Chapter 6 Chapter One

first day On the day the masters started building, The bewitched monks put the building Before offering to the gods, The omen is etched in stone... Chapter One morning class Reaching the foot of the monastery, William showed extraordinary insight It was a beautiful morning in late November.There had been a light snowfall the night before, and the ground was covered with a blanket of white snow, no more than three fingers thick.After the morning prayer, we heard mass in a small village in the valley.When the sun rose, we set off to climb the mountain. As I toiled along the winding and steep mountain trails, I spotted the monastery.The walls surrounding the monastery are similar to other Christian monasteries, and there is nothing special about them, but I was surprised at the magnificence of the building that I later learned was the cathedral.This is an octagonal building, but it looks like a square from a distance (perfect shape, showing the impregnability of the city of God), the south-facing houses are located on the high ground of the monastery, and the north-facing One side protrudes from the steep mountain wall, standing majestically.Looking up from some places below, because the color and material are the same as the rocks, it looks as if the cliffs extend upwards, rising straight into the sky, forming fortresses and towers (the person who built this church must be a master who deeply understands the earth and the sky ).The three rows of windows indicate the harmony of the Holy Trinity. The square shape on the ground becomes the triangle of the Holy Spirit when it rises to the sky.After shortening the distance, we can clearly see that there is a heptagonal tower on each of the four corners of this quadrangular building. Looking from the outside, we can see five sides—that is, the big octagonal building has one for each of the four sides. Smaller heptagons that look like pentagons.So anyone can see these many harmonic numbers, each of which has a subtle and divine meaning.

Eight, the perfect number of each quadrangle; Four, the numbers of the Gospels; Five, representing the five major regions of the world; Seven, the number of talents of the Holy Spirit. The majesty and appearance of the cathedral are very similar to the castles of Ursino and Monde that I saw at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula, but because of its remote location, it is more majestic, and it also makes tourists approaching it feel more majestic. Can't help being in awe.Fortunately, the weather was clear that winter morning, and my first impression of the church was not as terrifying as it stood in the storm.

Anyway, I wouldn't say it's pleasant.I felt awe, and a subtle unease.God knows it wasn't my immature mind, and my hunch turned out to be correct: "On the day the masters started building, before the bewitched monks dedicated the building to the gods, the omen was inscribed On the rock." Our little mule worked hard to turn the last bend, and the mountain path was divided into two, and two more trails came out.My mentor stopped and watched: staring at the path, the mountain path, and the row of pines covered with snow that formed a natural roof above the path. ※Bandhammer School & E-Book of Fine School※

"A rich abbey," said William, "the abbot likes to show off in public." I was so used to hearing him make unusual remarks that I didn't ask.This is also because after we walked up for a short distance, we heard the voices of talking. Rounding a wide bend, we came upon a commotion of monks and servants.One of them saw us and came towards us with great enthusiasm. "Welcome, my lord," he said, "do not wonder how I know who you are, for we have received word of your coming. I am Remigio of Varagin, steward of the monastery. I miss you Brother William of Baskerville? We must inform the Abbot. You—"—he ordered a servant—"go up and tell them that our visitor is about to enter."

"Thank you, Brother Keeper," my guide replied politely, "and more grateful that you interrupted the search to meet us. But don't worry. The horse came this way, by the path on the right. It went Not far, because he has to stop as soon as he gets to the compost; he's too smart to risk going down the steep slope..." Admin asks, "When did you see it?" "We didn't see it at all, did we, Adso?" William turned to me with a cheerful expression, "but if it's Brunales you're looking for, that horse can only be in our said place."

The caretaker hesitated. He looked at William, then at the path, and finally asked, "Brunales? How do you know?" "Alas!" said William, "you are obviously looking for Brunelles, the Abbot's favorite horse, fifteen hands high, the fastest animal in the stables, with a dark coat and a long tail , with small round hoofs, but a steady gait; a small head, with sharp ears, and large eyes. It went to the right, as I said, but you should hurry after it." The administrator hesitated for a while, and then led the group of people to the right path.Our mules continued to climb further.I couldn't help being curious and was about to ask a question, but he motioned me to wait; in fact, a few minutes later we heard cheers, and turning a corner, the group of monks and servants reappeared, leading the horse the reins.

They passed us, all looked at us with a little surprise, and then headed towards the monastery.I believe William also deliberately slowed his pace up the hill to give them time to talk about it.My mentor was a learned man, but I knew he was not immune to vanity when it came to boasting of his insight; besides, he had a subtle flair for diplomatism.So I understand that he wants his reputation of erudition to reach his destination before he gets there. "Now tell me," I couldn't help it at last, "how do you know?" "My dear Adso," said William, "along the way I have taught you how to recognize the signs; for the world is like a great open book for us to browse. Alana of Insuris S said:

