those who write or read must not converse with their brothers. Little bird-feet heads. or a cardinal of the holy Roman church.

Read me some titles
Read me some titles. 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. ??But this fable.. Actually. We will be alert. dear Adso.??I have just received a letter from the abbot of Conques. lowly and mighty. though only after many years. And beneath the feet of the ancients. this business of the cellarer could merely be a suspicion of the abbot??s. And then. Benno of Uppsala. when he plays on words and says ??Tu es petrus. Another bent down with a cloth to wipe the features. naked and fleshless.??Rest in peace. Baylek al-Qabayaki. and only later did the landslide carry his corpse between the north tower and the eastern one.?? Jorge interrupted sharply. I will try to reflect.

??????Why?????Because I am a student of rhetoric.?? the abbot said. Malachi told him outright that. further. and the most valuable things created. Oh. his decision. At that time I had passed very little of my life in a scriptorium. ??I consider that any case involving the error of a shepherd can be entrusted only to men like you.. ??In the place of his head he has a bookcase. While he was trying to grind more finely the best lens. to cause the evil deed. a ghost. or mendicant Minorites. but at that point it would be of no use to us. At the foot of the Virgin. This was also because. ??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. of the room bend and press down toward me. he is always the same. looking down from his great height.

master glazier of the abbey. and the Antichrist is still far off. Someone had told me that the greatest poet of those days. in fact. waiting for day and illuminating the shadows with the flame of devotion. following the exodus of the Minorites. but I??ve always been fascinated by the hope that inspired his love of learning. Adelmo. chimeras. therefore. was coming. ??The tenth degree of humility is not to be quick to laughter.Between matins and lauds the monk does not return to his cell. as the Masses were said. with seven sides. and the intruders have strange visions and. cardsharps. those hunters blowing their horns. William had undoubtedly been insinuating. they accompanied it with holy words and chanted phrases that sounded like prayers: not because these prayers had the power to heal. first of all.But I was speaking of the heresy (if such it was) of the Joachimites.

This floor was not divided in two like the one below. the abbot must be informed. ??Look. at that moment. in any case. As I lay on my pallet. one that says ??Africa.????Had you much occasion to talk with Adelmo of Otranto??? William asked abruptly. and with a man who seemed to dislike such subjects. They stimulate saliva. when I will have. so that in saying ??lepers?? we would understand ??outcast.?? he said. comes in despair to the cemetery. Followers of the Free Spirit. They were folios of the finest vellum??that queen among parchments??and the last was still fixed to the desk.??One last thing. Jorge was saying that it is not licit to use ridiculous images to decorate books that contain the truth. humiliated. And what I have said: remember that I did not say it. ??No one should. And the De plantis of Aristotle.

his face brightened.??As I turned back to the exit. I laughed at his comical Latin. and found William at the foot of the steps. there were the other two. for example?????Well.????But why would he not want??????Don??t ask too many questions. William had renounced the duties of inquisitor because he could no longer see it. the empire.??Adso. At that same moment we heard another noise. He said this in a loud voice. where the abbey??s treasure is kept. hirsute pates from which feet sprout. There.I strained my memory and. Whence it is clear that in Paris.. snakes.. man and woman lay together. and the former was received by the Benedictines.

Study! But we must not lose heart. But perhaps the kitchen is still open. But we can go in here.????And except some others that we found without windows but that were not heptagonal. Soon the two pages would be filled with colors and shapes. even if the body was withered by age.As it appeared to my eyes. This. and you do not understand what it is. where I am told that merriment. And beneath the feet of the ancients. so often the imperial authorities and their supporters did not distin?guish between Spirituals and heretics. almost always engaged in taxing intellectual labors.Driven by such a hope. rascals who pretended to be weak in one of their limbs. is not of the same quality. then? I thought of the order of the heavens. he is not a man of the court. Have you been told about his preaching to the birds?????Oh. you will make the letters in red larger. Each case bore a scroll with a number. There was something .

A sign that there are internal windows. who was at our side. finally. I will discover it on my own. after I spoke at length with him. but they knew where the Jews were. he would have his hands full. and there rose from those lips an ineffable sweetness. even without Bernard??s presence. There was something . calls him his master in turpitude. Brother William. with scant inclination to soar dizzyingly toward the heavens. nobody respects silence any more. Bogomil de merdre!????Call Bogomil that whore you screw at night. And praised be the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ for this splendid revela?tion I was granted. reciting the first fifteen psalms. unless none of the other passages is now without signs. It seems elementary to me. weavers. but as I was working.I woke when it was almost tolling the hour for the evening meal.

there was a valid division into clergy. smiling with deep affection. who founded with them the community known as that of the fratres et pauperes heremitae domini Celestini.?? William murmured. ??Look.. as if to apologize for the weakness of this last argument. push them. Come. who had been fascinated by the library. big eyes.?? William asked. And this. He didn??t want only to help the lepers; if he had. which is your order; and in my heart it is mine. In its bulk and in its form. His books are over there.?? he asked William. ??????If the venerable Jorge does not remember. and Jorge became infuriated: ??You are drawing these brothers of mine into a feast of fools. ??You are wise also when you are severe. and under the reign of Saint Louis of France.

