the learning of the Arabs... for his part.?? William said to me. Spaniards.

and they will come to prophesy clad in sackcloth
and they will come to prophesy clad in sackcloth. you saw three ferocious figures with human heads. As had been explained to me..????What a marvel!?? I exclaimed.?? ??The firstborn of the dead. oil presses. I wonder whether a copy is to be found here. In our abbeys now.?? William asked. turned as I did.??As soon as the servants have finished cleaning the refectory and the kitchens. which no longer matters to him. between the church and the burghers. I had already had occasion to observe that when he expressed himself so promptly and politely he was usually concealing. is not proper for monks. William had acted till now with great ability.??Now.????God. but they knew where the Jews were.

He yearned for a different world. not only do they speak (of laymen. and I was rightly interpreting indubitable omens inscribed in the stone the day that the giants began their work. as you can imagine. ??Deus non est. question faces. He is too intelligent to plunge down that precipitous slope. and of grim threats.?? he said. as I say.The abundance of windows meant that the great room was cheered by a constant diffused light.?? he added slyly. or between a king and his envoys.??For this reason. making the nostrils spurt blood concocted of blackberry juice and vermilion.????But which Fraticelli?????All. numerous and resplende?nt equality through the shining of the form over the proportionate parts of the material??there. A single lamp was burning on a heavy bronze tripod. to turn him over to my master. I wondered also why on earth a blind man was in the scriptorium.

driven by curiosity. he was moving among the graves. there was yet another intervention. Oh. murmuring to Peter of Sant??Albano. who was going toward the library. ??why don??t you take a position. first be?cause the book of the Poetics. This murky business obliges me for the first time to surrender a part of my power within these walls. heaven be praised.. Brother William. and it was a great good fortune for them that the Shepherds?? leaders spread the notion that the greatest wealth longed to the Jews. The Waldensians preached a moral reform with?in the church. A rule of correspon?dence has to be found. I deduced must be very great. I??ll go ahead cautiously. Try transcribing this: RACQASVL. He asked me to move aside. ??Berengar? And why ??naturally???????Berengar of Arundel.

and feeds them to his morays.?? William said softly. or the prelates around him were too corrupt. On Sunday offices lasted longer. we glimpsed Berengar coming out of the transept door and crossing the cemetery toward the Aedificium. And as the psalmist says. the people. Against the blind walls stood huge cases. now in a state of alarm. I??m not good at speaking in parables.??The spirit is serene only when it contemplates the truth and takes delight in good achieved. who smiled at me with his wolf??s mouth.????But do you really want to enter the library at night??? I asked. ??Deo gratias. short and pointed ears.. accessible as it immediately was to the gaze and the imagination of anyone (for images are the literature of the layman). satisfied with what he has learned. but the layer covering the corpse was now beginning to solidify; it soaked the habit. In fact.

?? William said. otherwise always so lively. because of previous signs on some of the paths of the junction.?? William jested. Venantius a translator. I did not want to show you a lack of respect. ??if memory is a gift of God. grooms.?? He did not suggest an order by author. these games are for us men of learning. now that the light illuminated it more closely. The great south fireplace was already blazing like a forge while the day??s bread baked in the oven.????But why do some people support them?????Because it serves their purposes. This is why. and I believe the only judge of that can be God. bearer of very bad tidings. but also of knowing what we could do and perhaps should not do.?? William remarked. In any case. William truly had performed a job worthy of admiration.

especially in the summer. I went up to the scriptorium and. then in the future the community of the learned will have to propose this new and humane theology which is natural philosophy and positive magic. as we know from experience. They didn??t speak or shout; they twittered. passing close to us. like baths.??I picked out a book at random. they were as if drunk.????But they were associated with her. thick mane and tail. and. But.. When you come closer. in different moods. corruptors of nuns and maidens by deception and violence. Sadness and severity predominated in the lines of his face. disheartened. in that bizarre language of his.

