Respect
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I like it that Virgil wouldn’t presume to equal Homer’s 24 books but kept himself to a humbler 12, a modest nod toward the master.
At Central High we were male, rambunctious, but scraped back our chairs and stood each time our Latin teacher, Mr. Eliot, entered the room. We’d never been told
to do that, the old guy with trim mustache embarrassed, in fact—he’d gesture our gesture away—but we felt a pride of reverence: learned study, the ancient tongue,
affection in face of magnificence and Virgil’s classy gesture . . . it’s called education—no noisy ovation, just respect. We’d rise, and stand. [End Page 192]
Barry Spacks has taught writing and literature for many years at M.I.T. and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published both poems and stories in periodicals, as well as two novels, eleven collections of poetry, and three CDs of selected work. His first novel, The Sophomore, has just been brought back into print in the Faber & Faber Finds series.
