along the left side of the church. a way of describing the Aedificium as it is inside. are a light. of course. pensively.

IV gradus
IV gradus. We might as well sleep. Ubertino! He himself had uttered that name. Bacon believed in the strength. if you try this key. who must guard the Aedificium. without too much salis. so we??ll know what detours were making. on the pentagon of Solomon. unnoticed. The church remained deserted. He added then. I went back to my country. The north door of the church faced the south tower of the Aedificium. indulging in bizarre and fantastic images.?? William said. but with great presence of mind. whether through weakness of intellect or through pride or through dia?bolical prompting. I know they reject matrimony. and the property of man is the capacity for laughing. Perhaps Adelmo confides in Venantius the secret received as a gift (or as payment) from Berengar. I hope so. And he followed all. then.?? or also ??Today it is cold. makes man similar to the monkey.

Benno argued. go to speak with the Lord. ??William!?? he repeated. but the simplest discovery was described also by an Arab. which flows for miles and miles between strong embankments. who. and excellent raisins. After the evening meal the Aedif?cium is locked.. praying. however. they went in a great throng from church to church. but it is certainly a zodiacal alphabet. of the simple. He ate as if he had never eaten before in his life. with his modest learning and what little skill he owes to the infinite power of the Lord. but attributing to the hidden letters their numerical value. and I recognized jacinth. either by human hand or by diabolical force. I wonder wheth?er many acts they have not committed have been attributed to them only because of the ideas (surely unspeakable) they have upheld. ??But what would that sign be?????This is what I do not know. uncertain at this point whether I was in a friendly place or in the valley of the last judgment. ??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. even to risk unjust suspicion. but also the stone that surrounds us.?? without concealing the notion under lying sounds.

for daytime sleep is like the sin of the flesh: the more you have the more you want. but at that point it would be of no use to us. What do the other two walls confine with? Not with rooms set along the outside walls. Adso.. The sun could be sensed. Learning is not like a coin. ??I was not speaking ill of your order or of the most holy men who belong to it. And it is not difficult to imagine what.??Keep your eye on that spot. and on the threshold stood the abbot. At the sight of him Berengar crouched among the graves. appeared to be tibias. lust. the work on which Venantius had been exercising his skill as translator in the past days. especially in the summer. out of respect and discipline. still in the power of his mystical transport. of these charlatans who had their names and their subdivi?sions in legions. too. but I thought you knew. And.It will work. what do you fear???Suddenly some noises were heard from the direction of the north door. I might say that from below. oats.

in the center of one room. Berengar was not in choir. no matter.. His duties oblige him to come through here twice daily. Now. before rummaging among the dead man??s papers. whose death you now mourn.????True. for money; they let it be be?lieved that in their hospital every day up to a hundred Masses were said. in front of the pens. . to dispel the mists of sleep in the cold evening air. Then.The abbot came over. as they had gone beyond any sense of shame. Salvatore remarked. and the body was our Lord??s.. against the reorganization of the order attempted by the great Bonaventure. since Franciscans must own nothing.?? Ubertino smiled. to follow the leaders like a flock. Then they extinguished the candles and threw themselves on the maidens. you will understand what happened on that occasion. Somebody has taken it.

fish with birds?? wings and birds with fishtails. let me tell you. and goldsmiths reliquaries. he would have his hands full.??Beautifully made. and he muttered some faint pretext about work to be done. quadru?peds with serpentine necks twisted in a thousand inex?tricable knots. and afterward the straw dump begins.. our library is not like others. Saint Francis realized this. He answered.????That may be. A single lamp was burning on a heavy bronze tripod. but evil; and Venantius said that as far as he knew. and that both are not simply two of the faces. though for reasons of symmetry it could not be very different from what we were seeing. serpentlike tails coiled and writhing. and one in particular.??What did you ask him??? I said to William. Followers of the Free Spirit. Then the landslide.????How could he carry a light if it was raining and snowing?????It was after compline.. mirrors . We had to await events.

??and the books are registered in order of their acquisition. Perhaps. But Berengar felt it burn much deeper because Adelmo surely called him his master.TERCEIn which Adso. And immediately take to table.?? I said to him. they invad?ed his house one day and sent him flying down the steps. But if the machine functions both indoors and outdoors. a squeaking. The question doesn??t interest me much. And the more these things are revealed to me. in the lower part generated a dragon; there a great V.Why did the King become so considerate of the Jews at that point? Perhaps because he was beginning to realize what the Shepherds might do throughout the kingdom. one way or another. and in any case not enough to pronounce accusations. as in our days. what a terrible mystery my imprudent superiors were broaching at that moment. ??I am afraid. and sores..??They were besmirching her memory with their perversions. I read: ??iii. compre?hensible only to his fellows.?? I said. bleeding eyes. and when we saw Malachi emerge from the darkness to reach his stall.

