Langdon lifted the lid and opened the box. Instead of staring at the dial marked with letters, he stared at the small hole on the lower side of the box cover. He carefully removed the rose inlay at the top with the pen tip, revealing the following words. It's a secret, he mused. He hopes that watching this passage again will make him suddenly enlightened. Langdon almost tried to study this strange text.
(Figure 1)
After a few seconds, Langdon felt that the original trouble had surfaced again. "Sir Ray, I don't know a word." Sophie sat across the table and couldn't see the words, but Langdon couldn't recognize them at once, which still surprised her. Is the language used by my grandfather so difficult to understand? Even semiotics experts can't recognize it? However, she soon realized that she shouldn't make a fuss about it at all. Jacques. It's not once or twice that Sauniere has kept secrets from his granddaughter.
Ray. Teabing sat opposite Sophie, feeling that everyone was going to explode. He was so anxious to read this article that he trembled with excitement. He leaned down to see what was next to Langdon, but the latter was still squatting on the box.
"I don't understand." Langdon muttered intently, "At first I thought it was Semitic, but now I'm not sure, because most early Semitic languages had the character Nikudo, but this one didn't." "It may be very old." Teabing reminded him at a side.
"Nie Gannu character?" Sophie asked.
Teabing never left the box for a moment.
"There are no vowels in most modern Semitic letters, but the Niekudo character-drawing dots and dashes below or in the middle of consonants-is used to represent its corresponding vowel symbols. From a historical point of view, Nie Kuteng's writing is a relatively advanced supplement to language. " Langdon's body is still bent over the handwriting. "Could it be a literal translation of Spanish Jews-?"
Teabing can't stand it any longer. He shouted, "Maybe if it was me …" He held out his hand, grabbed the box from Langdon and pulled it to his side. It is true that Langdon knows all about serious historical traces, such as ancient Greek, Latin and romance (that is, legendary literature), but Tibin only needs a quick glance to understand such words. He thinks these words look special. They may be Rush's handwriting or flowers with crowns on the top.
Teabing took a deep breath and stared greedily at the carving on the box. I haven't said a word for a long time. With the passage of time, Teabing felt that his self-confidence gradually disappeared. "It's amazing, I've never seen this kind of writing." Langdon collapsed.
"May I have a look?" Sophie asked.
Teabing pretended not to hear. "Robert, didn't you just say that you seem to have seen something similar somewhere?"
Langdon was rather embarrassed. "I think so, too, but I'm not sure, but I always think this manuscript looks familiar."
"Sir Ray, may I see my grandfather's box?" Sophie asked again, as if she was unhappy about being left out.
"Of course, dear." Teabing said, and pushed the box to her. There was no contempt in his tone, but Sophie. Neve hasn't returned to her old job for many years. If even the British royal historian and the symbolist who graduated from Harvard University can't recognize this writing, then-"Ah." Sophie looked at the box for a while and cried, "I should have guessed."
Teabing and Langdon both turned around and stared at her.
"Come on, guess what?" Teabing asked.
Sophie shrugged and said, "I think this is the word my grandfather should use."
"You mean you can read it?" Teabing shouted.
"It's very simple." Sophie cried happily. It was obvious that she was complacent. "My grandfather taught me this kind of writing when I was six years old. I am very skilled." She knelt down from across the table and stared at Teabing, warning, "Frankly speaking, Sir, I'm surprised that you didn't recognize her, because you are still so loyal to the Queen." Langdon understood as fast as lightning.
No wonder this handwriting looks so familiar
A few years ago, Langdon attended an event at the Hogg Museum of Harvard University. Bill. Gates, a student who dropped out of Harvard University, returned to his alma mater and bought his extremely expensive treasure-he recently came from armand. 18 painting won the auction held by Hammer Art Museum-lend it to the museum.
The price he won was staggering-as high as $30.8 million.
The author of these paintings is Leonardo. Da. Finch.
