Some Hidden Messages in The Rape of Lucrece

  

In this post I examine page 6 of The Rape of Lucrece.

The solution to this puzzle relies, in part, on the work of the late Alexander Waugh. Mr. Waugh discovered that in the works of Shakespeare the number 1740 is repeatedly encoded. Furthermore, the numbers 17, 40, 57 (17 + 40 = 57), and 1740 are associated with Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. See Mr. Waugh's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@alexanderwaugh7036; and the video "The Incalculable Genius of John Dee" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-PWR7-0Hp4&t=4s.  The word counts displayed on the image below rely on these numbers.

Page 6 of The Rape of Lucrece:

The “VIeR O” Acrostic (page 6) —

The image above shows the solution of an acrostic beginning at line 17 of The Rape of Lucrece proposed by Anthony Vialon, and who posts as John Anthony on YouTube. John Anthony, https://www.youtube.com/@johnanthony8653. This solution is presented in the video titled New Vere - Shakespeare Authorship Clues, and Trixie the Cat is a Rose Cross. (SNC 70) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJwKNA1yZE&t=337s.  

 

The solution shows the encoded term “VIeR O,” beginning at line 17, and placed vertically in the first letters of the lines. Vier is German for the number four (4), and by changing the letter “O” to a zero (0), the numbers 4 and 0 are found, encoding the number 40. By combining the numbers 17 and 40, Edward de Vere’s code number 1740 is also encoded in the text. “Reckoning,” the first word of line 19, which means “[the] act of counting or computing, a calculation,” and the last word of the line, “rate,” which means “estimate the worth or value of, reckon by comparative estimation,” hint at these calculations. ^{i, ii}

 

i reckoning | Etymology of reckoning by etymonline. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/reckoning

ii rate | Etymology of rate by etymonline. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/rate#etymonline_v_45459

The image above shows another way to that the number 40 is hidden in the text. The letter “A” is equal to one in a simple cipher of the Elizabethan alphabet (A = 1). There are four capital letter “A’s” at the beginning of each line at lines 23 to 26. There are four one’s, so 4 x 1 = 4, then add the zero at the beginning of line 22 (“O” looks like a zero), and the number 40 is found.

Notice also that the four capital letter “A’s” at the beginning of each line at lines 23 to 26 can be seen as two number elevens (11:11), and the final capital “O” falls at the beginning of line 22. In his YouTube videos, Anthony Vialon has suggested that the concept of “Twice Eleven” (i.e., 22) or perhaps the “Twice Eleven Brethren” was a way to refer to the group that placed hidden messages in Shakespeare.

 

 

The image above highlights additional words and letters that are associated with the “VIeR O” acrostic.

 

 

 

In French, the word “unlocked” is déverrouillé, so it is wordplay on the name de Vere. In Latin, “unlock” is recludo, meaning “unbar, uncover.” Edward de Vere was “barred” from being acknowledged as a Tudor. In heraldry, a bend sinister (sometimes incorrectly termed a “bar sinister”) means:

"The bend sinister, reduced in size to that of a bendlet (narrow) or baton (ending short of the edge of the shield), was one of the commonest brisures (differences) added to the arms of illegitimate offspring of European aristocratic lords… This was the usual mark used to identify illegitimate descendants of the English royal family dating from fifteenth century, as in the arms of Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of Edward IV of England."


Wikipedia contributors. (2025k, January 16). Bend (heraldry). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend_(heraldry)

 

A key is required to unlock something. Perhaps “unlock” alludes to a “key” in the form of a simple, reverse, or “Kaye” cipher of the Elizabethan alphabet. However, numerical results are difficult to interpret. Are totals using one method appropriate to apply to a result from a different method? Many different words can have the same numerical result. With those reservations stated, here are some results:

Ciphers of (“VIeR O + 40”) —

In a simple cipher, (“VIeR O + 40”):

 

(V = 20) + (I = 9) + (E = 5) + (R = 17) + (O = 14) + 40 = 105
 

The total value of the letters in OXENFORD in reverse cipher is 105.

In Kaye Cipher, (VIeR), (VIeR O), (VIeR O +40):


(V = 20) + (I = 35) + (E = 31) + (R = 17) = 103

(V = 20) + (I = 35) + (E = 31) + (R = 17) + (O = 14) = 117

(V = 20) + (I = 35) + (E = 31) + (R = 17) + (O = 14) + 40 = 157


The total value of the letters in SHAKESPEARE in simple cipher is 103.

