Chapter 55 Chapter Fifty-Four

In file room No. 10, Robert Langdon counted in Italian while scanning the handwriting in front of him.At... one hundred... one, two, three... fifty.I want a number, anywhere, damn it!When he reached the end of the page, he raised the scraper to turn the page.When he tried to insert the knife into the next page, he missed and lost his grip on the knife.A few minutes later, he looked down and realized that he had already thrown the knife aside and turned the pages with his hands.Ouch, he muttered in his heart, feeling vaguely guilty.Due to lack of oxygen, he couldn't care less.Looks like I'm going to end up in archives keeper hell.

"It's almost time," Victoria gasped as she watched Langdon turn the pages with his hands.She put down the knife and followed his example. "How about it?" Victoria shook her head. "None of them look like pure mathematics. I'm browsing...but none of them look like clues." Langdon continued to translate his material, with increasing difficulty.His Italian was only so-so at best, and his progress was slowed down by small fonts and acronyms.Victoria got to the last page before Langdon did, and she looked dejected as she finished her stack.She knelt down and began to examine more closely. .

Langdon finished the last page, cursing under his breath, as he eyed Victoria, who was scowling and squinting at something on one of the pages of her file. "what is that?" he asks. Victoria didn't even look up. "Are there any footnotes on your materials?" "I wasn't paying attention. What's the matter?" "There is a footnote on this page, not so obvious, in a crease." Langdon tried to see what she was looking at, but only recognized the page number in the upper right corner of the manuscript, which was page five.He pondered for a moment, looking for a coincidence, but even if there was a coincidence, the connection between them was too vague.

page five.Five, Pythagoras, Pentagram, Illuminati.Langdon wondered if the Illuminati would choose Page Five to hide their clues.In the red mist that hung over them both, Langdon felt a faint glimmer of hope. "Are the footnotes math-related?" Victoria shook her head. "It's text, only one line, and the font is so small that it's almost unrecognizable." His hopes were gone again. "Should be mathematical. Pure language." "Yes, I know." She hesitated. "However, I think you need to hear this." Langdon sensed her excited tone. "Quick read."

Victoria squinted at the manuscript and read this line. "The way to the light has been paved, and this is God's test for you." Langdon hadn't expected that to be the case. "what?" Victoria repeated the sentence again. "The way to the light has been paved, and this is God's test for you." "The way to the light?" Langdon couldn't help but straighten his body. "That's how it's written. The way to the light." Langdon gradually understood the meaning of this sentence, and felt his mind suddenly clear.The way to the light is paved, and this is God's test for you.He didn't know how that would help, but he could think of it as a direct reference to the Bright Path.The way to light, God's test for you.His mind was like an engine spinning on bad fuel. "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"

Victoria hesitated, "Actually..." She gave him a strange look, "Strictly speaking, this is not a translation. This sentence is written in English." In this room, Langdon thought for a moment that he had heard wrong. "Written in English?" Victoria shoved him the document, and Langdon read the tiny print at the bottom of the page. "The road to the light has been paved. This is God's test for you. It's English? Why write English in an Italian book?" Victoria shrugged.She also seemed unsteady. "Maybe they think English is the pure language? English is considered the international language of science. We all speak English at CERN."

"But this was in the seventeenth century," Langdon retorted, "no one in Italy spoke English, not even—" He stopped suddenly, realizing what he was about to say, "not even... the clergy." Academically well-trained, his mind suddenly became very active. "The seventeenth century," he said more quickly, "English is the language that the Holy See has not yet adopted. They speak Italian, Latin, German, and even Spanish. English and French, but no one in the Holy See understands English at all. They see English as the language of tainted free-thinking people, for laity like Shakespeare and Shakespeare." Langdon suddenly understood the light. The meaning of the printed characters of earth, air, fire and water.Strange that the rumor that the printing was in English seemed to have some truth at the moment.

