TERCE
In which Adso, in the scriptorium, reflects on the history of his order and on the destiny of books.
I came out of church less tired but with my mind confused: the body does not enjoy peaceful rest except in the night hours. I went up to the scriptorium and, after obtaining Malachi’s permission, began to leaf through the catalogue. But as I glanced absently at the pages passing before my eyes, I was really observing the monks2.
I was struck by their calm, their serenity4. Intent on their work, they seemed to forget that one of their brothers was being anxiously sought throughout the grounds, and that two others had disappeared in fright?ful circumstances. Here, I said to myself, is the great?ness of our order: for centuries and centuries men like these have seen the barbarian5 hordes6 burst in, sack their abbeys, plunge7 kingdoms into chasms8 of fire, and yet they have gone on cherishing parchments and inks, have continued to read, moving their lips over words that have been handed down through centuries and which they will hand down to the centuries to come. They went on reading and copying as the millennium9 approached; why should they not continue to do so now?
The day before, Benno had said he would be pre?pared to sin in order to procure10 a rare book. He was not lying and not joking. A monk3 should surely love his books with humility11, wishing their good and not the glory of his own curiosity; but what the temptation of adultery is for laymen12 and the yearning13 for riches is for secular14 ecclesiastics15, the seduction of knowledge is for monks.
I leafed through the catalogue, and a feast of mysteri?ous titles danced before my eyes: Quinti Sereni de medicamentis, Phaenomena, Liber Aesopi de natura animalium, Liber Aethici peronymi de cosmographia, Libei tres quos Arculphus episcopus Adamnano escipiente de locis sanctis ultramarinis designavit conscribendos, Libellus Q. Iulii Hilarionis de origine mundi, Solini Polyhistor de situ orbis terrarum et mirabilibus, Almagesthus. ... I was not surprised that the mystery of the crimes should involve the library. For these men devoted16 to writing, the library was at once the celestial17 Jerusalem and an underground world on the border between terra incognita and Hades. They were domi?nated by the library, by its promises and by its prohibitions18. They lived with it, for it, and perhaps against it, sinfully hoping one day to violate all its secrets. Why should they not have risked death to satisfy a curiosity of their minds, or have killed to prevent someone from appro?priating a jealously guarded secret of their own?
Temptations, to be sure, intellectual pride. Quite different was the scribe-monk imagined by our sainted founder19, capable of copying without understanding, surrendered to the will of God, writing as if praying, and praying inasmuch as he was writing. Why was it no longer so? Oh, this was surely not the only degenera?tion of our order! It had become too powerful, its abbots competed with kings: in Abo did I not perhaps have the example of a monarch20 who, with monarch’s demeanor21, tried to settle controversies22 between monarchs23? The very knowledge that the abbeys had accumulated was now used as barter24 goods, cause for pride, motive25 for boasting and prestige; just as knights26 displayed armor and standards, our abbots displayed illuminated27 manuscripts . ... And all the more so now (what madness!), when our monasteries28 had also lost the leadership in learning: cathedral schools, urban corporations, univer?sities were copying books, perhaps more and better than we, and producing new ones, and this may have been the cause of many misfortunes.
The abbey where I was staying was probably the last to boast of excellence29 in the production and reproduc?tion of learning. But perhaps for this very reason, the monks were no longer content with the holy work of copying; they wanted also to produce new comple?ments of nature, impelled30 by the lust31 for novelty. And they did not realize, as I sensed vaguely32 at that moment (and know clearly today, now aged33 in years and experience), that in doing so they sanctioned the de?struction of their excellence. Because if this new learn?ing they wanted to produce were to circulate freely outside those walls, then nothing would distinguish that sacred place any longer from a cathedral school or a city university. Remaining isolated34, on the other hand, it maintained its prestige and its strength intact, it was not corrupted35 by disputation, by the quodlibetical con1?ceit that would subject every mystery and every great?ness to the scrutiny36 of the sic et non. There, I said to myself, are the reasons for the silence and the darkness that surround the library: it is the preserve of learning but can maintain this learning unsullied only if it pre?vents37 its reaching anyone at all, even the monks themselves. Learning is not like a coin, which remains38 physically39 whole even through the most infamous40 transactions; it is, rather, like a very handsome dress, which is worn out through use and ostentation41. Is not a book like that, in fact? Its pages crumble42, its ink and gold turn dull, if too many hands touch it. I saw Pacificus of Tivoli, leafing through an ancient volume whose pages had become stuck together because of the humidity. He moistened his thumb and forefinger43 with his tongue to leaf through his book, and at every touch of his saliva44 those pages lost vigor45; opening them meant folding them, exposing them to the harsh action of air and dust, which would erode46 the subtle wrinkles of the parchment, and would produce mildew47 where the saliva had softened48 but also weakened the corner of the page. As an excess of sweetness makes the warrior49 flaccid and inept50, this excess of possessive and curious love would make the book vulnerable to the disease destined51 to kill it.