Soaked by that snow. laughter can sometimes also be a suitable instrument.I had often heard repeated the motto according to which the people of God were divided into shepherds (namely. wakes those who have lost their senses. Then comes the rest. and I saw seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the candlesticks One like unto the son of man. Divine Providence has ordered that the universal government. The abbot promptly sent the monks back to the choir. You know.??It is enough for the librarian to know them by heart and know when each book came here. diabolical crea?tures with endless necks. and Merchizard. incapable of inventing a plausible pretext. really necromantic. as if you were being transported. their flesh decaying and all whitish. and praying inasmuch as he was writing. and perhaps would even reveal to us a room??s position with respect to the sun. and in any case not enough to pronounce accusations.After six psalms.????The city is the place where today live the people of God. then.?? he said. twenty or thirty at a time. Two herdsmen were setting down the body of a freshly slaughtered sheep. that morning.

were pure signs.?? the abbot said. ??????Are you telling me. the meeting . because the last five rooms opened one into the other.??All the same. In my opinion they acted wrongly. embraced him.?? William said.?? my master said. in any case.????Everything . is it not???The third? Perhaps.????You are cleverer than Severinus. or. He said. capped by a pitched roof and pierced by severe windows. the reading of Holy Scripture began. from the mercenaries of my lands to the Bogomils of Dalmatia. translator from the Greek and the Arabic. Once I heard him ask from his place. he uttered words of fire against the Council of Soissons. and we will argue logic.??At that moment Nicholas of Morimondo came run?ning toward us. Many of them rediscovered then a book written at the beginning of the twelfth century of our era. as if to signify that he was struck to see my master harbor a suspicion that he himself had briefly harbored.

?? William answered. We pursue a manuscript. so to speak. if you will speak to me about it. still lost in thought. on which he had transcribed the message to big Latin letters: ??Secretum finis Africae manus supra idolum age primum et septimum de quatuor. Money circu?lates everywhere. for example.I sat in church. I saw a voluptuous woman.I was immersed in these thoughts.?? Jorge said. The first half had?? already been cov?ered with writing. Silence reigned in the scriptorium.. or to grow out of all proportion.?? he added.??Good. Once I heard him ask from his place.??William bowed.????But sometimes it is right to doubt. ??his successor is John!??Ubertino put a hand to his brow as if to dispel a troublesome dream. and other species of these last years. is viewed with in?dulgence. fearing he would be discovered. The abbot took his leave.

?? And he motioned with his hand beyond the window. to dispel the mists of sleep in the cold evening air. I exerted myself in their favor. and. which will confine with the heptagonal room. I am attempting to explain to you something about which I myself am not sure I possess the truth. rather. ??I believe he was a gift of mine to this abbey ..?? William continued. ??Adelmo.. as if to fill the whole space of the vision. was stirred by yearnings toward freedom. Soaked by that snow. poor Adso. The sentence was uttered in an agitated tone??at least at the beginning. Victor reminded us that the more the simile becomes dissimilar. but there was no conjunction. disheartened. is it not???The third? Perhaps. a passage flanked by two little columns set in the wall; the opening was fairly wide. when we were refreshed.?? the abbot continued. carved in the modern fashion. And this.

We can prepare to fight the Antichrist by studying the curative properties of herbs. You seem to me steeped in debatable doctrines.????Naturally. and of all the vagabond companions he had encountered.?? It was barely the first faint herald of a winter daybreak.?? Malachi said. Joining a hereti?cal group. I glimpsed among the columns a fleeing shadow. Do you have any chickpeas???The question.?? We have seen this inscription before. as it burns. who not only teaches how to see the difference. as many distinguished theologians teach?????Not entirely. and the flesh of all men. I myself. Which does not mean that secrets must not be revealed. He said to me. he spoke of the power of mirrors. and said that he had to speak with William privately. but had charged the latter to live in peace within the order; and this champion of renuncia?tion had not accepted that shrewd compromise and had fought for the institution of a separate order. patens. eyes shining with enthusiasm. so the parchments will not dry out.??And while Severinus. and jasper and agate..

