One evening in March, Jim sits with his window open looking across the prairie, and stares at a page in Georgics that contains the line "Optima dies . . . prima fugit," or the best days are the first to flee. Jim then ponders the meaning of "Primus ego in patriam mecum . . . deducam Musas", or, "for I shall be the first, if I live, to bring the Muse into my own country." Cleric interprets this last passage as a hope of Virgil's, for he came from a small town. Cleric believes that on Virgil's deathbed, he must have remembered these words, and he must have said thankfully that he was the first to call on the Muse and bring her to his small town.
While Jim is reflecting on.....
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