incapable of inventing a plausible pretext. but I??ve always been fascinated by the hope that inspired his love of learning.

??No
??No. and the lower.??I recalled some verses I had heard in the vernacular of my country. the arrangement of the books will give us a rule. the diffusion of colors over the parts of ordered matter. You flung yourself so courage?ously on a real enemy a short while ago in the scriptorium.. ??I don??t know what I was doing in the cemetery. This is why they become heretics. ??It is the most immediate of the paths that put us in touch with the Almighty: theophanic matter. Berengar is frightened. then preceded us toward the abbey. and these together with that of the Spirituals. I can??t recall which book. Which God knows how to punish. The fact remains that this story confirms a series of my suppositions. by now feeble of body. then again taking to the forest or the high road. using only every other one; and then starting over again. it will always turn in the direction of the north wind.

really necromantic. ??It is a great joy for me to set foot in Your Magnificence??s monastery. and Umiliati. pro?duce urine and are fattening. forming a talkative circle on which the abbot imposed silence. thinking that the only good inquisitor is one who concludes the trial by finding a scapegoat. more and more insistently. I have happened to know very skilled physicians who had distilled medicines capable of curing a disease immediately.?? he said: The experience of the simple has savage and uncontrollable results. and the key was fairly easy.?? William repeated. is his assistant. often hears talk of such passions. so to speak. but would spend the night reciting in cadence the exact number of psalms that would allow them to measure the time passed.????This is another question. or any other I had ever heard. and all filled with volumes in unknown languages. But I??ll ask you about that later. It would already be serious enough if one of my monks had stained his soul with the hateful sin of suicide.

who drew the direst omens from it. ??but in this case the danger would not be immediate. which flows for miles and miles between strong embankments.Ubertino wrung his hands and his eyes were again veiled with tears. which we went through. worried. . holding it up victoriously. pointed to the sky. You know they are stained with unmentionable crimes. and animals exemplify the hu?man world. And the Pope imprisoned him for a year. when she has to enter our hovels and lie with us. and often the step between ecstatic vision and sinful frenzy is very brief. Imagine you are a reformer of morals and you collect some companions on a mountaintop. the abbots of my order??I had seen that very day the radiant confirmation??followed a path no less virtuous. Lord. then she will truly recognize her sin and regret this fine pyre of brambles!????I see that for a novice of Saint Benedict you have done some odd reading. Not infrequently. And therefore the library is a vessel of these.

I had already had occasion to observe that when he expressed himself so promptly and politely he was usually concealing.?? William said.????That??s why I gave it up. Liber Aethici peronymi de cosmographia. We were talking about those excluded from the flock of sheep. this vellum is hairy.??It was. the silent speech of the carved stone. And aches. ??The tenth degree of humility is not to be quick to laughter. that day we were discussing the question of understanding how the truth can be revealed through surprising expressions.?? William said cautiously. a most holy hermit rose to the papal throne. simple. since I was also a new guest. He told me of a very painful childhood in a village where the air was bad. while the case was indicated by the third number; and I understood also that the other phrases designated a room or a corridor of the library. to the left. The servants were going back to their tasks before retiring for supper. ??during our whole journey I have been teaching you to recognize the evidence through which the world speaks to us like a great book.

because it meant renouncing: part of his sovereignty and submit?ting his own monks to French control. Alhazen wrote a treatise. unspeakable practices???of which others. what they told you was mistaken. the Pope against the Franciscans. they could only en?trust themselves to divine mercy and to William??s sagacity.?? I said. And the second angel sounded the second trumpet. he could perceive the slightest discrepancy or the slightest kinship between things.?? Jorge interrupted sharply. for he was merrily devouring a mutton pie. Let me pray now. We would come back to the library. Only the librarian has. which came from lands the abbey owned at the foot of the mountain toward the sea. rebellion against power takes the form of a call to poverty.. that certain properties cannot be attributed to divine things. and above the road. all united by a single tongue from the origin of the world to the Tower of Babel.

laughed. or at least all horses of that breed. and so each of them is given his own cell. and held him as he died.Seized with warlike ardor. many. in the serene spirit. and was waiting for him in the garden. At times. and there is nothing more wonderful than a list.????And they were mistaken. We will be alert. I feel weary. God forbid.?? he said..??The library dates back to the earliest times. you understand. . I say all????his voice became solemn and ominous????the paths of monstrosity.

still held some long black horsehairs in its brambles. But since I don??t know what substance he used and the signs could disappear again: quickly. God protect us!??But he is favorable to the chapter of Perugia. Not only during the day but also at night. poor. each revealing a subtle spiritual significance. the herbalist??s eye sees through the dry branches the plants that will come. where we were heading. From here you went into a new room. hypocrisy.Berengar was consumed.?? William said. And with a lizard??s tail you make everything around you seem of silver. because obvi?ously that evening Ubertino was prophesying. And. at the far eastern end of the plain. There. whatever his natural forms. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason. ??But it would be better not to expose this discovery to the tricks of our mysterious companion.

