He was, in other words, the library’s memory and the soul of the scriptorium.

This was my master’s way. He not only knew how to read the great book of nature, but also knew the way monks read the books of Scripture, and how they thought through them.

” “Yes, there is a lust for pain, as there is a lust for adoration, and even a lust for humility.

When I talk with Ubertino I have the impression that hell is heaven seen from the other side.”

” “Which books?” Benno hesitated. “I don’t remember. What does it matter which books were spoken of?” “It matters a great deal, because here we are trying to understand what has happened among men who live among books, with books, from books, and so their words on books are also important.”

Venantius was so interested in the problems of comedy; in fact, fables of this sort can also be considered kin to the comedies of the ancients. Both tell not of men who really existed, as tragedies do; on the contrary, as Isidore says, they are fictions:

If you see something from a distance, and you do not understand what it is, you will be content with defining it as a body of some dimension.

A city in Italy is something different from one in my land. . . . It is not only a place to live, it is also a place to decide,

the righteous man is burned in the place of his succubus. Inquisitors often, to demonstrate their zeal, wrest a confession from the accused at all costs, thinking that the only good inquisitor is one who concludes the trial by finding a scapegoat. . . .”