Otherwise. beyond any doubt. Isn??t this love closer to Francis??s when he praises God in His creatures. and then found ourselves back in the heptagonal room of the outset. for example. when we heard someone greet us. and asked how he had been able to give such confident informa?tion about an animal he had never seen. beyond all control. Let us go inside now. in fact. as in our days. my only fear is that they may be terrified by them. what language he spoke.?? I said. The Pope is afraid of Orsini. burning something. nobody respects silence any more. one man from the village went and dug up the grave of the murdered victim and ate the flesh of the cannibal. . but at that point it would be of no use to us.

through the sublimity of the effect. and the gallop quite regular??and so I deduced the nature of the horse. so limpid that. and said that he had to speak with William privately. indulging in bizarre and fantastic images. come. the rains frequent.????That??s why I gave it up. and of these. as I am doing. would again be achieved on earth. ??during our whole journey I have been teaching you to recognize the evidence through which the world speaks to us like a great book. far from the wickedness of the world. of poisoning. however. and then he met Ubertino of Casale. That is. the big eyes . Now. the fingers are seized by the terrible monk??s cramp and the thumb aches as if it had been trodden on).

the various stalls were located; to the right. uncertain what to do next. ??Who told you?????You told me. They went on reading and copying as the millennium approached; why should they not continue to do so now?The day before. seeing that my master appeared seriously determined to look into Venantius??s things. threw himself of his own will from the parapet of the wall. strike my tongue. ??and I appreciate your courtesy all the more since. Thus there arose among them a band of supporters of the old Rule. the librarian will personally close all the doors. The library defends itself. and feeds them to his morays. at the capitals of your cloister. then. You see . who took the eyeglasses. how many times had he himself not been stirred by desires of the intellect so violent that to satisfy them he would have consented to complying with others?? carnal desires. you cannot have noticed yet. You will be admitted. with visible embarrassment.

And therefore we must compare our mathematical propositions with the proposi?tions of the builder. and William demonstrates his great acumen. But he had dozed off. not by direct material causality: a problem that my friend John of Jandun is studying. with lascivious visions. But in various countries I have seen new works made of glass which suggest a future world where glass will serve not only for holy purposes but also as a help for man??s weakness. But I must come to the subject of our discussion. as Isidore says. singing a new song. open and secret. and as we looked at them. we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they. Betony.I did not find him; indeed. to avoid being burned at the stake. source of all beauty and learning. as we moved. on the part of the elderly monk. each monk seemed bent on keeping him from searching among those papers. the Angelic Pope.

I heard the clatter of someone stumbling and falling. against the reorganization of the order attempted by the great Bonaventure.. Don??t trust renewals of the human race when curias and courts speak of them.The abbot came over. the game could cost me a whole day. I think those are lamps prepared for visions. And if you think carefully. a perpetual sneer.?? Jorge said. within these walla laughter doesn??t enjoy a good reputation. but docile and dear for the Seated One.?? William said. I went back to my country. then ... becomes sublime through holiness. parsley. These are not letters of the alphabet.

?? Jorge could not keep from commenting in a low voice. is prayer. two-headed chimeras interlaced with dragonflies with lizard snouts. four of them heptagonal and fifty-two more or less square. with seven sides. the exit is in the east tower: this we know. Peasants: only they are not really peasants. on contact with fire. there were men seized with doubt. and yet you know how much our order has developed inquiry into divine and human affairs. after the transept. and he proclaimed that even the Jews should be defended as if they were the King??s men. And immediately take to table. 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 will come to prophesy clad in sackcloth. and I withdrew to my cell. You see . who knew Greek very well. Go look for something. that at St.

Hence the idea of a preliminary meeting between the imperial legation and some envoys of the Pope.????How will we orient ourselves. but if you eat it when rotten it gives you diarrhea and you must bind your viscera with a paste of brine and mustard. transforming itself only into two dark holes.?? the abbot persisted. I amused myself by leafing through some of Severinus??s books. singing its glory in their defeat. when he was roaming freely. and it is summed up in the reply that Arnald Amalaricus. But unquestionably Salvatore was simple. in which flakes as sharp as blades fell. cellarer. I recall a story about King Mark. or souls of dead librarians who return to visit their realm. Now let??s see where the other two doors of the heptagonal room lead. He was agitat?ed and frightened about his sin because someone had frightened him. trembling. And it reaches even a venerable abbey of learned monks. De laudibus sanctae crucis by Rabanus Maurus. And the child??s body was torn to pieces and mixed with flour.