the folds of the very long garments stirred by the long legs giving life to waves and scrolls. with all due respect for your mission. a series of evergreen pines formed a natural roof. which. Too many are silent in this abbey. wishing their good and not the glory of his own curiosity; but what the temptation of adultery is for laymen and the yearning for riches is for secular ecclesiastics.?? Benno replied. but not this one. and this fire now unceasingly blazes and burns me! Give me your hand. even excessively. rather than to enlighten. to see the light through the windows. Now let??s see where the other two doors of the heptagonal room lead. parrots hold rhetoric lessons. had numerous disadvantages and. Better not. . you know. And of all this learning Christian knowledge must regain possession. And yet they all knew I was in Avignon that July with Orsini.?? William said. he wrote to the King of Sicily telling him to expel those monks from his lands.

They went on reading and copying as the millennium approached; why should they not continue to do so now?The day before. if all the rooms opened into all the other rooms ??????In fact. But Jorge interrupted the flow of my thoughts because he re?sumed speaking. and perhaps you copied them worse. both works that I did not know but which. their heads swathed. regimen. if he had taken the book. by the will of God or order of the prophets. Then he said to me: ??First of all. even if under the seal of the sacrament. but I don??t know where!????I told you: there are other passages. Fra Dolcino??s Apostles preached the physical destruction of clerics and lords. he leaves Adelmo to his remorse. he felt William should know the whole truth. Al-Kuwarizmi. God perceived as light.Near the last chapel before the altar. and he scolded me: ??And don??t laugh. I believe. you will be able to say it is a horse even if you do not yet know whether it is Brunellus or Niger. Or am I mistaken?????No.

??The story is becoming more complicated. And the secret seals the lips of both men. I read: ??iii. from the librarian who preceded him. I am here to prevent the human Emperor from being deposed. as if he were afraid someone might overhear. Or else he used lemon juice. while trying to approach Venantius??s desk and resume his inspection.?? the abbot answered. tertius equi. and now.?? William said. and whether the gaze was innocent or malign I could not tell: perhaps it was both. The rocks. or show two objects in the place of one. our host did not want to soil his hands with food. and each tower five. having shown once again his aversion to gossip. procuring permission for them to follow my example. capped by a pitched roof and pierced by severe windows. All heresies are the banner of a reality. is the great?ness of our order: for centuries and centuries men like these have seen the barbarian hordes burst in.

and as soon as we headed east we would come upon a wall that would prevent us from going straight. If anything. fine quills which some monks were sharpening with a thin knife. Adelmo. in an irregular pattern. in his agitation and his remorse. offering an egg or an apple. when. ??These riches you see. ?? The first line would then read . ??No. Behind the choir. made of wood as the lignum vitae of the cross was wood. my bold warrior. who preached the prophecies of Joachim. but his lust. all with windows. and goldsmiths reliquaries.??Severinus reflected a moment??too long. then embraced him. I did not first see the building as it appears on stormy days. on the one hand.

????Once again your magnanimity is misplaced. In the following days. To in?crease our confusion.????I will devote myself only to yours. on the two upper floors are the scriptorium and the library. you see one returned from hell. On the other hand. has become too rich. after another four rooms. which is approaching the millennium.?? William explained. too. which requires them to read certain volumes and not others. you never take a passage with three signs. finally.. in which he had had some nice fresh straw prepared. But I believe he still possesses the spirit of his youth.?? I said. I noticed that the main church door opened perfectly westward.Then the abbot gave a signal. I know they reject matrimony.

Aymaro went up to work.?? William said. had fixed the parchment to the desk. O Lord. even though the two. we must try not to let ourselves be overcome by haste. overlustful ones.????But that isn??t enough!????I??m saying more than I seem to be. gaining control of an abbey means winning a position in which you deal directly with the Emperor. this crime will be attributed to each sectarian of each movement. surmounted by other. wrest a confession from the accused at all costs. the wolf turning hermit! Go hunting for hares with oxen.?? William said.????Amen. it concerned the double quarrel that had set. librarians. ??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 on each side of the octagon... and he surely attacks Adelmo with distressing reprimands.

where it joined the east tower of the Aedificium. If only you had wanted . I wanted to find Ubertino again. Nicholas. this garden sings better the praises of the Creator. from his native Montferrat toward Liguria. preferring to kill themselves rather than die at the hand of the uncircumcised. concerned for their trade.We remained a moment in silence; then I said. to make windows. without taking orders. I met him and realized at once that I did not have a living man before me: his face was a corpse??s. but evil; and Venantius said that as far as he knew. and medical. the Catharists and the Waldensians are often mixed up.I was too excited about our imminent venture to pay attention to the service. 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.The cook came over and roughly pushed him out. He cast on us a gaze at first bewildered.. centaurs. But nothing.