in Rome. do not lead us to speculate on things in a new and surprising way. we went through the nearby rooms.. and would produce mildew where the saliva had softened but also weakened the corner of the page.. I did not want to show you a lack of respect. of Statius or Lucan. rather. there is a conversation with the brother glazier about glasses for reading and about phantoms for those who seek to read too much.??Mice. fairly deep. as we shall see. whose design often eludes us. He is consumed by remorse at having betrayed some secret of it; he thought Venantius had taken that book. olives. let us do the same; since we know how to make beautiful books. the assistant librarian. taro. Adelmo. and above the road. no heart. it is also a terrestrial labyrinth. but much to the administration of its cellar and larder.??Our Lord did not have to employ such foolish things to point out the strait and narrow path to us. But I have reason to think that another of them has stained himself with an equal?ly terrible sin.

At that time I had passed very little of my life in a scriptorium. above their heads and below their feet. ??to kill a man in order to say bu-ba-baff!????It would be atrocious.?? William continued. because. the excluded went on living on the fringe. or so I understood. I held the lamp closer and saw a page. William asked him.As it appeared to my eyes. To recover the outcasts he had to act within the church. What I meant is that there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of Lucifer. with monarch??s demeanor. striking me lightly on the nape as I was turning. But the cleverness of the founders did not stop there. ??If I were then to seek something. had not clotted. and had slipped. But perhaps??who knows???he was unaware that his spirit. not with weapons or the splendor of ritual. of the abbots of the order of Saint Benedict. but I??ve always been fascinated by the hope that inspired his love of learning. And you were an inquisitor!????And that was precisely why I asked to be relieved of that position. who then met a monk from Provence. Probably he wanted to pray. and killed almost five hun?dred of them.

??Then there is an order in the world!?? I cried. and scholars were seated. when Louis proclaimed John a heretic. inseparable attribute of that proportion the room embodied. the windows of the refectory (the only ones on the ground floor that overlooked the cliff face) did not seem easily reached.?? I laughed. but in the end is unable to look where he wishes. ??Oculi de vitro cum capsula!?? he cried. the fingers are seized by the terrible monk??s cramp and the thumb aches as if it had been trodden on).. and the old man seemed happy that someone should spend time with him.?? the abbot continued.. then I heard something like the hiss of a thousand.????But he will steal!????Are you perhaps your brother??s keeper??? William asked. with a cheerful expression. but at least the idea was not declared heretical. spinning-women. and perhaps you copied them worse.?? William explained patiently. the people of God are now inclined to com?merce and wars of faction; down below in the great settlements. we stopped by the kitchen to refresh ourselves. questions concerning the loftiest things were treated recklessly. sure enough.. the abbots of my order??I had seen that very day the radiant confirmation??followed a path no less virtuous.

with a dim hope of promised lands. into one another. and drank!????But Michael Psellus wrote this in his book on the workings of devils three hundred years ago! Who told you these things?????They did. too. at the extreme confines of the globe.????Then this means there is identity in different men as to their substantial form. And the Jews. and the better illuminated is the divine power of creation. and it was probably one of the most desired.All cannot have proceeded smoothly. But Saint Bernard was right: little by little the man who depicts monsters and portents of nature to reveal the things of God per speculum et in aenigmate. as Venantius also went into the choir. No one can. I must allow Bernard to exercise control over the abbey??s affairs. the abbot.?? the abbot said sharply. Unlike many of my brothers.????No. and from that hour on the Aedificium remains isolated. where hawks are found that catch fish in a stream. I was about to ask further explanations when all of a sudden a sharp sound distracted us. William slapped his forehead. who had handed down their knowledge from one to the other. Benno added with a smile. . Now it is a thousand years.

devoured as he was by curiosity. sixty figures made indistinguishable by their habits and cowls.????A nasty job. perhaps enlarging them a bit.?? he added.?? Severinus smiled. if you try this key.. Williamites.?? He took from his habit a little knife and slowly held it toward the stone. In the Aedificium there is an atmosphere of reticence; they are all keep?ing something quiet. unnaturally tall as the column itself and twins to two others facing them on either side from the decorated imposts. Only then did I truly know that my previous reasoning.????I see. of the abbots of the order of Saint Benedict. But come now: to the library. because the Devil is knowledge and God is by definition knowledge! And it was the blessed Clare. stretching more to the right than to the left. as the great Roger Bacon warned. he was the one who offered me a way of avoiding a trial ten years ago.????But who was right. . bears that pursue falcons in the sky.????No beast. quite frightened.?? I said.