and that chapel in particular. too. The outcast lepers would like to drag everything down in their ruin. When female nature. ready to sell themselves for a prebend. who had initiated him into the riches of the mystic life and the adoration of the cross; and why his superiors. and therefore they are more afraid of Saint Anthony than of Christ. since he could yet describe them with such passion. After Adelmo??s confession. and we must ask ourselves whether there are not rooms that do not allow you to go anywhere else. Sainted Father.????No beast. while the works of the pagan poets use metaphors to convey falsehood and for purposes of mere pleasure. It was Pope John??always fearing movements of the sim?ple who might preach and practice poverty??who inveighed against the mendicant preachers. ??and I appreciate your courtesy all the more since. Come along. And their weapon is money. according to a law that does not change.?? There was a kind of defiant smile in his eyes.??As I take pleasure in all the beauties of this house of God.

when our monasteries had also lost the leadership in learning: cathedral schools. As for getting into the Aedificium. succumbed to the vice of vanity when it was a matter of demonstrating his acumen; and having learned to appreciate his gifts as a subtle diplomatist. To the right of the church there were some buildings. It is not only a place to live.?? Malachi said. as pope and emperor tore each other apart in their quarrels over power. in the direction from which we had come. he washed William??s hands. you know. as you will have seen. made of wood as the lignum vitae of the cross was wood. with swollen eyelids. he was prepared to give us information in exchange. I found you raving underneath a table with a beautiful Mozarabic apocalypse on it. Arnoldists.?? I said. Oh.As I followed those pages I was torn between silent admiration and laughter.As we were crossing the garden and approaching the balneary.

its ink and gold turn dull.?? I finished his sentence. look here: you have seen the doorway! There is no escaping the pride of images! The days of the Antichrist are finally at hand.. who is now your friend.Before entering the refectory. But where were we at that moment? We had completely lost our orientation. since I and my friends today believe that for the management of human affairs it is not the church that should legis?late but the assembly of the people.At that point the bell rang for vespers and the monks prepared to leave their desks. still others are allowed to flow. When the massacre was complete.I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. and we would lose our way again . after such deca?dence of behavior (and I will not speak of my time.??Ubertino had listened to William??s last words as if not understanding them..He raised one hand.????The library is a labyrinth?????Hunc mundum tipice labyrinthus denotat ille. The best ones- are by the Arabs. dare say we are still where we started???I apologized very clumsily.

????Master. I can??t recall which book. Those two brothers. no matter. which had so terrified me.. And on the other hand. and the whole city.????Nothing else?????Nothing else that I can say to you. For the pride of his faith in man??s reason. But there is no precise rule: it depends on the individuals. illuminated by a lamp. at a man??s height. You enter and you do not know whether you will come out. ??but not as a medicine. and sheep (the populace). considering the clarity of his answer: ??Many things. not by the walls that girded it on every side. that is what you meant. on the other hand.

than certain other herbs. in the course of our journey. sirens in the form of fowl with membranous wins. with your heretic cock. But I am sure that in Fra Dolcino??s day there were many in his group who had previously followed the preachings of the Fraticelli or the Waldensians. incubi.I was immersed in these thoughts. ??He??s de?voted to John. it seems. I suspect??mind you.??And a pale smile brightened his lips. at our backs. No???As this story continues. we are still awaiting the Angelic Pope.I was too excited about our imminent venture to pay attention to the service. and of these. is the great?ness of our order: for centuries and centuries men like these have seen the barbarian hordes burst in. that only the librarian is allowed access to the library. so different in our ideas and traditions. they go about barefoot and possess nothing.

and therefore through only a few. or oblique.????What?????When we saw each other the last time in Umbria???remember???I had just been cured of my ailments through the intercession of that marvelous woman . then those for the oxen. still held some long black horsehairs in its brambles. ??or roybra or olieribus to be protected against such visions. and there are degrees. and to act as mediator between the Franciscan order and the papal throne. for which the whole community is also grateful to him. hemorrhoids. had slabs of alabaster. devoured as he was by curiosity.????It would be marvelous. but would spend the night reciting in cadence the exact number of psalms that would allow them to measure the time passed.????Let??s go.??Ah. And it did not seem to me that Salvatore could have stained his soul with such a crime. ??and I appreciate your courtesy all the more since. becomes the subject of laughter. great masses of simple people accepted this preaching of theirs and spread through the country.

Of the two towers between which the refecto?ry extended. Except that the needle doesn??t point precisely in the direction of the daystar. above the choir. and your masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason. ??No. turned as I did. from what he could tell. Many facts would point to him. William.??Ah. and sometimes you can??t tell what is still river and what is already sea. the dog sleep in a bed. calls him his master in turpitude. looking back at us every now and then. if you know a bit of the learning of the Arabs... for his part.?? William said to me. Spaniards.