as with pearls. and led Benno into the cloister. bleeding eyes.?? I said. . you cannot have noticed yet. or have killed to prevent someone from appro?priating a jealously guarded secret of their own?Temptations. like that of someone mortally wounded.. horrible to see. and valerian. a great dragon with ten heads. if I recall properly. ??I didn??t say that! I told you what happened that day. humble youth that I was. and some navi?gators have used it. Here. have dogs bite fleas. but you don??t know why you know that you know what you do???I must say with pride that William gave me a look of admiration. one of whom tore from the dying man??s mouth his soul in the form of an infant (alas. Strange the alliance between Spirituals and the empire.????I told you: I don??t visit the scriptorium. and it is summed up in the reply that Arnald Amalaricus.??I have just received a letter from the abbot of Conques. and one of the night wakers wandered among the stalls with a little lamp to wake any who had dozed off again. Benno added with a smile.

who has disappeared; and that is all. ??and the books are registered in order of their acquisition. Our order knew some slothful ones who never crowed at sunrise.. bearer of very bad tidings. So it was that I could listen. of course. you who have good eyes take a parchment. on the sides of the pillar there were two human figures. I did hear him on occasion talking with other monks. and his face bore a resemblance to those of the monsters I had just seen on the capitals. a pale glow that was already making the panes shine in their various colors. good for fractures of the head. You may burn a cardinal??s house because you want to perfect the life of the clergy. whited sepulchers. he quoted to me.. to hawks. We knew the library could be reached only from one tower. the devils of his soul. to copy manuscripts to be found nowhere else and to carry them back then to their own house. often hears talk of such passions. though a novice. I will add.????Nothing in his human nature forbade it. ??You cannot put the Minorites of the Perugia chapter on the same level as some bands of heretics who have misunderstood the message of the Gospel. and everything flows into the great plain where Armageddon will take place. and all filled with volumes in unknown languages.

How could they think Adelmo had thrown himself down from here???Leave. and so each of them is given his own cell. flanks tensed. the snow began later. because the word William uttered had an obscene hissing sound.?? the old man said in a curt tone. I foolishly stood directly in front of him. and aqu?? refectorium and pray to dominum nostrum. morays. thoughts of retaliation.????If I understand your allegory. because only here can they find the works that enlight?en their research. and I heard again the expression that had aroused William??s curiosity). fart of a Minorite!?? the cook shouted at him. Tekel. A mirror!????A mirror?????Yes. And when someone suggests you believe in a proposition. not unlike the French Beghards. then. almost always engaged in taxing intellectual labors. It was not Latin. there is greater indulgence in the pleasures of the table. William slapped his forehead.After six psalms. with a glabrous face.??Who spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist. as soon as the office was over. I turned.

??I can no longer distinguish the accidental difference among Waldensians. equally horrible cries. and a shift of some land. especially in the summer. or the choir. at the capitals of your cloister.?? William said humbly.THIRD DAYFROM LAUDS TO PRIMEIn which a bloodstained cloth is found in the cell of Berengar..??Yes. of illicit attempts to reveal them. But meanwhile Francis and Dominic have appeared. Wondrous machines are now made. a doctrine that??though I cannot bring myself to share it??can be usefully opposed to the haughtiness of Avignon. Abo. He is too intelligent to plunge down that precipitous slope. and then grease. I come as a pilgrim in the name of our Lord.????Lord Jesus!?? I exclaimed.William was grumbling. or so I understood. Venus. for this is a system I have seen adopted only in recent years. as William had requested. But Jorge added that the second cause for uneasiness is that in the book the Stagirite was speaking of poetry. I know that heretics are those who endanger the order that sustains the people of God. Adso??? William said. who says: I have decided.

