Philosophy can always give something to work on
Casaubon, the protagonist of the novel, at one point starts to ponder over his purpose in life; thus, he tries to find a job that he would be able to do good. At first he thinks of writing a book, and then of translating a book. Once he ironically remarks that ‘if you don’t know what to write about, start to edit works of philosophy’. At any case it is not what he stops on, as he opens a cultural detective agency, where he provides his clients with information that those do not possess.
To find out idiots is not the main aim of editors
Belbo is an editor in the local publishing house in Milan. He tells Casaubon a lot about his work, and what difficulties he faces in his profession, and the main difficulty is to understand whether a person, who wants his paper to be published, is an idiot or a reasonable person. However, he remarks, editors to not strive to expose idiots, as “if Academy of sciences cannot expose them, why should editors do it?” The ironic remark means that the Academy of sciences is not a perfect establishment, and it makes mistakes rather often.
The Colonel
The colonel Ardendi is the person who appears to Belbo and wants his paper about the Templars be published. He reveals Belbo and Casaubon a lot of information and results of his investigations concerning the Order. When he introduces himself he says that he is a retired colonel and has four wars behind his back. Belbo ironically asks: “Have you started at the times of Napoleon?” The irony assumes that the world community seriously apprehends only the great wars of the past. Unfortunately, at each moment a war is taking place in some corner of the world. And each time it is the war that takes away lives and brings disaster and disorder, but humanity does not know anything about it.
