Chapters 63-72 (Gevurah 63, Tiferet 64-72) Summary

This section begins with the group returning to Milan after the ceremony in Piedmont. Casaubon is starting to slip further and further into the realm of the "Diabolicals." Lia tries to pull him back from the brink, explaining the mundane explanations for many occult beliefs. Her explanation is mundane but not uninteresting. Her pleadings and explanation seem to restrain Casaubon, at least a little bit. In the Garamond Press office, however, interest in the occult is also growing. Both Diotallevi and Belbo constantly discuss occult topics, half ironically but with some seriousness. Belbo shows the group what he composed on Abulafia by having the machine randomly combine lines that he entered separately.

Diotallevi asks if the machine could recombine the Torah, which gives Casaubon an idea. Why not use Abulafia to combine bits of information...