The Lost Symbol

“Anyhow,” Bellamy said, “the Masonic Pyramid’s age-old description as being tall enough to be touched by God. this has long led to misinterpretations about its size. Conveniently, it keeps academics like yourself insisting the pyramid is a legend, and nobody searches for it.”

Langdon looked down at the stone pyramid. “I apologize that I’m frustrating you,” he said. “I’ve simply always thought of the Masonic Pyramid as a myth.”

“Does it not seem perfectly fitting to you that a map created by stonemasons would be carved in stone? Throughout history, our most important guideposts have always been carved in stone — including the tablets God gave Moses — Ten Commandments to guide our human conduct.”

“I understand, and yet it is always referred to as the Legend of the Masonic Pyramid. Legend implies it is mythical.”

“Yes, legend.” Bellamy chuckled. “I’m afraid you’re suffering from the same problem Moses had.”

“I’m sorry?”

Bellamy looked almost amused as he turned in his seat, glancing up at the second-tier balcony, where sixteen bronze statues peered down at them. “Do you see Moses?”

Langdon gazed up at the library’s celebrated statue of Moses. “Yes.”

“He has horns.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“But do you know why he has horns?”

Like most teachers, Langdon did not enjoy being lectured to. The Moses above them had horns for the same reason thousands of Christian images of Moses had horns — a mistranslation of the book of Exodus. The original Hebrew text described Moses as having “karan ’ohr panav” — “facial skin that glowed with rays of light” — but when the Roman Catholic Church created the official Latin translation of the Bible, the translator bungled Moses’s description, rendering it as “cornuta esset facies sua,” meaning “his face was horned.” From that moment on, artists and sculptors, fearing reprisals if they were not true to the Gospels, began depicting Moses with horns.

“It was a simple mistake,” Langdon replied. “A mistranslation by Saint Jerome around four hundred A.D.” Bellamy looked impressed. “Exactly. A mistranslation. And the result is. poor Moses is now misshapen for all history.”

“Misshapen” was a nice way to put it. Langdon, as a child, had been terrified when he saw Michelangelo’s diabolical “horned Moses” — the centerpiece of Rome’s Basilica of St. Peter in Chains.

“I mention the horned Moses,” Bellamy now said, “to illustrate how a single word, misunderstood, can rewrite history.”

You’re preaching to the choir, Langdon thought, having learned the lesson firsthand in Paris a number of years back. SanGreal: Holy Grail. SangReal: Royal Blood.

“In the case of the Masonic Pyramid,” Bellamy continued, “people heard whispers about a ‘legend.’ And the idea stuck. The Legend of the Masonic Pyramid sounded like a myth. But the word legend was referring to something else. It had been misconstrued. Much like the word talisman.” He smiled. “Language can be very adept at hiding the truth.”

“That’s true, but you’re losing me here.”

“Robert, the Masonic Pyramid is a map. And like every map, it has a legend — a key that tells you how to read it.” Bellamy took the cube-shaped package and held it up. “Don’t you see? This capstone is the legend to the pyramid. It is the key that tells you how to read the most powerful artifact on earth. a map that unveils the hiding place of mankind’s greatest treasure — the lost wisdom of the ages.”

Langdon fell silent.

“I humbly submit,” Bellamy said, “that your towering Masonic Pyramid is only this. a modest stone whose golden capstone reaches high enough to be touched by God. High enough that an enlightened man can reach down and touch it.”

Silence hung between the two men for several seconds.

Langdon felt an unexpected pulse of excitement as he looked down at the pyramid, seeing it in a new light. His eyes moved again to the Masonic cipher. “But this code. it seems so. ”

“Simple?”

Langdon nodded. “Almost anyone could decipher this.”

Bellamy smiled and retrieved a pencil and paper for Langdon. “Then perhaps you should enlighten us?”

Langdon felt uneasy about reading the code, and yet considering the circumstances, it seemed a minor betrayal of Peter’s trust. Moreover, whatever the engraving said, he could not imagine that it unveiled a secret hiding place of anything at all. much less that of one of history’s greatest treasures.