These 18 drawings, created by Leonardo da Vinci and named after his owner, Count Leicester, are now called Leicester Manuscripts by the world, and are part of Leonardo da Vinci's most attractive notes: his prose and paintings outline the general outline of his progressive theory in astronomy, geology, archaeology and hydrology.
Langdon won't forget his reaction when he finally saw the rare parchment painting after queuing. Don't mention how disappointed he is. These drawings are really hard to understand. Although they are well preserved and written in particularly exquisite calligraphy-painted in pink ink on beige cloth paper-the transcripts still look like nonsense.
At first Langdon thought he couldn't read Da. Finch's notes are because he used outdated Italian. But after further careful study, he realized that he didn't even know a word or even a letter in Italian.
"Sir, you try this first." The female commentator in front of the booth whispered. She pointed to the mirror hanging in a chain exhibition. Langdon picked up the mirror and used it to study those difficult words.
He soon understood.
Langdon has always been particularly eager to read the thoughts of some great thinkers. This desire is so strong that he forgets that a person's artistic talent can make it into handwriting that can only be read with the help of a mirror. In fact, this handwriting is difficult for him to recognize. Da. Historians are still debating whether Finch wrote in such a strange way for his own pleasure or for fear that others would peek from behind and steal his thoughts. However, such an argument is of little significance. Da. Finch is just doing what he likes to do.
Sophie saw Robert. Langdon understood her meaning and couldn't help laughing to himself: "I can understand the first few words, which are written in English." Teabing is still nagging: "What's going on?"
"This is a passage in the opposite direction to the letters. Go and get a mirror. " Langdon said.
"No, I bet this paper is thin enough." Sophie said, holding up the mahogany box and looking at the bottom of the lid with the lamp on the wall. In fact, her grandfather can't write backwards, so he always plays a little trick. He wrote in the normal way first, and then turned the paper over, which made people mistakenly think that he was writing backwards. Sophie guessed that he printed the words written in normal order on a piece of wood with charcoal, and then thinned the back of it with a grinder until it became as thin as paper, and the charcoal words could be seen from the back of the wood. Then, all he has to do is print it upside down.
Sophie put the lid closer to the lamp, and soon she knew that her guess was right. Bright light came in from under a thin layer of wood, so the handwriting appeared under the cover in the opposite direction. So it's clear at once.
"It's English." Teabing was hoarse and bowed his head in shame. "It's still my mother tongue."
In the back of the plane, Remy. Legrou craned his neck to listen to what sounds were there besides the roaring engine, but the conversation of those people in front was not clear at all. Remy hates killing the night in this way. He doesn't like it at all. He looked down at the monk tied at his feet. This guy is lying very quietly at the moment. He seems to have listened to fate, or he may pray silently in his heart to survive.
Chapter seventy-two
On the ground at an altitude of 15000 feet, Robert. Langdon felt that the real world was getting farther and farther away from him. He was absorbed in Sauniere's poem, which can only be seen through the mirror and the lid of the box.
(Figure 2)
Sophie quickly found a piece of paper and copied it down in shorthand. Then, the three of them read the above paragraph in turn. It's like a puzzling mystery in archaeology ... but it's a mystery that helps open the password box.
Langdon slowly read the poem above: "An ancient word full of wisdom can reveal the secrets of this scroll-and help us reunite separated families-the key to opening is the cornerstone of the praise of the Templars-and the Ebashi code will tell you the truth of history." Langdon didn't even have time to think about what kind of ancient code this poem would tell them. He only felt that something more important-the rhythm of this poem-aroused his inner * * *. Pentameter iambic pentameter
Langdon often encountered this poetic format when investigating secret organizations all over Europe, including the one he investigated in the Vatican Secret Archives last year. For centuries, iambic pentameter has been the favorite of Frankish scholars all over the world, from Arcelous in ancient Greece to Shakespeare, to Milton, to Chaucer and to Voltaire. These brave souls chose the mysterious poetic form that many people believed at that time to describe their society and criticize the current disadvantages. Iambic pentameter, the root of the word is deeply branded with paganism.