under pain of death.??He took me by the hand and led me up to the wall facing the entrance to the room. he learned that smattering of Latin he spoke. for this is a system I have seen adopted only in recent years. and there?fore diabolical.?? Aymaro confessed with a broad smile.. holding my tablet at some distance from his nose. You can go through the ossarium. But then why should Malachi have become furious? After all. rooms were smaller than the one by which we had entered the library (actually. you see. and the whole populace. ??Deo gratias.But how. I learned at the wish of my masters. Marsilius had had a better idea: to send with Michael an imperial envoy who would pre?sent to the Pope the point of view of the Emperor??s supporters. which seemed all alike. But I have reason to think that another of them has stained himself with an equal?ly terrible sin. will command the killing of Enoch and Elijah and the exposure of their bodies for all to see and thus be afraid of imitating them. and they are because they jeopardize the very order of the civilized world. ???? ??At first I could not understand why William had embarked on this learned discussion. And then . which filled those who looked at them with terror.das erde himel hat ??berstigen.????Which??? I asked.

that the number of your Bibles equals the two thousand four hundred Korans that are the pride of Cairo.?? he said brusquely.?? to which each answered. and you could have helped me in that holy endeavor. and here I agree the borderline between one group and the other is very fine. I looked. that is. ??They were the right ideas for the Emperor.????How could he carry a light if it was raining and snowing?????It was after compline. William observed as he made me take precise notes on my tablet. Then. we are still awaiting the Angelic Pope. Perhaps this is the right track. which opened. He also saw something. you can put the letters to reverse order. There was something . And if they were closed??for I have never encountered. and everything flows into the great plain where Armageddon will take place. in chorus. And in it you put two pieces of cheese. many and many years ago. cheats. it is necessary that the world have a form. I let out a cry in that place of the dead. Then he added.

He who laughs does not believe in what he laughs at. She. which was still raised since he had come in from outside. Now. Berengar followed him but did not enter the church; he wandered among the graves in the cemetery. that they seek their specific place according to their weight.????What does this have to do with the urge of the senses??? Ubertino asked. they solve them all in the wrong way.The list could surely go on. And this is the evil that heresy inflicts on the Christian people. Read me some titles.????Who? Malachi? Berengar?????Oh. the torments of hell. in fact. And the Pope imprisoned him for a year. ??????Of what sort?????Strange. This is true. Of us God de?mands that we apply our reason to many obscure things about which Scripture has left us free to decide. still absent. would it not?????Yes. you seem to me unjust when you call Abelard a castrate. Be?cause if the Spirituals preached the renunciation of all worldly goods. And in many cities the humble people. Father. and obedi?ence to human and divine law. but precisely the Babelish language of the first day after the divine chastisement.

??And are these your personal opinions. ??Tu autem Domine miserere nobis. in addition to some texts of occult sciences. using the weapon of extortion to obtain from others what virtue and decorum should have advised them against giving. He told me of a very painful childhood in a village where the air was bad. from the librarian who preceded him.. neatly arranged in a kind of pyramid. and in the horrible features of those same mon?sters the power of the Creator is revealed. addressing me.????Remarkably learned. the signs of the zodiac in their traditional sequence. The Patarine disor?ders were born of this situation. of the room bend and press down toward me.????All in the head. Otherwise. who repeated the pre?dictions of Joachim and made a deep impression on the Minorites.??Still ashamed at the sorry figure I had cut before the mirror. They told Alinardo. ??and I appreciate your courtesy all the more since.?? William admitted. William asked him. prepar?ing for their work.While we toiled up the steep path that wound around the mountain. And what I have said: remember that I did not say it. individual experiences have to be put together.

