Emerging from the shadows, Langdon and Sophie moved stealthily up the deserted1 Grand Gallerycorridor toward the emergency exit stairwell.
As he moved, Langdon felt like he was trying to assemble a jigsaw2 puzzle in the dark. The newestaspect of this mystery was a deeply troubling one: The captain of the Judicial3 Police is trying toframe me for murder"Do you think," he whispered, "that maybe Fache wrote that message on the floor?"Sophie didn't even turn. "Impossible."Langdon wasn't so sure. "He seems pretty intent on making me look guilty. Maybe he thoughtwriting my name on the floor would help his case?""The Fibonacci sequence? The P.S.? All the Da Vinci and goddess symbolism? That had to be mygrandfather."Langdon knew she was right. The symbolism of the clues meshed4 too perfectly—the pentacle, TheVitruvian Man, Da Vinci, the goddess, and even the Fibonacci sequence. A coherent symbolic5 set,as iconographers would call it. All inextricably tied.
"And his phone call to me this afternoon," Sophie added. "He said he had to tell me something. I'mcertain his message at the Louvre was his final effort to tell me something important, something hethought you could help me understand."Langdon frowned. O, Draconian6 devil! Oh, lame7 saint.! He wished he could comprehend themessage, both for Sophie's well-being8 and for his own. Things had definitely gotten worse since hefirst laid eyes on the cryptic9 words. His fake leap out the bathroom window was not going to helpLangdon's popularity with Fache one bit. Somehow he doubted the captain of the French policewould see the humor in chasing down and arresting a bar of soap.
"The doorway10 isn't much farther," Sophie said.
"Do you think there's a possibility that the numbers in your grandfather's message hold the key tounderstanding the other lines?" Langdon had once worked on a series of Baconian manuscripts thatcontained epigraphical ciphers12 in which certain lines of code were clues as to how to decipher theother lines.
"I've been thinking about the numbers all night. Sums, quotients, products. I don't see anything.
Mathematically, they're arranged at random13. Cryptographic gibberish.""And yet they're all part of the Fibonacci sequence. That can't be coincidence.""It's not. Using Fibonacci numbers was my grandfather's way of waving another flag at me—likewriting the message in English, or arranging himself like my favorite piece of art, or drawing apentacle on himself. All of it was to catch my attention.""The pentacle has meaning to you?""Yes. I didn't get a chance to tell you, but the pentacle was a special symbol between mygrandfather and me when I was growing up. We used to play Tarot cards for fun, and my indicatorcard always turned out to be from the suit of pentacles. I'm sure he stacked the deck, but pentaclesgot to be our little joke."Langdon felt a chill. They played Tarot? The medieval Italian card game was so replete15 withhidden heretical symbolism that Langdon had dedicated16 an entire chapter in his new manuscript tothe Tarot. The game's twenty-two cards bore names like The Female Pope, The Empress, and TheStar. Originally, Tarot had been devised as a secret means to pass along ideologies17 banned by theChurch. Now, Tarot's mystical qualities were passed on by modern fortune-tellers.
The Tarot indicator14 suit for feminine divinity is pentacles, Langdon thought, realizing that ifSaunière had been stacking his granddaughter's deck for fun, pentacles was an apropos18 inside joke.
They arrived at the emergency stairwell, and Sophie carefully pulled open the door. No alarmsounded. Only the doors to the outside were wired. Sophie led Langdon down a tight set ofswitchback stairs toward the ground level, picking up speed as they went.
"Your grandfather," Langdon said, hurrying behind her, "when he told you about the pentacle, didhe mention goddess worship or any resentment20 of the Catholic Church?"Sophie shook her head. "I was more interested in the mathematics of it—the Divine Proportion,PHI, Fibonacci sequences, that sort of thing."Langdon was surprised. "Your grandfather taught you about the number PHI?""Of course. The Divine Proportion." Her expression turned sheepish. "In fact, he used to joke that Iwas half divine... you know, because of the letters in my name."Langdon considered it a moment and then groaned21.
s-o-PHI-e.
Still descending22, Langdon refocused on PHI. He was starting to realize that Saunière's clues wereeven more consistent than he had first imagined.
Da Vinci... Fibonacci numbers... the pentacle.
Incredibly, all of these things were connected by a single concept so fundamental to art history thatLangdon often spent several class periods on the topic.