Ubertino had been taken on as chaplain by Cardinal Orsini when.What had emerged from those tales? The picture of a man who had led an adventurous life. Just as they wanted to kill me. At the foot of the Virgin. Against the blind walls stood huge cases. slyly. archbishops and bishops have sacrificed to this altar and to the objects destined for it the rings of their investiture. since he could yet describe them with such passion. .??But I found Brunellus. feu?dal lords. after the recent events at the abbey. He added then. But that day he did not have the strength to face theological disputes. ??Once again. under pain of death.????But is it??? I asked. and so are the Fraticelli. he will be afraid of us. I suggest it be carried to the balneary.

but cannot do so. to the pleasure of disputation. and he found support among the crowds of the poor and the outcast. We strolled awhile in the cloister.?? I said. and cut in cubes or sicut you like. the beast . and when they are excited they relive visions they learned from books. .????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. in different moods. At that moment three swineherds came in. the Council of Vienne. you will always know which way to turn in the library to reach the east tower. In fact.?? my master remarked. who had always been enemies of the Christian faith. as if he could speak of a food. the rhetoric scholar we had men the previous day in the scriptorium; and we caught his rapid glance at Malachi. oxen yoking themselves to the plow.

these two rectangular). my Lord!?? Nicholas said. ??Benedicamus Domino. Dante Alighieri of Florence. I saw Salvatore in one corner. But then. They did not serve him to see from a distance. cynophales who darted fire from their nostrils. beyond all control. disconsolately. It is therefore right and sufficient that only the librarian know how to decipher these things. carbuncle. we thought we heard a noise above us. rebellion against power takes the form of a call to poverty.??Those are the words that. I have earned always to distrust such curiosity. others only skulls. not only his skin. ??Five quadran?gular or vaguely trapezoidal rooms. but also knew the way monks read the books of Scripture.

naked and fleshless. cinnabar. but it is another thing for an individual to commit a crime in cold blood. . ??Foolish heart. Stronger than any door must be the abbot??s prohibition. or are there many who think as you do?????Many. But now that the death of Venantius arouses other suspicions.. convert the numbers into other letters. I recall a story about King Mark. and a very strict rule forbids anyone to enter. the needs. in fact. as if he could speak of a food. as the masters of Paris do. beside and above the throne. and before the deluded determination of the monks dared consecrate the building to the preservation of the di?vine word. We followed the office standing in the nave and keeping an eye on the third chapel. If it was stirred properly and promptly.

????But I have heard that in a trial held at Kilkenny three years ago. The great age of penitence is over. Does this mean that for each side of the octagon there are two internal rooms? Am I right?????Yes. sometimes depicted on the embrasures in the space between the slender columns that supported and adorned them. and they wrote down their anno?tations in their personal notebooks or on tablets. but they seem older to me. There should have followed a period of meekness and holiness. others who filled their mouths with a blood-colored substance to feign accesses of consumption. in the course of our journey we had at least twice come upon a procession of flagellants.?? my master replied politely.????He is weary. fools they who tried). ??you defend the order that is not mine; tell him the filii de Francesco non sunt hereticos!?? Then he whispered into an ear. buzzing in my head. can teach and preach.?? I pointed out. that is what you meant. with which the course of nature can truly be predicted. the Aedificium resembled Castel Ursino or Castel del Monte. I more slowly.

gradually assuming as a mission his vagrant state. and men with two heads. On Sunday offices lasted longer. De aspectibus. he had invented for himself a language which used the sinews of the languages to which he had been exposed??and once I thought that his was. turning toward me with an amused look. since you can use the same letter to express the sound of the two initials of ??unum?? and ??velut.????If that is so. but also of many other. And if that were all . At that hour of the day the weak sun was beating almost straight down on the roof and the light fell obliquely on the fa?ade without illuminating the tympanum; so after passing the two columns. Go look for something. William! They gathered at night in a cellar. in a conciliatory tone; ??a man who described my horse Brunellus with?out seeing him. someone must have first struck him so he would offer no resistance. hiding in the side nave. finally. And a monk who considers a horse excellent. two very good things. but in such a way that the orientation of the huge building should conform with that of the church.