'All things are skillfully created, freely swaying picturesquely, Eternity is reflected in the mirror. ' "What he meant was that God speaks to us of eternal life in endless representations through all that he has created. But the universe is more talkative than Aranas thought, nor does it speak only of final things (this It said it in a more incomprehensible form), and also said everything near us, and clearly. I would be embarrassed to repeat what you should know. At the intersection, the clean There are obvious horseshoe prints in the snow, heading for the path to our left. Those clear marks show that the horse's hooves are small and round, and the gait is quite regular-from which I deduce the nature of the horse and that it is not mad Facts of running wild. Where the pine trees form the natural roof, some branches at a height of five feet show signs of newly broken branches. At the intersection where the horse turns right, there is a huckleberry bush with a strand of long black horse hair hanging from it, which must be Stay and jump while the horse whacks its tail... Finally, don't you say you didn't know there was a manure pile at the end of that path? Because we saw a pile of manure under the steep cliff of the South Tower when we passed the turn below Polluted the snow; and from the position of the fork, the trail could only lead in that direction."

"That's right," I said, "but how do you know it has a small head, sharp ears, and big eyes...?" "I don't know exactly what it had, but apparently the monks believed it! As Isidore of Seville said, a good horse has 'a smaller head, short pointed ears, and big eyes , with a flared nose, a straight neck, a full mane and tail, and round, strong hooves.' If the horse I deduce isn't the best horse in the stable, they'll just send the stable boy out to find him, and The steward will not be responsible for the search. A good horse in the eyes of a monk must be as described by Isidore, especially—" He smiled slyly—"This monk has a little education Brother St. Benedict."

"Okay," I said, "but how do you know it's called Brunales?" "May the Holy Spirit sharpen your intellect, boy!" exclaimed my tutor. "How could it be called any other? Tell you, even Bridin, who was about to be rector of Paris, wanted a horse. I'll call it Brunelles." ※Mathammer Academy & Jingshu E-book※ That was the case with William: he knew not only how to read nature's great psalms, but also how monks read the Bible and what they thought about it as a whole.As we'll see over the next few days, this proves to be an extremely useful talent.At the time his explanation made me ashamed of my bluntness, but today I am honored to have had a hand in it and even more grateful for my insight. "Truth", like "goodness", is its own communicator.Praise our Lord Jesus Christ for allowing me to reveal this wonder.

But I have to get back to the point, because I, an old monk, have delayed too long with off-topic notes. It is said that when we arrived at the gate of the monastery, the dean was at the gate, and on both sides of him stood a novice monk holding a golden water basin.After we dismounted, he told William to wash his hands, then embraced him, kissed him, and gave him a holy welcome. "Thank you, Abe," William said. "It is a great pleasure to settle in your house. The magnificence of this place is truly indescribable. In the name of God, and the glory you have given me, I come here on a pilgrimage. But I In the name also of the Sovereign of this land—and I shall now specify in the letter I shall send you—in whose name I thank you for your warm welcome.” The abbot took the letter bearing the royal seal, and replied that his brothers had written to him that William was about to arrive (I told myself proudly that a St. Benedictine monastery The dean was surprised, it was not so easy).Then he asked the caretaker to take us to the boarding room, and asked the groom to take our mule away.The dean said that he would visit us again after we had a short rest.We followed the caretaker into the atrium where the various buildings of the monastery towered around. Once again I must give a more detailed account of the zoning of the monastery.After entering the gate (this is the only entrance and exit from the outer wall), there is a tree-lined avenue leading to the monastery chapel.There was a large vegetable garden on the left side of the road, and I later learned that walking past this botanical garden were two buildings including a bathhouse, a sanatorium and a herbarium, built along the curved wall of the monastery.On the back side, on the left side of the chapel, is the majestic cathedral, separated from the chapel by a cemetery.The north-facing door of the chapel faces the south tower of the cathedral, but the west tower is the first thing visitors see; looking to the left, the walls of the cathedral drop abruptly into the abyss, and the north tower seems to protrude slightly obliquely.There are several other buildings to the right of the chapel, all in the lee: the dormitory, the rector's residence, and the Pilgrim's House, which is where we are going.After walking through a beautiful garden, we arrived at the guest house.There are also farmers' quarters, stables, factories, oil mills, barns and cellars, and residences for novices.The regular and flat terrain here allowed the people who built this holy place in ancient times to follow the perfect orientation.From the position of the sun at that time, I noticed that the door of the chapel was facing the west, so the choir seats and the altar were facing east; the rising sun in the morning could directly wake up the monks in the dormitory and the livestock in the stables. I have never seen a more beautiful and well-placed abbey than this, and even the Saint-Gerles, Cluny, and Fontenay, and other larger abbeys that I have since visited, were not as beautifully built. Balanced ratio.The biggest feature of this monastery is the extraordinarily spectacular cathedral that occupies an extremely large area.Although I don't have a deep knowledge of the building, I can tell at a glance that it is older than the surrounding houses.Perhaps it was used for other purposes when it was first built, and later buildings were designed to match it, but in this way, the location of the cathedral and the chapel are so harmonious.For of all the arts architecture is most courageous in expressing the harmonious order of the universe and perfecting its proportions.Praise be to our Creator, who ordained the fate of all things, be they number, weight, or capacity.