PHI.
He felt himself suddenly reeling back to Harvard, standing11 in front of his "Symbolism in Art" class,writing his favorite number on the chalkboard.
1.618Langdon turned to face his sea of eager students. "Who can tell me what this number is?"A long-legged math major in back raised his hand. "That's the number PHI." He pronounced it fee.
"Nice job, Stettner," Langdon said. "Everyone, meet PHI.""Not to be confused with PI," Stettner added, grinning. "As we mathematicians23 like to say: PHI isone H of a lot cooler than PI!"Langdon laughed, but nobody else seemed to get the joke.
"This number PHI," Langdon continued, "one-point-six-one-eight, is a very important number inart. Who can tell me why?"Stettner tried to redeem25 himself. "Because it's so pretty?"Everyone laughed.
"Actually," Langdon said, "Stettner's right again. PHI is generally considered the most beautifulnumber in the universe."The laughter abruptly26 stopped, and Stettner gloated.
As Langdon loaded his slide projector27, he explained that the number PHI was derived28 from theFibonacci sequence—a progression famous not only because the sum of adjacent terms equaled thenext term, but because the quotients of adjacent terms possessed30 the astonishing property ofapproaching the number 1.618—PHI!
Despite PHI's seemingly mystical mathematical origins, Langdon explained, the truly mind-boggling aspect of PHI was its role as a fundamental building block in nature. Plants, animals, andeven human beings all possessed dimensional properties that adhered with eerie31 exactitude to theratio of PHI to 1.
"PHI's ubiquity in nature," Langdon said, killing32 the lights, "clearly exceeds coincidence, and sothe ancients assumed the number PHI must have been preordained by the Creator of the universe.
Early scientists heralded33 one-point-six-one-eight as the Divine Proportion.""Hold on," said a young woman in the front row. "I'm a bio major and I've never seen this DivineProportion in nature.""No?" Langdon grinned. "Ever study the relationship between females and males in a honeybeecommunity?""Sure. The female bees always outnumber the male bees.""Correct. And did you know that if you divide the number of female bees by the number of malebees in any beehive in the world, you always get the same number?""You do?""Yup. PHI."The girl gaped34. "NO WAY!""Way!" Langdon fired back, smiling as he projected a slide of a spiral seashell. "Recognize this?""It's a nautilus," the bio major said. "A cephalopod mollusk35 that pumps gas into its chambered shellto adjust its buoyancy.""Correct. And can you guess what the ratio is of each spiral's diameter to the next?"The girl looked uncertain as she eyed the concentric arcs of the nautilus spiral.
Langdon nodded. "PHI. The Divine Proportion. One-point-six-one-eight to one."The girl looked amazed.
Langdon advanced to the next slide—a close-up of a sunflower's seed head. "Sunflower seeds growin opposing spirals. Can you guess the ratio of each rotation's diameter to the next?""PHI?" everyone said.
"Bingo." Langdon began racing36 through slides now—spiraled pinecone petals37, leaf arrangement onplant stalks, insect segmentation—all displaying astonishing obedience38 to the Divine Proportion.
"This is amazing!" someone cried out.
"Yeah," someone else said, "but what does it have to do with art?""Aha!" Langdon said. "Glad you asked." He pulled up another slide—a pale yellow parchmentdisplaying Leonardo da Vinci's famous male nude—The Vitruvian Man—named for MarcusVitruvius, the brilliant Roman architect who praised the Divine Proportion in his text DeArchitectura.
"Nobody understood better than Da Vinci the divine structure of the human body. Da Vinciactually exhumed39 corpses40 to measure the exact proportions of human bone structure. He was thefirst to show that the human body is literally41 made of building blocks whose proportional ratiosalways equal PHI."Everyone in class gave him a dubious42 look.
"Don't believe me?" Langdon challenged. "Next time you're in the shower, take a tape measure."A couple of football players snickered.
"Not just you insecure jocks," Langdon prompted. "All of you. Guys and girls. Try it. Measure thedistance from the tip of your head to the floor. Then divide that by the distance from your bellybutton to the floor. Guess what number you get.""Not PHI!" one of the jocks blurted43 out in disbelief.
