CLUB OFFICERS

Caesar's Cipher

By Kyle Plosky

"Occultus," Caesar called from his study. "I need you." Occultus stood up, sighed, and crept carefully across the wooden floor towards the governor. His bare legs shivered in the night, but he knew better than to complain.

"Hurry," barked the governor, restraining his booming voice. "And bring a stylus." Occultus turned around and grabbed a stylus and tablet off of the shelf before proceeding. Caesar had been up late the past seven nights, plotting his route on a map, making marks and then scratching over them, formulating his plan of attack. Every morning he woke up grumpy, charcoal bags under his eyes, but still he plotted on.

"I need you to find a way," he spoke as quietly as he could, which wasn't very quiet. "I need to get a message from here," he pointed to their location in Aedui, "to here," he picked another spot, this one in Gaul.

"You could send a letter," Occultus whispered, trying to be patient with the ambitious leader. As a scribe, he knew that Caesar sometimes missed the obvious solutions when under stress.

"I can't send a letter, because whoever is carrying it could read it. And I can't send a messenger, since I don't trust any of my men enough to relay this message." Caesar threw his head back. "Woe is me." Occultus silently wondered why the governor would trust someone as lowly as himself with such important information.

"So you need a way of sending a message," Occultus thought aloud, "without anyone else being able to read it?"

"Exacte. I need you to find a way to do it." The scribe thought for a moment, trying to work out whether such a thing could even be possible. He knew the measures that the Gauls would go to, in order to figure out Caesar's plans, and he knew he had to find a way to stop them.

"What if," Occultus spoke up, "You have me write the message in a way that nobody else can read."

"What do you mean?" Caesar sat back up, intrigued.

"What if, every time I would write an A, I write a D instead? And E instead of B, and F instead of C, and so on," the scribe jumped up, suddenly excited with his invention.

"That's brilliant! And the man I send it to can just do the same thing in reverse. I can sleep now. Go rest that head of yours, we start transcribing at daybreak."

Occultus sauntered back to his bedroom, melancholic. He knew his invention would work, and that the Romans would be able to take over Gaul. But he also knew that he would be forgotten. No one would remember old Occultus for his creation. Everyone would credit their soon-to-be emperor with the invention of the Caesar cipher.

And for a little extra, here are some gladiator haikus by a class of Winchester Latin students.