Re: Translation question

From: "DOUGLAS KOLLER"

> > >"Faber est suae quisque fortunae addius Claudius caecus dictum arcanum
> est
> > >neutron."
> > But that neutron eludes me.
> Since it was a cryptogram and the students botched "Appius", perhaps
> "neutron" is also a mistaken decoding (stumping such an esteemed panel
would
> seem to indicate that something is amiss).
For those who were losing sleep...

The math teacher explained that each cipher contains a "clue" word to the
next cipher. According to him (undoubtedly via the book he was using),
Caesar Augustus came up with this really keen cipher system where you just
shift the alphabet over one letter:

ABCDEFG... becomes
BCDEFGH... (no one would be able to crack that one)

The Augustinian code was the one used for this cryptoquote and it happens to
be in Latin (get it?). Therefore, the math teacher suggests the translation
is:

"Every man is the fashioner of his own fortune -- Appius Claudius Caecus
(the code word [i.e. of the next cipher] is 'neutron' [the next cipher may
well be in English])."

Don't know if "dictum arcanum" is an adequate translation of "code word"
(wouldn't "shibboleth" or a variation thereon have been available at that
time?), (and, keep in mind, the writers of the cipher puzzles may not be the
avid Latinophiles that *we* are) but the math teacher seemed content, so who
am I to argue?

Kou