"Yes, PHI," Langdon replied. "One-point-six-one-eight. Want another example? Measure thedistance from your shoulder to your fingertips, and then divide it by the distance from your elbowto your fingertips. PHI again. Another? Hip19 to floor divided by knee to floor. PHI again. Fingerjoints. Toes. Spinal44 divisions. PHI. PHI. PHI. My friends, each of you is a walking tribute to theDivine Proportion."Even in the darkness, Langdon could see they were all astounded45. He felt a familiar warmth inside.
This is why he taught. "My friends, as you can see, the chaos46 of the world has an underlying47 order.
When the ancients discovered PHI, they were certain they had stumbled across God's buildingblock for the world, and they worshipped Nature because of that. And one can understand why.
God's hand is evident in Nature, and even to this day there exist pagan, Mother Earth-reveringreligions. Many of us celebrate nature the way the pagans did, and don't even know it. May Day isa perfect example, the celebration of spring... the earth coming back to life to produce her bounty48.
The mysterious magic inherent in the Divine Proportion was written at the beginning of time. Manis simply playing by Nature's rules, and because art is man's attempt to imitate the beauty of theCreator's hand, you can imagine we might be seeing a lot of instances of the Divine Proportion inart this semester."Over the next half hour, Langdon showed them slides of artwork by Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer,Da Vinci, and many others, demonstrating each artist's intentional49 and rigorous adherence50 to theDivine Proportion in the layout of his compositions. Langdon unveiled PHI in the architecturaldimensions of the Greek Parthenon, the pyramids of Egypt, and even the United Nations Buildingin New York. PHI appeared in the organizational structures of Mozart's sonatas51, Beethoven's FifthSymphony, as well as the works of Bartók, Debussy, and Schubert. The number PHI, Langdon toldthem, was even used by Stradivarius to calculate the exact placement of the f-holes in theconstruction of his famous violins.
"In closing," Langdon said, walking to the chalkboard, "we return to symbols" He drew fiveintersecting lines that formed a five-pointed star. "This symbol is one of the most powerful imagesyou will see this term. Formally known as a pentagram—or pentacle, as the ancients called it—thissymbol is considered both divine and magical by many cultures. Can anyone tell me why thatmight be?"Stettner, the math major, raised his hand. "Because if you draw a pentagram, the linesautomatically divide themselves into segments according to the Divine Proportion."Langdon gave the kid a proud nod. "Nice job. Yes, the ratios of line segments in a pentacle allequal PHI, making this symbol the ultimate expression of the Divine Proportion. For this reason,the five-pointed star has always been the symbol for beauty and perfection associated with thegoddess and the sacred feminine."The girls in class beamed.
"One note, folks. We've only touched on Da Vinci today, but we'll be seeing a lot more of him thissemester. Leonardo was a well-documented devotee of the ancient ways of the goddess.
Tomorrow, I'll show you his fresco52 The Last Supper, which is one of the most astonishing tributesto the sacred feminine you will ever see.""You're kidding, right?" somebody said. "I thought The Last Supper was about Jesus!"Langdon winked53. "There are symbols hidden in places you would never imagine.""Come on," Sophie whispered. "What's wrong? We're almost there. Hurry!"Langdon glanced up, feeling himself return from faraway thoughts. He realized he was standing ata dead stop on the stairs, paralyzed by sudden revelation.
O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!
Sophie was looking back at him.
It can't be that simple, Langdon thought.
But he knew of course that it was.
There in the bowels54 of the Louvre... with images of PHI and Da Vinci swirling55 through his mind,Robert Langdon suddenly and unexpectedly deciphered Saunière's code.
"O, Draconian devil!" he said. "Oh, lame saint! It's the simplest kind of code!"Sophie was stopped on the stairs below him, staring up in confusion. A code? She had beenpondering the words all night and had not seen a code. Especially a simple one.
"You said it yourself." Langdon's voice reverberated56 with excitement. "Fibonacci numbers onlyhave meaning in their proper order. Otherwise they're mathematical gibberish."Sophie had no idea what he was talking about. The Fibonacci numbers? She was certain they hadbeen intended as nothing more than a means to get the Cryptography Department involved tonight.
They have another purpose? She plunged57 her hand into her pocket and pulled out the printout,studying her grandfather's message again.
13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5O, Draconian devil!
Oh, lame saint!
What about the numbers?