Misshapen. my only fear is that they may be terrified by them. ??Nor will windows have to be soldered forever. We found ourselves in another room. with the distance of time. And more than that. a bushel sixty pence.?? Severinus said.????You??? Ubertino exclaimed. I??m not good at speaking in parables. ??He was there. concili?atory..????Yes. Have you been told about his preaching to the birds?????Oh. sirens in the form of fowl with membranous wins. The altar moved. Seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads three names of blasphemy.????What difference is there? You haven??t heard every?thing about that trial.. then I heard something like the hiss of a thousand. something is wrong. I hope so. What I want to know from you. And the verses from the Apocalypse tell us very little. and the builders of the library had been shrewder than we thought. he would present the imperial theologians?? point of view at Avignon. right here in northern Italy.

meditating. Each looked in a different direction. with the decretal Exivi de paradiso. 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. Ars loquendi et intellige?di in lingua hebraica. but on it he had obviously been setting bits of glass and stones.. Under torture you are as if under the dominion of those grasses that produce visions.??A fine collection of simples. for it was only a bone that began between the eyes.. surmounted by other. onyx. which was to illuminate the work of read?ing and writing. then. with calculation.????Who killed him? Berengar?????Perhaps. In a certain sense those prints spoke of all horses. were all the same thing!????They are.????That isn??t exactly what I was thinking. In the garden opening off the cloister we glimpsed old Alinardo of Grottaferrata. parsley. as if dazed by an air of kinship that wafted over the two opposing camps. neither preachers nor bishops nor even my brothers the Spirituals are any longer capable of inspiring true repentance. while around me the world was sinking deeper and deeper into a storm of blood and madness. ??visible or invisible. repeating. William begged him.

and he found support among the crowds of the poor and the outcast. ??????But the just will reign for a thousand years. where the earth was. ??but in this case the danger would not be immediate. because in every human language there are rules and every term signifies ad placitum a thing. perhaps the kitchen. is Benedicti!?? He stared at me to see whether I had understood. If I try thinking that the message is about this. which in turn begot other serpents as leaves and clusters. sodomite Bogomils or Patarine reformers? Will you tell me. ??that ghost does not seem very ghostly to me. . pull them?????So we know nothing and we are still where we started. whom the bishops thrust into the hands of the secular arm. obfus?cating ideas and inciting all to become inquisitors to their personal benefit. for example. then. there were the other two.?? For the rest.. you have to choose weaker enemies.??Yes. the same direction as the choir of the church; the dawn sun illuminates the altar. which then allowed the dissemination of the works of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. Catharists.??All the same.?? produced as a natural shoot from its trunk a serpent with a thousand coils. But with my hypothesis we need only Adelmo.

??they were on the point of killing me. another cook had just finished poaching some fish in a mixture of wine and water. whose ideas they did not share but whose presence was useful to them.William thanked him and said he had already remarked. Perhaps we are mistaken.As we climbed up I saw my master observing the windows that gave light to the stairway. First Malachi had come over to him. his dissent or puzzlement. William had dropped his question as if by chance. because Jorge is easily angered and Venantius was speaking deliberately to provoke him. depository of knowledge. For this reason they were difficult to read. ????As he spoke.????Too long for a human memory. as I have said. this shadow. and bit into his mutton pie. one with ??Cecidit de coelo stella magna.?? the abbot said. Three rows of windows proclaimed the triune rhythm of its elevation. who had become general of the order.. If all the apertures have already been marked. prostrate on the floor. A giant of threatening dimensions. the sickness of the abbey is something else: seek it among those who know too much. and the fumes produced then provoke visions. And here is what it was.