The so-called iambic poem is that two syllables correspond to stress, stress and unstressed, yin and yang, forming a balance, perfection and harmony. This form is arranged in five strings, that is, five-step lines. "Five" represents the five-pointed star of Venus and the sacred female beauty.
"This is iambic pentameter!" Teabing turned to Langdon and blurted out, "And this poem is written in English! Very authentic English! " Langdon nodded in agreement. Like many secret organizations in Europe that have conflicts with the church, the priory of Mount Zion has long regarded English as the only pure language in Europe. Unlike French, Spanish and Italian, which are deeply rooted in Latin, the language used by the Vatican. From the linguistic point of view, English is separated from the powerful propaganda machine of the Holy See, so for those organizations with enough education to master English, English has become a sacred and mysterious language.
"This poem not only mentions the Holy Grail, but also mentions the earth riding in the temple and the scattered Mary family of Magdalene! What do we expect? "
"As for the password." Sophie glanced at the poem again and said, "That depends on the wisdom of recognizing ancient Chinese characters."
"Is it a spell?" Dare to ask.
Langdon thought, this is a five-letter word. He pondered a surprising number of words that were considered to embody ancient wisdom, and selected words from mysterious hymns, astrological predictions, secret organization argots, witchcraft, Egyptian mysterious spells and pagan carols, which could not be counted in any case.
"The password seems to be related to riding the earth in the temple." Sophie read aloud: "The cornerstone of the ode to the Templar is the key to open this door." "Sir Ray, you are an expert on the templar. What do you think of this? " Langdon asked.
Teabing was silent for a moment, then sighed: "Well, as for the cornerstone, it is obviously a sign of the grave. This poem probably alludes to the tombstone praised by the temple on Mary Magdalene's grave, but it doesn't help us at all because we don't know where her grave is now. " "The last line of this poem." Sophie continued: "This means that Etbash will reveal the truth. Etbash？ I have heard this word. "
"I am not surprised." Langdon replied, "You may have heard about it from cryptography 10 1. Etbash code may be the oldest password known so far. " Of course! Who doesn't know the famous Hebrew coding system? Sophie thought.
Etbash code is indeed part of Sophie's initial decoding training. This set of passwords can be traced back to the 5th century BC, and now it is used as a basic backup system as a teaching material in the classroom. As a common form of Jewish code, Etbash code is a simple replacement code based on 22 Hebrew letters. In Etbash coding system, the first letter is replaced by the last letter, the second letter is replaced by the penultimate letter, and so on.
"Etbash code is very good," Tibin said. "Texts compiled with this code can be found in Jewish mystical philosophy, the Dead Sea scrolls and even the Old Testament. Until today, Jewish scholars and mystics are still using Etbash code to find hidden information. The priory will definitely use the Ebashi code as part of their teaching. " "The only problem now is." Langdon mused, "We can't find anything that can apply this password."
Teabing sighed. "There must be a word on the cornerstone that acts as a password. We must find this cornerstone praised by the Templar. " Sophie saw a grim expression on Langdon's face and felt that it was not easy to find this cornerstone.
"The Aybas code is the key to deciphering it, but we can't go in through this door," Sophie thought.
After about three minutes, Teabing sighed dejectedly, shook his head and said, "Friend, I can't think about it any more. Let me think about it later. I'll get you something to eat first and go and see Remy and our guests. " He stood up and walked to the back of the plane.
Sophie watched him leave, feeling exhausted.
Outside the window, the darkness before dawn enveloped the whole world. Sophie felt as if she were floating in space and didn't know where she would land. Although she has been guessing grandpa's riddle since she was a child, now she feels a little uneasy and thinks that the poem in front of her hides something they have never seen before.
She said to herself, maybe there are more such things. Although it is cleverly hidden ... it does exist.
At the same time, she was troubled and worried that what they finally found in the password box would never be as simple as "looking for the map of the Holy Grail". Although both Teabing and Langdon believe that the truth is hidden in this marble jar, Sophie has solved many problems of his grandfather, so she knows that her grandfather would never reveal his secret so easily.