"The scrambled58 Fibonacci sequence is a clue," Langdon said, taking the printout. "The numbers area hint as to how to decipher the rest of the message. He wrote the sequence out of order to tell us toapply the same concept to the text. O, Draconian devil? Oh, lame saint? Those lines mean nothing.
They are simply letters written out of order."Sophie needed only an instant to process Langdon's implication, and it seemed laughably simple.
"You think this message is... une anagramme?" She stared at him. "Like a word jumble59 from anewspaper?"Langdon could see the skepticism on Sophie's face and certainly understood. Few people realizedthat anagrams, despite being a trite60 modern amusement, had a rich history of sacred symbolism.
The mystical teachings of the Kabbala drew heavily on anagrams—rearranging the letters ofHebrew words to derive29 new meanings. French kings throughout the Renaissance61 were soconvinced that anagrams held magic power that they appointed royal anagrammatists to help themmake better decisions by analyzing62 words in important documents. The Romans actually referredto the study of anagrams as ars magna—"the great art."Langdon looked up at Sophie, locking eyes with her now. "Your grandfather's meaning was rightin front of us all along, and he left us more than enough clues to see it."Without another word, Langdon pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and rearranged the letters ineach line.
O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!
was a perfect anagram of...
Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!
兰登和索菲从阴影中走了出来，蹑手蹑脚地沿着空荡荡的艺术大画廊向紧急楼梯通道走去。
兰登边走边觉得自己好像在做一个智力游戏。眼前的问题很棘手：司法局长要给我扣上凶手的罪名。
兰登低声问索菲："你认为地上的信息会不会是法希留下的？"
索菲头也不回地说："不可能。"
兰登没有她那么肯定，又说道："看上去他一心想把罪名加在我身上。也许他认为在地上写上我的名字会有助于他的指控？"
"那么斐波那契数列呢？还有P.S.？还有达。芬奇和女神的象征意义？那一定是我祖父留下的。"兰登知道她说得对。五角星、《维特鲁威人》、达。芬奇、女神以及斐波那契数列--这些线索的象征意义完美地结合在一起。圣像研究者会把这称为一个连贯的象征系统。所有的一切结合得天衣无缝。
索菲补充说："今天下午，祖父打电话给我。他说有重要的事情要告诉我。我肯定，为了让我知道这些重要的事情，他临死时在卢浮宫留下了这些信息。他认为你可以帮助我弄清这些重要的事情。"兰登皱起了眉头。啊，严酷的魔王！噢，瘸腿的圣徒！他真希望，为了索菲也为了自己，他可以破解这则密码的含义。毫无疑问，从他第一眼看到密码起，事情就变得越来越不妙。他从厕所的窗户"假跳"出去，会给法希留下更坏的印象。不过，也许可让这位法国警察局的局长感受一下追逐并逮捕一块肥皂的幽默。
"我们离楼梯口不远了。"索菲说。
"密码中的数字是否是破解另几行信息的关键呢？有这种可能吗？"兰登曾经研究过一系列培根的手稿，那里边记录的一些密码就为破译其他的密码提供了线索。
"一整晚，我都在想这些数字。加、减、乘、除，都得不出什么有含义的结果。从纯数学的角度来看，它们是随机排列的。这是一串乱码。""但它们是斐波那契数列的一部分。那不会是巧合。"
"当然不是巧合。祖父要借助斐波那契数列给我们一些提示--就像他用英语来书写信息、模仿他最喜爱的艺术作品中的画面和摆出五角星形状的姿势一样。这只是要引起我们的注意。""你知道五角星形状的含义吗？"
"知道。我还没来得及告诉过你，小时候，五角星在我和祖父之间有特殊的含义。过去，我们常玩塔罗牌，我的主牌都是五角星的。我知道那是因为祖父洗牌时作弊，但五角星成了我们之间的小笑话。"兰登打了个冷战。他们玩塔罗牌？这种中世纪意大利的纸牌隐含着异教的象征体系，兰登曾在他的新手稿中花费了整章的篇幅来讲述塔罗牌。塔罗牌由二十二张纸牌组成，包括"女教宗"、"皇后"、"星星"等。塔罗牌原本是用来传递被教会封禁的思想的，现在的占卜者们沿用了塔罗牌的神秘特质。
塔罗牌用五角星花色来象征女神，兰登想道，如果索尼埃通过洗牌作弊来和小孙女逗乐，选择五角星真是再合适不过了。
他们来到了紧急楼梯通道口，索菲小心翼翼地打开了门。没有警报声，只有通往卢浮宫外面的门连着警报网。索菲领着兰登顺着Z 字形的楼梯往一楼走。他们加快了脚步。
兰登一边急匆匆地跟上索菲的脚步，一边问道："当你祖父谈论五角星的时候，他有没有提及女神崇拜或对天主教会的怨恨？"
索菲摇了摇头。"我更倾向于从数学的角度来分析它--黄金分割、PHI、斐波那契数列那一类东西。"兰登感到很惊奇："你祖父教过你PHI 吗？"
"当然，黄金分割。"她有点儿害羞地说。"其实，他曾开玩笑说我有一半符合黄金分割……那是因为我名字的拼写方法。"兰登想了片刻，嘀咕着："so－PHI－e."