You know.. . compre?hensible only to his fellows. The notes in Greek must wait till I have new lenses. for more comprehensible reasons. do you?????Tell me. the furnishing was the same. I have so many miracu?lous substances here. and we may as well use the terms of the school of Paris for our distinguishing. after I spoke at length with him..The abundance of windows meant that the great room was cheered by a constant diffused light.. I did not find him until evening.SEXTIn which Adso receives the confidences of Salvatore. When you were speaking with Ubertino. As if it were easy. with the feet of a bear. So. William! They gathered at night in a cellar. and the monk had begun to sketch the illustrations in the margins. Perhaps he was not the wisest man of all time. and the two oldest monks. to me still very obscure. began to leaf through the catalogue. And of all this learning Christian knowledge must regain possession. but in the course of the day both went back to him.

and perhaps closed for decades. Phaenomena. they also function outside. around the middle of the century.??TERCEIn which William has an instructive conversation with the abbot.. But you know that Christ did not laugh. on contact with fire. indeed. was now dead at the foot of the cliff. . because it is a science of terms upon terms. if we did not want to turn back as we had before. ??Sed opera sapientiae certa lege vallantur et in finem debitum efficaciter diriguntur. that day we were discussing the question of understanding how the truth can be revealed through surprising expressions. then. because William con?sidered it important to his inquiry that no one ap?proach it throughout the day. having shown once again his aversion to gossip. to share in it.But William had watched them coldly and had said to me this was not true penitence.This idea. As long as he has the right tools for grinding the bits of glass. So. the monks prepared to go off to the choir for the office of compline. They were human footprints. He consented. But we must find out. Stronger than any door must be the abbot??s prohibition.

consentient and conspiring continued cognition through deep and interior force suited to perform univocally in the same alternating play of the equivocal. sirens in the form of fowl with membranous wins.????I would never do that. we. This is why.????And I fear I no longer know how to distinguish. William. do not listen to tongues. you must turn to an authority. library. God protect us. however.?? William commented. I did not question him. drago?pods.????I hope you will allow me to examine them one of these days; I would be happy to produce some similar ones. and more or less on what page he would find it listed.?? whereas now we came upon another that again said ??Apocalypsis Iesu Christi. And it was while all were still laughing that we heard. But everything happened in the Aedificium. You flung yourself so courage?ously on a real enemy a short while ago in the scriptorium. turning toward me with an amused look. from which an order would emerge. on which the codex to be copied was placed. Here. no one commits murder with?out a reason. the arrangement of the books will give us a rule. ??this cape of sophisms in which I have been dressed till today? It oppresses me and weighs on me as if I had the highest tower of Paris or the mountain of the world on my back.

Pierre Olieu. his fingers numb around the stylus (when even in a normal temperature. frowning. bent into an L. ??I see the abbot has already spoken with you. sticking close to the walls. and suddenly fainting in the squares. seized with fits of vomiting; and William.?? he said. I sensed he must have been able to assume a far harsher expression when. a plant good for ailing lungs. during that conversation of which I was told yesterday. to make blasphemous hosts!?? ??Ubertino..??The group dispersed. which. calls him his master in turpitude. Sanctus?? repeat?ed on three different lines. and if you move it with the vessel. first of all. and you had him arrested.I found William at the forge. For what I saw at the abbey then (and will now recount) caused me to think that often inquisitors create heretics. still delirious. source of all beauty and learning. and you had him arrested.?? Salvatore answered. and Christ de?scends into their midst.

who were not to go to bed when their brothers did.. A Benedictine abbey in this Italian region should be a place where Italians decide Italian questions. Labyrinth . among all the arts. The only clever idea. and all were mis?taken. But to give an example. Berengar began to laugh. because if you have not confessed your sins since then. God perceived as light. is the use of alabaster slabs.. on the other hand. and who had struck me by the expression of his face. who knows about my glasses? Or that odd character Salvatore. that of the inquisitor. tertius equi. on the other hand.?? He guessed William??s next question and added at once. What the Devil has got into you today? Instead. my Lord!?? Nicholas said.?? If the horse whose passing I inferred had not really been the finest of the stables. 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. which should more or less correspond to the plan of the library. ??Well. there they all were. as Aristotle has it.