"So you're saying that maybe Galileo regarded English as a pure language, because English is a language not mastered by the Holy See?" "Yes, or it is also possible that Galileo hid the clues in English, so that he subtly limited his readers to those outside the Holy See." "But this is not a clue." Victoria argued: "The road to the light has been paved. This is God's test for you? What exactly does this mean?" She was right, Langdon pondered.This sentence is useless.However, when he read this short sentence again in his mind, he noticed a strange phenomenon.That was odd, he thought, what could it be? "We have to get out," Victoria said, sounding hoarse.

Langdon didn't listen.The way to the light is paved, and this is God's test for you. "That's exactly an iambic pentameter," he said abruptly, counting the syllables again, "five alternate accents and unstressed accents." Victoria seemed to be in a fog. "Iambic what?" For a while Langdon was back at Phillips Exeter Academy, sitting in his Saturday morning English class.Really, hell on earth.The school's baseball star, Peter Greer, had trouble remembering how many meters there were in a line of Shakespeare's iambic pentameter.Their professor, a vivacious headmaster named Bissell, leaped onto the stage and bellowed, "Pentameter, Greer! Think home plate! Think Pentagon! Think five sides! Five! Five ! Five! Chick!"

Five steps, Langdon thought.By definition, each step has two syllables.He couldn't believe that he had never made such a connection in his lifetime of research.Iambic Pentameter is a structurally symmetrical poem based on the two sacred Illuminati numbers 5 and 2!close!Langdon told himself, trying to dismiss the thought.A meaningless coincidence!But the idea is stubborn.Five...Pythagoras and the pentagon.Two...the duality of all things. After a while, he thought of something again, only feeling numbness in his legs.Because of its simplicity, iambic pentameter is often called "pure poetry" or "pure rhythm".What about pure language?Is it possible that this is the pure language mentioned by the Illuminati?The way to the light has been paved, this is God's test for you...

"Oh, oh," cried Victoria. Langdon turned abruptly to see her turning the pages upside down.He suddenly felt his heart tighten.Never again. "This sentence can never be a symmetrical word!" "Yes, it's not symmetrical...but this..." She was still spinning the document, ninety degrees at a time. "What are you looking at?" Victoria looked up. "There is more than one sentence here." "Anything else?" "Every blank space has a different sentence. Top, bottom, left and right. I think it's a poem." "Four verses?" Langdon was agitated.Was Galileo a poet? "show me!" Victoria didn't let go, and continued to turn the page ninety degrees. "I didn't see these lines before because they were on the side." She looked up at the last sentence. "Ha, let me tell you, it wasn't even Galileo's writing." "what!" "The poem is signed." "John Milton?" The great British poet who was writing was a contemporary of Galileo, a great writer who was listed by the conspirators at the top of the list of suspects of the Illuminati.Langdon is suspicious of rumors that Milton has some connection to Galileo's Illuminati.Milton not only made a detailed record of his pilgrimage to Rome in 1638 to "communicate with the seers," but he also met with Galileo while he was under house arrest.Their meeting is depicted in numerous Renaissance paintings, including Annibale Gatti's famous Galileo and Milton, which still hangs in Florence's Museum of the History of Science. "Milton knew Galileo, didn't he?" Victoria finally handed the page to Langdon. "Maybe he wrote the poem as a favor?" Langdon took the wrapped document and gritted his teeth.He laid the document flat on the table, looked at the top sentence, then he turned it ninety degrees again, read the sentence in the margin on the right, then he turned it again, read the bottom sentence, turned it again, Read on the left.He turned around for the last time, and then went back to the beginning. After a full circle like this, four sentences appeared in total.The first line Victoria found was actually the third line of the poem.He was completely stunned, and read the four lines of the poem clockwise again: up, right, down, left.After he finished reading, he breathed a sigh of relief, and he had no more doubts in his mind. "You found a clue, Ms. Witterer." She smiled unnaturally. "Great, so can we get out of this ghost place?" "I must copy these lines. Get me a pencil and paper." Victoria shook her head. "Forget it, professor, there is no time to copy, Mickey Mouse is still ticking." She snatched the pages from his hand and walked straight to the door. Langdon straightened up and said, "You can't take it out! That's—" But Victoria was long gone.

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