Chapter 74 Chapter 72

At 15,000 feet above the ground, Robert Langdon felt that the real world was getting farther and farther away from him.He was engrossed in Saunière's poem, whose content could be seen only by means of a mirror, and which could be seen clearly through the lid of the box. Sophie quickly found a note and copied it in shorthand.Then, the three of them took turns reading the above paragraph.It's like an archaeological puzzle...but one that helps open the cryptex.Langdon read the verse slowly: "An ancient word of wisdom that will unlock the secrets of the scroll - and help us, reuniting the lost families - the key that unlocks is the cornerstone that the Templars laud - and Etbash The code will tell you the truth of history." Before Langdon even had time to consider what ancient code the poem would tell them, he only felt that there was something more important—that is, the rhyme of the poem, which aroused His inner resonance.iambic pentameter.

Langdon had come across this verse format frequently in his investigations of secret societies across Europe, including one he had conducted last year in the Vatican's Secret Archives.For centuries, iambic pentameter has been a favorite of outspoken literati around the globe, from Archilochus to Shakespeare to Milton to Chaucer to Voltaire, It's all the same-these brave souls chose the verse form that many people believed to have mystical qualities at the time to describe the society they lived in and to criticize the current problems.Iambic pentameter, at its root, is deeply pagan.The so-called iambic means that two syllables correspond to stress, stress and non-stress, yin and yang, forming a balance, perfect and harmonious.This form is arranged in the five strings, that is, the pentameter line. "Five" represents the pentagram of Venus and the divine feminine beauty.

"It's iambic pentameter!" Teabing blurted, turning to Langdon, "And the poem is written in English! Very good English!" Langdon nodded in agreement.The Priory of Sion, like many of Europe's secret societies in conflict with the Church, had long regarded English as the only authentic language in Europe.It's not like French, Spanish, or Italian, which have deep roots in Latin -- the language of the Vatican.Linguistically outside the powerful propaganda machine of the Holy See, English became a sacred and mysterious language to those organizations educated enough to master it. "This poem, not only mentions the Holy Grail, but also the Templars and the scattered family of Mary Magdalene! What else do we expect?"

"As for the code," said Sophie, glancing at the poem again, "that would depend on the wisdom of ancient writing." "Is it a spell?" Teabing ventured. A five-letter word, Langdon thought.He pondered the astonishing number of words thought to embody ancient wisdom, words culled from mystical chants, astrological prophecies, code words of secret societies, witchcraft, Egyptian mystic spells, and pagan hymns, and he would Such a list of words is impossible to count in any case. "The password seems to have something to do with the Templars." Sophie read it aloud: "The cornerstone of the Templars' praise is the key to open this door."

"Sir Lei, you are an expert on Templar knights, what do you think about this?" Langdon asked. Teabing was silent for a moment, then sighed: "Well, as for the cornerstone, it's obviously a marker of the tomb. The poem is probably alluding to the fact that the Templars praised the tomb of Mary Magdalene. The tombstone was there, but that doesn't help us because we don't know exactly where her grave is now." "The last line of the poem," Sophie continued, "is that Etterbash is going to expose the truth. Etterbash? I've heard that word." "I'm not surprised," Langdon responded aside : "You probably heard it from Cryptography 101. The Atbash code is probably the oldest cipher ever known."

Of course!Who doesn't know the famous Hebrew coding system?thought Sophie. The etbash code was indeed part of Sophie's initial decoding training.This set of codes can be traced back to the 5th century BC, and is now used as a teaching material in classrooms as a system of basic rotation.A common form of Jewish cipher, Etbash is a simple substitution code based on the 22 Hebrew letters.In the etbash coding system, the first letter is replaced by the last letter, the second letter by the penultimate letter, and so on, and so on. "The Etbash code is pretty good," Teabing said. "Texts encoded with this code can be found in Jewish occult philosophy, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and even in the Old Testament of the Bible. Jewish scholars and mystics still use the Atbash Code to this day to find hidden messages. The Priory of Sion will certainly use the Atbash Code as part of their teaching."

"The only problem now," Langdon mused, "is that we can't find anything to apply this code to." Teabing sighed, "There must be a code word on the cornerstone. We need to find this cornerstone that was praised by the Templars." Sophie saw the stern expression on Langdon's face, and felt that finding this cornerstone would not be easy.The Etterbash cipher is the key to deciphering it, but we have no access to it, Sophie thought. After about three minutes, Teabing sighed dejectedly, shook his head, and said, "My friends, I can't think about it anymore, let me think about it later, I'll go get you some food first, by the way Look at Remy and our guests." He stood up and walked toward the back of the plane.

Sophie watched him go, exhausted. Outside the window, the darkness before dawn enveloped the whole world.Sophie felt as if she was floating in space, not knowing where she would land.Although she had grown up solving her grandfather's various riddles, she now felt a little disturbed that the poem before her was hiding something they hadn't seen. There might be more of these things, she thought to herself.As cleverly as it was hidden...but it was there.What bothered and worried her was that what they would eventually find in the cryptex would be anything but a "map to find the Holy Grail."Although both Teabing and Langdon believed that the truth was hidden in the marble cylinder, Sophie had solved many of his grandfather's problems, so she knew that her grandfather would never let his secrets out so easily.