What should be done? Stop reading, and only pre?serve? Were my fears correct? What would my master have said?
Nearby I saw a rubricator, Magnus of Iona, who had finished scraping his vellum with pumice stone and was now softening52 it with chalk, soon to smooth the surface with the ruler. Another, next to him, Rabano of Toledo, had fixed53 the parchment to the desk, pricking54 the margins55 with tiny holes on both sides, between which, with- a metal stylus, he was now drawing very fine horizontal lines. Soon the two pages would be filled with colors and shapes, the sheet would become a kind of reliquary, glowing with gems56 studded in what would then be the devout57 text of the writing. Those two brothers, I said to myself, are living their hours of paradise on earth. They were producing new books, just like those that time would inexorably destroy. ... Therefore, the library could not be threatened by any earthly force, it was a living thing. ... But if it was living, why should it not be opened to the risk of knowledge? Was this what Benno wanted and what Venantius perhaps had wanted?
I felt confused, afraid of my own thoughts. Perhaps they were not fitting for a novice58, who should only follow the Rule scrupulously59 and humbly60 through all the years to come—which is what I subsequently did, without asking myself further questions, while around me the world was sinking deeper and deeper into a storm of blood and madness.
It was the hour of our morning meal. I went to the kitchen, where by now I had become a friend of the cooks, and they gave me some of the best morsels61.
1 con | |
n.反对的观点,反对者,反对票,肺病;vt.精读,学习,默记;adv.反对地,从反面;adj.欺诈的 | |
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2 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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3 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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4 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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5 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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6 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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7 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
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8 chasms | |
裂缝( chasm的名词复数 ); 裂口; 分歧; 差别 | |
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9 millennium | |
n.一千年,千禧年;太平盛世 | |
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10 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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11 humility | |
n.谦逊,谦恭 | |
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12 laymen | |
门外汉,外行人( layman的名词复数 ); 普通教徒(有别于神职人员) | |
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13 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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14 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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15 ecclesiastics | |
n.神职者,教会,牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
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16 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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17 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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18 prohibitions | |
禁令,禁律( prohibition的名词复数 ); 禁酒; 禁例 | |
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19 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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20 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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21 demeanor | |
n.行为;风度 | |
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22 controversies | |
争论 | |
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23 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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24 barter | |
n.物物交换,以货易货,实物交易 | |
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25 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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26 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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27 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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28 monasteries | |
修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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29 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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30 impelled | |
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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32 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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33 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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34 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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35 corrupted | |
(使)败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏 | |
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36 scrutiny | |
n.详细检查,仔细观察 | |
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37 vents | |
(气体、液体等进出的)孔、口( vent的名词复数 ); (鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的)肛门; 大衣等的)衩口; 开衩 | |
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38 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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39 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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40 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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41 ostentation | |
n.夸耀,卖弄 | |
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42 crumble | |
vi.碎裂,崩溃;vt.弄碎,摧毁 | |
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43 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
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44 saliva | |
n.唾液,口水 | |
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45 vigor | |
n.活力,精力,元气 | |
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46 erode | |
v.侵蚀,腐蚀,使...减少、减弱或消失 | |
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47 mildew | |
n.发霉;v.(使)发霉 | |
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48 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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49 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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50 inept | |
adj.不恰当的,荒谬的,拙劣的 | |
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51 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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52 softening | |
变软,软化 | |
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53 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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54 pricking | |
刺,刺痕,刺痛感 | |
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55 margins | |
边( margin的名词复数 ); 利润; 页边空白; 差数 | |
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56 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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57 devout | |
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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58 novice | |
adj.新手的,生手的 | |
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59 scrupulously | |
adv.一丝不苟地;小心翼翼地,多顾虑地 | |
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60 humbly | |
adv. 恭顺地,谦卑地 | |
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61 morsels | |
n.一口( morsel的名词复数 );(尤指食物)小块,碎屑 | |
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