兰登一边下楼，一边再次琢磨起PHI.他开始意识到索尼埃留下的线索比他想象中更有整体性。
达。芬奇……斐波那契数列……五角星。
令人难以置信，所有这些都通过一个艺术史上的概念联系在一起，兰登经常花费好几个课时来讲解这个非常基本的概念。
PHI他忽然产生了一种幻觉，仿佛自己又回到了哈佛，站在教室的讲台上讲解"艺术中的象征"，在黑板上写下他最喜爱的数字：1.618.
兰登转向台下众多求知若渴的学生，问道："谁能告诉我这是个什么数字？"
一个坐在后排的大个儿的数学系学生举起手："那是PHI."他把它读做"fei"。
"说得好，斯提勒。"兰登说。"大家都知道PHI."
斯提勒笑着补充道："别把它跟PI（π）弄混了。我们搞数学的喜欢说：PHI 多一个H，却比PI 棒多了！"兰登大笑起来，其他人却不解其意。
斯提勒"咚"地一声坐了下去。
兰登继续说道："PHI，1.618 在艺术中有极其重要的地位。谁能告诉我这是为什么？"
"因为它非常美？"斯提勒试图挽回自己的面子。
大家哄堂大笑起来。
兰登说道："其实，斯提勒又说对了。PHI 通常被认为是世上最美丽的数字。"
笑声戛然而止。斯提勒则沾沾自喜。
兰登在幻灯机上放上图片，解释说，PHI 源于斐波那契数列--这个数列之所以非常有名，不仅是因为数列中相邻两项之和等于后一项，而且因为相邻两项相除所得的商竟然约等于1.618，也就是PHI.
兰登继续解释道，从数学角度看，PHI 的来源颇为神秘，但更令人费解的是它在自然界的构成中也起着极为重要的作用。植物、动物甚至人类都具有与这个比率惊人相似的特质。
兰登关上教室里的灯，说道："PHI 在自然界中无处不在，这显然不是巧合，所以祖先们估计PHI 是造物主事先定下的。早期的科学家把1.618 称为黄金分割。""等一下。"一名坐在前排的女生说。"我是生物专业的学生，我从来没有在自然界中见到黄金分割。""没有吗？"兰登咧嘴笑了。"研究过一个蜂巢里的雄蜂和雌蜂吗？"
"当然。雌蜂总是比雄蜂多。"
"对。你知道吗？如果你将世界上任何一个蜂巢里的雄蜂和雌蜂分开数，你将得到一个相同的比率。""真的吗？"
"是的，就是PHI."
女生目瞪口呆。"这不可能。"
"可能！"兰登反驳道。他微笑着放出一张螺旋形贝壳的幻灯片。"认识这吗？"
"鹦鹉螺。"那个学生回答。"一种靠吸入壳内的空气调节自身浮力的软体动物。"
"说得对。你能猜想到它身上每圈罗纹的直径与相邻罗纹直径之比是多少吗？"
那名女生看着螺旋形鹦鹉螺身上的同心弧圈，说不出确切的答案。
兰登点了点头，说道："PHI.黄金分割。1.618."