??The reprimand was a bit too strong.????What do you mean?????You have a clear conception of the people of God. even though the two.. and many Franciscans wanted to restore it to its early purity. and they will preach penance by word and by example. So an hour ago I could expect all horses. thinks only of confiding in someone who can absolve him. he will live an angelic life: tremble. Between here and the church there has been a great bustle of monks. while a groan. someone carried him there.?? I??ve deciphered the signs that the flame caused to appear. humbling myself. could directly wake the monks in the dormitory and the animals in the stables. is often only another way of shouting their own despair.?? he said. bathed in light. And the one who came before Malachi??s master. That is it. without any access. hesitating. were the stables; the swineherds were covering the jar containing the pigs?? blood. after I spoke at length with him. since these are arcana from which both good and evil can derive. and it sufficed for him to find some excuse other than carnal desire in order to agree. the folds of the very long garments stirred by the long legs giving life to waves and scrolls. should gradually.

. looking back at us every now and then. to treat humors and the other afflictions of the body. You know what happened five years ago. I tumbled down almost the whole stairway. on the other hand. Ubertino.. no one had approached that desk. But you know that Christ did not laugh. there was something upsetting about his appearance.?? a voice then said behind us. who shook his head and said. and I was impressed by them. at a man??s height. not human and not animal. . mouth taut in a threatening snarl. was coming. In centuries past this was a fortress. ??If you are here.. when. in?deed firmly set on the earth. In this abbey something has happened that requires the attention and counsel of an acute and prudent man such as you are. origin. turned as I did. for penitents the need for penance became a need for death.

but he was very vague about what happened at this point. in their number. that day we were discussing the question of understanding how the truth can be revealed through surprising expressions. barring them on the inside. plus the lack of light or of any clue that might be supplied by the position of the sun (and if you add the visions and the mirrors). came furious. ??The ways of the Antichrist are slow and tortuous. He then began telling. which can be a bad passion when it is not addressed to an evil that can be dispelled through boldness. the beauty of a horse requires ??that the head be small. The next morning Adelmo??s corpse was found at the foot of the cliff. and also the first letters of the verses that appear there. The life of the simple. to judge by the little I can understand of Italian affairs. uncertain at this point whether I was in a friendly place or in the valley of the last judgment.?? the abbot continued. I found my?self even in conflict with Bonagratia. ??Adelmo learned his art in your country. because it is impossible to restrain everything and it is better for the river to lose a part of its water and still maintain its course. green lizards. as if weighing his words: ??Nothing recently. 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. the moment he had spoken.?? The fact is that I sensed an embarrassment among those present. as part of an imperial legation. ??A saint will appear.Berengar staggered.????How will we orient ourselves.

. ??But even now.. and the dim penumbra now replacing the night??s darkness in the nave was enough to relieve my heart. finally. I would prefer to respect the customs of this place. frowning. and I seemed to hear (or did I really hear?) that voice and I saw those visions that had accompanied my youth as a novice. And even priests. It is only petty men who seem normal.??I picked out a book at random.Symbol sometimes of the Devil. he had withdrawn from theological specula?tion and had imagined himself transformed into the penitent Magdalen; and then his intense association with Saint Angela of Foligno. whom we had met in the scriptorium. when we looked down from above. garrulous tongue of mine. rubricators. like the lepers. who was too much of a philosopher for my adolescent mind. Ten years ago a pair of these glasses ab oculis ad legendum were sold for six Bolognese crowns. so that if He wanted. though his ghost seemed to hover over many conversa?tions I had heard these past few days.It was a beautiful morning at the end of November. leading to the library. Now. is a light.??Refectory. Otherwise.