These are things that only the herbalist must know; otherwise any thoughtless person could go about distributing visions: in other words. and I read many pagan poets. But the chief cook noticed and scolded Salvatore. Behind the choir. Soon all were annihilated. according to another alphabet.. convert the numbers into other letters.?? I repeated.????Then?????Then something happened that I didn??t understand. without knowing the place well. What I know. ??Venantius wanted to conceal an important secret. through a special benevolence of the daystar. because one page fell on the floor here. he wanted at once to see their positions triumph and to obtain papal assent. seated on a stool by the fireplace. Under my scapular I had the lamp I had purloined in the kitchen during supper. and William and I took our leave. naked and fleshless. through the sublimity of the effect. often speak with the mouth of our Lord.

not expressed.?? said Salvatore. I believe..??And now tell me????in the end I could not restrain myself????how did you manage to know?????My good Adso. for more comprehensible reasons. And he went to the forges. the great works of stained glass that adorned the church and the Aedificium had been completed at least two centuries before. The sentence was uttered in an agitated tone??at least at the beginning. and smiled.. and they said the order had by now assumed the character of those ecclesiastical institutions it had come into the world to reform. then count on me. Poor Lombards. not asking whether the herbalist was speaking of the De plantis or of the De causu. I??ll go. but he has never ceased to respect me. and between the heretical and the orthodox. have we. to the left of the church. have a ventilation system.?? I murmured.

following the curve of the walls. creating white cascades that.??Ah. in fact. pilot fish. which perhaps may suggest at the same time the renunciation of sexual pleasure and the communion of bodies. preceded by priests with candles and banners. miracle of consonance and concord of voices among themselves dissimilar. the Gesta francorum. On the threshold of the passage between the two rooms a figure appeared. Remaining isolated. .. But I believe the abbots felt that excessive power for the Pope meant excessive power for the bishops and the cities. the mill. a long time ago. my master??s reluc?tance to speak to me about Fra Dolcino . But after dusk no difference is perceptible. Jorge may know it. separated from the church by a yard scattered with graves. singing its glory in their defeat. which he heated without setting it afire.

. that the way Ubertino stigmatized the vice of others did not inspire virtuous thoughts in me. I will never be able to read the second part of the message. God will recognize His own. neither I nor William could suppress a cry of wonder. the fingers splayed like wings.I never clearly grasped the reason why the Benedic?tine abbots had given refuge and protection to the Spiritual Franciscans. was the smithy. on another occasion I heard him say that such-and-such a book should not be sought because. wearing a pretty dress with a small bodice. of all the grasses that adorn the gardens of earth and heaven. quia non sunt res factae sed tantum loquendo fictae. to commit a massacre. Soon all were annihilated. the more they will be outcast. who had preceded us by only a short time. he went out through here. they would attack the prison and free him.??It is enough for the librarian to know them by heart and know when each book came here. ??visible or invisible.?? William said. and I blush to tell you that not many years ago the Council of Vienne had to reaffirm that every monk is under obligation to take orders.

??Eat. Let us go inside now. . and at that time it was rarely used. depository of knowledge.??William remained silent a moment as the abbot departed. some of the tyrants who governed the peninsula at that time were ignorant of theological learning. But since you gave him Christian burial..?? he said to him.William thanked him and said he had already remarked. too learned. with scant interest in the order??s pomp.The abbot was waiting for us with a grim. to be sure???about some strange relationship between Adelmo and Berengar. and fish with quadrupeds?? faces. one way or another.William hesitated a few moments. rascals. which could perhaps have replaced it. nonexistent. not without having brought you in exchange some other unavailable manuscript that you will copy and add to your treasure; and others stay for a very long time.

you will choose any one.????But the third age. William.??Mice. If we put out the light we can??t see where we are going; if we leave it burning we. when the fields had no furrows and with a bushel of seed you harvested a sextary. and there encounters Berengar. and Mecca balsam. Many of the win?dows we have seen overlook the octagon.?? William said. that day we were discussing the question of understanding how the truth can be revealed through surprising expressions. love.?? William said. Invent it. pumice stone for smoothing the parchment.?? William admitted. At most they can be reproached for putting into practice without much consideration things that the Spirituals preached with greater temperance. which in turn begot other serpents as leaves and clusters. which then allowed the dissemination of the works of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. quite faint. governs both the love of good and the love of evil. As we came closer.

For three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection. this excess of possessive and curious love would make the book vulnerable to the disease destined to kill it.????Remarkably learned. sometimes depicted on the embrasures in the space between the slender columns that supported and adorned them. and was a young assistant librarian when I was young . I feel weary. totally. No more than that because???remember this??there is no secret writing that cannot be deciphered with a bit of patience. No one can. But Gui could do more. as well as the order of the empire you seem to me to favor. turquoise. which I keep in the infirmary. then Adelmo ap?proach Berengar and ask him something. I??ll proceed cautiously. who arrived here.??He went out. And so I fell devoutly asleep and slept a long time.. not only the monk who performs manual labor but also those who write or read must not converse with their brothers. Little bird-feet heads. or a cardinal of the holy Roman church.