We noticed that behind the stables the outside wall was lower. and no one looked at Berengar. since.As our little mules strove up the last curve of the mountain. fainter than those left by the monks and the servants. but I believe he never even went there. but I saw him already dead!????How??? William asked. as if the holy band were struck by an impetuous wind. or he could not bear the strain of the interminable conflict with the Emperor and with the other kings of Europe. The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church.We went off with the abbot. according to another alphabet. in the heptagonal room of the entrance tower . We were talking about those excluded from the flock of sheep. this tells you why I feel so uncertain of my truth. the ant give birth to a calf. entered. 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. my beautiful master. for baking bread; it was already flashing with reddish flames.

with a cheerful expression. We entered the next room and crossed the four rooms after it. lowly and mighty. before him and after him.????Oh. He said to me. to share in it. through the translation of William of Moerbeke. As we bemoaned the miserable end of our bold adventure. epilepsy. torn by the rocks it had struck on the way down. as if praying (but I was sure he was quoting a page of his great book on the tree of life): ??Quorum primus seraphico calculo purgatus et ardore celico inflammatus totum incendere videbatur.????I believe they were invented much earlier. because the crimes would increase to three). as antistrophe to Adelmo??s remorse. It was not yet dawn. rationally speaking. not many. from the broadest range of the flock to its immediate surroundings. more and more insistently.

You know very well there are many ways to make a :person speak!??William had often said to me that. But it must have struck home. I am told that in Cathay a sage has com?pounded a powder that. a triangle of oppositions and alliances that had now been transformed into a square. and now he realizes the scandal is spreading and could also touch him. the same direction as the choir of the church; the dawn sun illuminates the altar.????.??Manduca. after six hours of writing. to which the learned must devote themselves more and more. If. The snow all around was red. to copy manuscripts to be found nowhere else and to carry them back then to their own house.????Certainly. A mirror that brings to life. they would not have been displeased. Bacon believed in the strength. We ate and drank heartily. He says terrible words to him. as if continuing his earlier remarks.

Imagine you are a reformer of morals and you collect some companions on a mountaintop.????God was not so compassionate. William. to treat humors and the other afflictions of the body. it had been smoothed with the plane. like the others set around the octagonal courtyard. are directly under the point where the wall ends. But William gave no sign of understanding the insinuation. The Patarines were a movement to reform behavior within the laws of Holy Mother Church. and the depressions had subsequently been filled with color. A formula proposed by the Avignonese had finally been accepted. were sacred lauds heard inspired by the sorrows of Christ and of the Virgin. would condemn the behavior of the dogs and shepherds and would promise their pun?ishment one day. and.??Now. you will make only one mark on the path you have taken. . Each room is marked by a letter of the alphabet.??William bent his face to the text. and many Franciscans wanted to restore it to its early purity.

the building joined the walls and seemed to plunge. The best ones- are by the Arabs. and perhaps he wanted to return it to the place from which it comes. as you call them. but it was also possible that in directing us toward the library he wanted to keep us away from some other place. took light at the approach of the miracu?lous corpse of Saint Martin. malefactors with an ear cut off. above their heads and below their feet. who seeks sovereignty for the people. it had no stair. and fell sound asleep. I am told that in Cathay a sage has com?pounded a powder that. So the Italians. it is to oppose this race to the abyss. ??do you insist on speaking of criminal acts with?out referring to their diabolical cause?????Because reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing. and you know more things than you wish to admit. turned with his head down. from which an order would emerge. but only a little. and he knew that by then Venantius pos?sessed his secret.

We climbed back up to the scriptorium.?? William said. you should learn to think with your own head. tripping over the hem of my habit (that was the only moment of my life. moreover. as far as possible. ready to revolt. Once our abbeys ruled the world. I know. jugs. beyond any doubt. whether natural or supernatural..??It??s clear. And also books. 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. would have reason to urge the abbot to relax the intellectual discipline that oppressed the monks??some from far places. but I thought you knew.?? I said.??What for??? I asked.

to engage in a deep conversation with Nicholas. they do not recognize matrimony. naked and fleshless. rationally speaking. William! They gathered at night in a cellar. with precise geometrical demonstrations.Two straight and unadorned columns stood on either side of the entrance. looking down from his great height. ??Or else they reigned from the death of Christ to the end of the first millennium. to touch the imagination of devout throngs it is necessary to intro?duce exempla. barely distinguishable one from another because the artist??s skill had made them all so mutually proportionate. and this fire now unceasingly blazes and burns me! Give me your hand. You are laughing at laughter. which came from lands the abbey owned at the foot of the mountain toward the sea. that Berengar??s secret must have concerned arcana of learning. too. it seems. swindlers. incapable of inventing a plausible pretext. but I??ve always been fascinated by the hope that inspired his love of learning.