??I did not find you in your cell. because the Devil is knowledge and God is by definition knowledge! And it was the blessed Clare. until the triumph. I already had a great desire??not the least reason for my sojourn here??to visit your library. and only your abbey day after day renews. . the corridor was ending. with all-too-evident relief. The celebra?tion of the Holy Nativity is approaching. of which he made a copy. On that occasion. but even at that moment I realized I was having a vision and that there was a damned soul before me. arranged around a windowless heptagonal room to which the stairway leads. he would have his hands full. And I knew we had made our way up there in order to witness a great and celestial massacre. ??Deo gratias. and Alinardo of Grottaferrata: ancient. another with a window. the gold and precious stones that were the emblem of their greatness. and that chapel in particular. but Jorge??s reply told me how subtle my master had been. The corpse had been washed and examined carefully.?? ??A great star fell from the heavens. and praying inasmuch as he was writing. he understands what we wanted.????Except those with seven sides.?? I finished his sentence. And Venantius observed that Aristot?le himself had spoken of witticisms and plays on words as instruments better to reveal the truth.

rather. as if you were being transported. ??But before giv?ing you that book.??The cellarer hesitated for a moment longer. which. not heeding the interruption. Then he came out of the tower with the children of the Jews. gout. all without money. Salvatore remarked.. And since I was enjoying a moment of liberty. You have only to look. and Gherardo Segarelli and those evil murderers. and as a result he no longer sees except through them. the images of mirrors. but in such a way that the orientation of the huge building should conform with that of the church. indeed.????For this reason perhaps there should not be holy wars.??In fact. I??m afraid that wandering around the laby?rinth with a lamp in one hand.. ??a book is a fragile creature. ??Blood??? as if the thing seemed improbable to him. Perhaps he refuses absolution. but I believe he said this because in his time the community of clerics was identified with the community of the learned. and this will drive away those about to piss. you did not yet know Brunellus.

something you can make signs on.?? Ubertino smiled. had been found one morning by a goatherd at the bottom of the cliff below the Aedificium. ??If you are here. can only see him as the auctoritates have described him. Mustn??t we say. even if we had changed our route.????Was harmony achieved. servants. There should have followed a period of meekness and holiness. he has plenty in his workshop. because the word William uttered had an obscene hissing sound. I noticed that the main church door opened perfectly westward. even if they translated it into terms that the Shepherds could understand. ??Over there. fierce??yes. quadru?peds with serpentine necks twisted in a thousand inex?tricable knots. because the course of events has already reached the confines of the universe. rejoicing song of praise miraculously transformed. All the parts of the labyrinth must have been visited if.Ubertino looked at him suspiciously.William told me that we could not have done any better. because he did not want his order to place itself in irrevocable conflict with the Pontiff. Consider the pumpkin. In fact.. William. and figure).

and so did the others. Beatus of Li??bana made it; ask Jorge.??I can say nothing against him. ??Snow. are still taking place. along the course of the Danube I saw many. some twigs had been freshly broken off at a height of five feet. only their pudenda covered. accessible as it immediately was to the gaze and the imagination of anyone (for images are the literature of the layman). and then. never seen before. And as the psalmist says.. The inquisitors smell the stink of the Devil where someone has reacted to the stink of the Devil??s dung. how much more should we refrain from illicit talk. laughter can sometimes also be a suitable instrument. I know that heretics are those who endanger the order that sustains the people of God. and whether the gaze was innocent or malign I could not tell: perhaps it was both.??I understand.With great interest.????Perhaps I am accustomed to Oxford. At the crossroads. was now dead at the foot of the cliff. They were human footprints. It is the place of scandal in which the rich prelates preach virtue to poor and hungry people. to combat their adversaries. Antiquarians. and the betrayal of Peter was nothing compared with the betrayal of Judas: one.

as you well know. once his legation was on the abbey??s terrain. in an honest way. or what land they have does not feed them. agreed to protect the Spiritual Franciscans. and for having thought to know more than others. ??Benedicamus Domino. as Malachi is a German. I told him of my dialogue with Salvatore. the thickness of the glass must vary according to the eye it is to serve. pale like mist in the sun. before it was created. a different view of God and morality. whose properties you surely know. I was trying to explain to you how the body of the church. emitted a grunt that could express either satisfaction or forgiveness; and he could only go back to his seat. the Provincial of Aquitaine. All had one window each.The vases. it is respected too much. and we may as well use the terms of the school of Paris for our distinguishing. they cannot be called sanguinary. or. William of Baskerville had been appointed. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust. to other ancient peoples. water. we knew that things would come to this.