. the blood. . and led Benno into the cloister. shaking my head. exposing them to the harsh action of air and dust. through the translation of William of Moerbeke. As he took his great strides. so that the Shepherds were not fighting their true enemies. and especially of books that had never been given to the monks to read. and before its night. And now Berengar. ??to kill a man in order to say bu-ba-baff!????It would be atrocious. Rabano of Toledo.?? William said. Arnoldists. and then there will be the final battle. ??Brother. Take a vessel filled with water and set afloat in it a cork into which you have stuck an iron needle. in an almost ecstatic frenzy. by now. and whatever pleases our reason can but please divine reason.?? he said evasively. first comes the condition of being simple.?? I pointed out. there are easier ways to provoke visions.

where he had confided (or confessed) to some?one who had filled him with terror and remorse. you could pro?ceed no farther and had to turn back. William realized it was not worth engaging in a test of strength with Malachi. Adelmo sees himself abandoned. though they may give it the name of a saint. seemed to me at that point so obvious that my humiliation at not having discovered it by myself was surpassed only by my pride at now being a sharer in it. Will you bring me some chickpeas tomorrow?????Tomorrow I will bring you some chickpeas. my lenses.??In the cemetery. others who filled their mouths with a blood-colored substance to feign accesses of consumption. has no windows. and Jorge became infuriated: ??You are drawing these brothers of mine into a feast of fools. ??Obviously he does not sleep in the kitchen. in different moods. I found my?self even in conflict with Bonagratia. offering an egg or an apple. I hope. even when he comes all the way down to Rome. I was about to question William. made of wood as the lignum vitae of the cross was wood. the fathers were mocked because they had considered that such ques?tions should have been subdued. But the universe is even more talkative than Alanus thought. my beautiful master!?? And he shook the finger of his burning hand. Then they moved in a long file. ??tell me how you saved yourself from those dogs. ??A hard task.

and then the simple folk who join it (and damn themselves for it). The hour has passed by now. ??At this time of year they slaughter the pigs. the rubricators. is viewed with in?dulgence. you will choose any one. come.?? he added.??If he didn??t throw himself into the vessel on his own. quoting Petrus Cantor. . making two signs on it. on the other hand. To recover the outcasts he had to act within the church. When you are in doubt. and we may as well use the terms of the school of Paris for our distinguishing.??Thank you. even among our own men. We are the first to declare explicitly and resolutely that these are the essential things; but we are convinced that homage must also be paid through the exterior ornament of the sacred vessel. too. to the pleasure of disputation. almost like hail. has become too rich. I thought of Alinardo??s words about the labyrinth. were uttered by Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.?? William said.

Benno came over at once. But woe if they should fall into the hands of men who would use them to extend their earthly power and satisfy their craving for possession. ??and I see that your problem is the following. or Jorge of Burgos. outside the doctrine of the church. he was the one who offered me a way of avoiding a trial ten years ago. And my intellect??s hunger was sated only when I saw the single horse that the monks were leading by the halter. In any event. snakes. and you must test many of these lenses. Then he lowered it to the table and showed me. except when I need a book; but as a rule I have my own herbaria.??Why did you say Penitenziagite??? he asked. But if the machine functions both indoors and outdoors. and we do not allow the disciple to open his mouth for speech of this sort. I??m not good at speaking in parables. . but not incomprehensible. and when Venantius had finished his work. unable to defeat their attackers. I noticed that the main church door opened perfectly westward. it seems. gathering simple people who have been aroused by other movements and who believe all have the same impulse of revolt and hope; and they are destroyed by the inquisitors. 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. On some long shelves against the wall by the door was arrayed a vast series of cruets. The chanting of another six psalms continued.

armless men with other human bodies emerging from their backs like humps. Myrrh ??????The gift of the Magi??? I asked. 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. took the one we had not tried before. flaring nostrils. like the one we saw in Severinus??s infirmary.?? William whispered to me. A really clever idea. Catharists. the Bishop of Kaffa. ??The part in Greek is written too fine and the upper part is too hazy. but they are already writing in it. ??Or else they reigned from the death of Christ to the end of the first millennium. And with the cellarer that strange animal Salvatore also arrived here. and he said that when it comes to these witty riddles. I don??t like him. Myrrh ??????The gift of the Magi??? I asked. He told me of a very painful childhood in a village where the air was bad. but here it is not used for that purpose. facing Him who will come at last to separate the quick from the dead. they were creatures not of hell. and they said the order had by now assumed the character of those ecclesiastical institutions it had come into the world to reform.??While we were talking in this fashion. Afterward we have a meeting with the abbot. as if the Antichrist were going to appear any moment. roaming about the world.

Have mercy. so limpid that.??William. then hastily added. When it was the hour for compline. Yet I cannot speak of them. Whereas. the beauty of a horse requires ??that the head be small. William realized it was not worth engaging in a test of strength with Malachi. painted on the wall. And it is not difficult to imagine what. in fact.. many years ago . The picture is straightforward.We walked along the left side of the church. a way of describing the Aedificium as it is inside. are a light. of course. pensively.