女生露出惊讶的表情。
兰登接着放出下一张幻灯片--向日葵的特写。"葵花籽在花盘上呈相反的弧线状排列。你能猜想到相邻两圈之间的直径之比吗？"
"PHI？"有人说。
"猜对了。"兰登开始快速地播放幻灯片--螺旋形的松果、植物茎上叶子的排列、昆虫身上的分节--所有这些竟然都完全符合黄金分割。
"真不可思议！"有人叫了起来。
"不错，可这和艺术有什么关系呢？"另外一个人说。
"啊！问得好。"兰登说着，放出另一张幻灯片--列昂纳多。达。芬奇的著名男性裸体画《维特鲁威人》。这幅画画在一张羊皮纸上，羊皮纸已微微泛黄。画名是根据罗马杰出的建筑家马克。维特鲁威的名字而取的，这位建筑家曾在他的著作《建筑》中盛赞黄金分割。
"没有人比达。芬奇更了解人体的精妙结构。实际上，达。芬奇曾挖掘出人的尸体来测量人体骨骼结构的确切比例，他是宣称人体的结构比例完全符合黄金分割率的第一人。"在座的人都向兰登投来怀疑的目光。
"不相信？"兰登说。"下次你们洗澡的时候，带上一根皮尺。"
几个足球队的学生窃笑起来。
"不仅是你们几个开始坐不住的运动员。"兰登提示道。"你们所有人，男生和女生，试试看。测量一下你们的身高，再用身高除以你们肚脐到地面的距离。猜一猜结果是多少。""不会是PHI 吧！"一名体育生用怀疑的口吻说。
"就是PHI."兰登回答道。"正是1.618.想再看一个例子吗？量一下你肩膀到指尖的距离，然后用它除以肘关节到指尖的距离，又得到了PHI.用臀部到地面的距离除以膝盖到地面的距离，又可以得到PHI.再看看手指关节、脚趾、脊柱的分节，你都可以从中得到PHI.朋友们，我们每个人都是离不开黄金分割的生物。"虽然教室里的灯都关了，但兰登可以看得出大家都很震惊。一股暖流涌上他的心头，这正是他热爱教学的原因。"朋友们，正如你们所见，纷繁复杂的自然界隐藏着规则。当古人发现PHI 时，他们肯定自己已经偶然发现了上帝造物的大小比例，也正因为这一点他们对自然界充满了崇拜之情。上帝的杰作可以在自然界中找到印证，直至今日还存在着一个异教组织--大地母亲教。我们中的许多人也像异教徒一样赞颂着自然，只不过我们自己没有意识到。比如说我们庆祝五朔节就是一个很好的例证。五朔节是赞颂春天的节日，人们通过它来庆祝大地复苏，给予人类馈赠。从一开始，黄金分割的神秘特质就已经被确定了。人们只能按自然规则活动，而艺术又是人们试图模仿造物主创造之美的一种尝试，所以这学期我们将在艺术作品中看到许多黄金分割的实例。"在接下来的半个小时中，兰登给学生们播放了米开朗基罗、阿尔布莱希特。丢勒、达。芬奇和许多其他艺术家作品的幻灯片，这些艺术家在设计创作其作品时都有意识地、严格地遵循了黄金分割比率。兰登向大家揭示了希腊巴特农神殿、埃及金字塔甚至纽约联合国大楼在建筑设计中所运用的黄金分割率，并指出PHI 也被运用在莫扎特的奏鸣曲、贝多芬的《第五交响曲》以及巴托克、德彪西、舒伯特等音乐家的创作中。兰登还告诉大家，甚至斯特拉迪瓦里在制造他那有名的小提琴时也运用了黄金分割来确定f 形洞的确切位置。
兰登边走向黑板，边说："让我们回到象征符号上面来。"他在黑板上画了个由五条直线组成的五角星。"这是本学期中你们将学习到的最具象征意义的图形。五角星--古人称五芒星--在许多文化中被看作是神圣而神奇的。谁能告诉我这是为什么？"
斯提勒--那个数学专业的学生--又举起了手。"因为如果你画一个五角星，那么那几条线段会自动将它们自己按黄金分割的比率截为几段。"兰登冲那小伙子点了点头，为他感到骄傲。"回答得好。五角星中线段的比率都符合黄金分割率，这使得它成为了黄金分割的首要代表。正是因为这个原因，五角星总是被作为美丽与完美的象征，并与女神和神圣的女性联系在一起。"班上的女生都满脸笑容。
"大家注意，今天我们只提及了一点儿关于达。芬奇的内容，在本学期中我们还将对他作更多的探讨。列昂纳多确实以古老的方式信奉着女神。明天，我将会给你们讲解他的壁画《最后的晚餐》，这将是你们所见过的奉献给神圣女性的最惊人的杰作。""你在开玩笑吧？"有人说。"我想《最后的晚餐》是关于耶稣的！"
兰登挤了挤眼睛，说道："有一些象征符号藏在你无论如何也想不到的地方。"
"加油。"索菲小声说。"怎么了？我们快到了。快一点！"
兰登仰起头，从那遥远的想象中又回到了现实。
他在楼梯上停了下来，一动不动，恍然大悟。
"啊，严酷的魔王"！"噢，瘸腿的圣徒"！
索菲回头望着兰登。
不可能这么简单，兰登想。
但他肯定应该是那样。
置身于卢浮宫，反复回想着有关PHI 和达。芬奇的画面，兰登忽然出乎意料地破解了索尼埃的密码。
"啊，严酷的魔王！"他嘀咕着。"噢，瘸腿的圣徒！这是最简单的密码！"
索菲停住了脚步，不解地看着兰登。
密码？她一整晚都在思考地板上的字，并没有发现任何密码，更不用说简单的密码了。
"你自己说过的。"兰登兴奋得声音都颤抖了。"斐波那契数列的各项只有按顺序排列才有意义。"
索菲不解其意。斐波那契数列？她肯定祖父写下这个数列只是为了让密码破译部门也参与到今晚的侦破工作中来，别无他意。难道祖父还有其他的用意？她伸手从口袋中掏出祖父所留信息的打印稿，再次端详：13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5啊，严酷的魔王！
噢，瘸腿的圣徒！
这些数字怎么了？
"这被打乱的斐波那契数列是一条线索。"兰登边说，边接过打印稿。"这些数字是破译其他信息的线索。他将数列的顺序打乱，是想让我们用同样的方法去破译信息中的文字部分。信息中的文字只是一些次序被打乱的字母。"索菲立刻明白了兰登的意思，因为这样的解释简单得可笑。"你认为信息是……一个字谜？"她盯着兰登，说道。"就像报纸上的重排字母组词的字谜游戏？"
兰登从索菲的表情中可以看出她的怀疑，但对此他完全可以理解。很少人知道字谜--这种老套的现代游戏还有与神圣的象征系统有关的历史。
犹太神秘学的神秘楔石中有许多关于字谜的内容--将希伯来词语中的字母重新排序，从而得出新的意义。文艺复兴时期的法国国王们都深信字谜有神奇的魔力，所以他们任命皇室字谜家来分析重要文件中的词语，以便做出更好的决策。实际上，罗马人字谜的研究工作称为"大术办"，即"伟大的艺术"。
兰登抬眼看着索菲，目不转睛。"你祖父的信息就快被我们破解了，他给我们留下了许多破解的线索。"兰登不再多言，从夹克衫的口袋中掏出一支钢笔，将每行的字母重新排列来：O，Draconiandevil！（啊，严酷的魔王！）
Oh，LameSaint！（噢，瘸腿的圣徒！）
恰好可以被一字不差地拼成：LeonardodaVinci！（列昂纳多。达。芬奇！）
TheMonaLisa！（蒙娜丽莎！）
收听单词发音 |
1
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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jigsaw
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| n.缕花锯，竖锯，拼图游戏；vt.用竖锯锯，使互相交错搭接 | |
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judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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meshed
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| 有孔的，有孔眼的，啮合的 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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draconian
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| adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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replete
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| adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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ideologies
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| n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态 | |
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apropos
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| adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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projector
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| n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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32
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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35
mollusk
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| n.软体动物 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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37
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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38
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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39
exhumed
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| v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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42
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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43
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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45
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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47
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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48
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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49
intentional
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| adj.故意的，有意（识）的 | |
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50
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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51
sonatas
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| n.奏鸣曲( sonata的名词复数 ) | |
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52
fresco
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| n.壁画；vt.作壁画于 | |
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53
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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54
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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55
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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56
reverberated
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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57
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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58
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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59
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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60
trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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61
renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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62
analyzing
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| v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析 | |
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