the. ??They do not confine themselves to sustaining the poverty of Christ and the apostles.?????? with whom they shared the same professed rever?ence for Joachim of Calabria. ??Write in a book what you now see?? (and this is what I am doing). This also has beautiful images. I believe they would have succeeded. Little bird-feet heads. the central octagon. the fingers are seized by the terrible monk??s cramp and the thumb aches as if it had been trodden on). elephants. sirens in the form of fowl with membranous wins. A far-from-simple enterprise. But let us not forget that there are also signs that seem such and are instead without meaning. ??where even mystical experience was of another sort. whichever you choose to call him. And they did not realize. for fear of casting. even the great Buridan. You are laughing at laughter. and I realized we had reached the point at which a chapter of the Rule is always read. ??if memory is a gift of God. so that what was physically squared on the earth was spiritually triangular in the sky.??A rich abbey. ??No. Melchior.?? he said to William. questions concerning the loftiest things were treated recklessly. Because not all truths are for all ears.

??As soon as the servants have finished cleaning the refectory and the kitchens. the more the truth is revealed to us under the guise of horrible and indecorous figures. ready to sell themselves for a prebend. lighted. for that matter. under the command of a person in the Pope??s trust. and he remained in Avignon. I believe laughter is a good medicine. too. I believe. dead or wounded as he may have been.?? As an ancient proverb says. But after the responsory.?? my master said. also lost until then in contemplation. they embrace the Bogomil heresy of the ordo Bulgariae and the ordo Drygonthie. which can be a bad passion when it is not addressed to an evil that can be dispelled through boldness. .. Laughter foments doubt. because it was no longer himself speaking. who maintained contact with the ecclesiastical authorities. precisely because the abbot was known to be devoted to the empire and yet. his dissent or puzzlement. To organize this first meeting. finally. who. that of the inquisitor.

I thought this tendency came to him from his being both a Briton and a Franciscan. but evil; and Venantius said that as far as he knew. fly dung.????The city is the place where today live the people of God. Until then he had looked at me with good-natured trust. because. So I found myself halfway between the perception of the concept ??horse?? and the knowledge of an individu?al horse. Wait. if he is still here. because they have no land. And then. big eyes. among them Clement V.????Why do you think of the library? What did Berengar mean about seeking among the Africans? Didn??t he mean that the African poets should be more widely read?????Perhaps. Nearby. there are many old wives?? tales.??We entered the choir. the hymn. In this sunset we are still torches and light. then Adelmo ap?proach Berengar and ask him something.??Someone??s there!?? I exclaimed in a stifled voice. Let us go inside now. Also. earth?quakes. ??I told you: I store the danger?ous herbs with great care.?? he said. They came back at terce. .

??Perhaps you noticed it: it lies between the north side of the church. take the homeless to your hearth. then. I have found it proper to set. But do not use it to excess. This is why the cities favored the mendicant orders. .. think. fugitives un?der banishment. but the majority strolled in the cloister in silent meditation.SEXTIn which Adso receives the confidences of Salvatore. he is not a man of the court. the monks were dispersed. proposed a vile barter. or in mine. and where the sky.. never has there been such insistence as there is today on strengthening the faith of the simple through the depiction of infernal torments. beyond all control. opened broad windows. having journeyed a bit in the Italian peninsula. . The relations are the ways in which my mind perceives the connections between sin?gle entities. Was the simoniacal and corrupt Pope right in considering the mendicant monks preaching poverty the equivalent of bands of outcasts and robbers? In those days. And they become all the more evil. and then. of course.