Chapter 18 Summary

The refectory reading conflates the familiar story of God granting Satan permission to try Job's loyalty with the mythology of the Flame Deluge about princes receiving the very fires of Hell. A crafty Judas Iscariot-like magi named Blakeneth counsels the prince to believe weapons may be used, provided they not exceed a set limit, and enemy cities are smitten for three days and nights. God takes offense at this holocaust of his sons and slays the prince and the betrayer, and there follows pestilence on the earth and madness in mankind. A man named Leibowitz, who as a youth loved the wisdom of the world more than the wisdom of God like St. Augustine of old, repents ... The abbot raps sharply on the table and the reader falls silent. Taddeo asks if this is their only account of the fall of civilization. Paulo...