The Name of the Rose

“Prime, in which the foot of the abbey is reached, and William demonstrates his great acumen”

As the two men toil their way uphill to the abbey, Adso is amazed by an edifice he later learns is the Aedificium, an octagonal structure that seems tetragonal from a distance, a "perfect form, which expresses the sturdiness and impregnability of the City of God" (15). Nevertheless, Adso feels a “fear” that—in his later years—he views as “indubitable omens” of what is to come (15). The visitors are expected, and are greeted by Remigio of Varagine, the cellarer, who is startled when William says, apropos of nothing: "It is obvious you are looking for…the abbot's favorite horse" (17). The missing horse is found—exactly where William said he would be—and Adso realizes that his virtuous master had "succumbed to the vice of vanity when it was a matter of demonstrating his acumen" (18). William slows his pace to allow the astonished men time to return to the abbey with tales of his intellectual prowess. When Adso questions him, William admonishes his protégée to look around for evidence, and to use deductive reasoning to better understand the world around them.The abbot,

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