The total value of the letters in ROSI CROSSE in reverse cipher is 117.

The total value of the letters in FRA ROSI CROSSE in simple cipher is 157.

 

 

 

The word "Kings" (line 20) — 

 

As noted previously, the word “Kings” is the 40th word on this page, and the numbers 40, 17, and 1740 are numbers associated with Edward de Vere by the late Alexander Waugh.  As an experiment, and it’s not clear if this is intended (but if it's not an intentionally placed message, the result is an incredible coincidence), we can perform another mathematical manipulation to find a hidden message based on a clue involving the word "Kings" in line 20.

 

The first thing to note is that “Kings” is the first appearance of the word “King[s]” on the page, so “1 Kings.” Next, there are six words that follow the word “Kings,” so it is possible to create “1 Kings 6,” a chapter in the Old Testament. Coincidentally, 1 Kings 6:17 (a chapter describing the dimensions and construction of the Solomon’s Temple) reads as follows:

17 But the house, that is, the temple before it was fourtie cubites long.

The Geneva Bible 1560 : God : Free download, borrow, and streaming : Internet Archive. (2012, June 12). Internet Archive. (bold added). https://archive.org/details/TheGenevaBible1560/page/n307/mode/2up

Thus, verse 17 of 1 Kings 6 states that the house built by Solomon, that is the Temple, was forty (40) cubits long, so there is a 1740 (Edward de Vere’s code number) found in the verse number and text of the verse.  It is also interesting that the word “Tent” (L., tabernaculum) appears in the first line of the stanza. Solomon’s Temple essentially replaced the Tabernacle (2 Chronicles 5:5) and the tent (tabernacle) David had pitched for the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel‬ 6:17).‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The above solution also works with the Bible (1586),i and the later King James Bible (1611).ⁱⁱ  However, it does not work with the English Bishops Bible (1572) because the verse is in “3 Kings 6” in that Bible.iii

 

i The bible. 1586 : Bible-ENGLISH : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (1586). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_the-bible_bible-english_1586/page/n275/mode/2up

ii 1 Kings Chapter 6 (Original 1611 KJV Bible). (n.d.). King James Bible Online. Retrieved January 26, 2025, from https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1-Kings-Chapter-6_Original-1611-KJV/

iii English (1572) Bishops Bible : Matthew Parker, Thomas Crammer : Free download, borrow, and streaming : Internet Archive. (1572). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1572-bishops-bible/page/n457/mode/2up

The word "King" (line 21) — 

 

The word King is the 17th word from “Reckning” (reckoning), the first word of line 19; therefore, it might form another 1740 solution with the word “Kings,” the 40th word on the page. 

Applying the same method to “King” as we did to “Kings” to arrive at a chapter in the Bible, “King” is the second “King[s]” on the page, so “2 Kings.” Next, there are seven (7) words that follow “King” on line 21, so “2 Kings 7.” The 17th verse (2 Kings 7:17) is—






17 And the King gaue the prince (on whose hand he leaned) the charge of the gate,& the people trode vpon him in the gate, and he dyed, as the man of God had said, which spake it, when the King came downe to him.

The Geneva Bible 1560 : God : Free download, borrow, and streaming : Internet Archive. (2012b, June 12). Internet Archive. (spelling and format as in the original). (footnote shown only in the image). https://archive.org/details/TheGenevaBible1560/page/n339/mode/2up

In this Bible verse the word “gate” (L., porta means “gate, door”) is mentioned twice, and the first appearance of the word falls directly above the other The Geneva Bible, so there is a hint at “two-door[s]” (“Tudor[s]”). 

In addition, the second appearance of the word “King” in the text is the 40th word of the verse if the ampersand (&) is not counted as a word, so in verse 17 the 40th word is King, and since 1740 is the “code number” of Edward de Vere, the allusion is that he is “King 1740” (i.e., Edward de Vere is a prince/king).

It is also interesting that a prince (or lord) in the verse is placed in charge of the “gate” (i.e., “Tudor”) — in a sense, he is the “guardian” (L., tutor) of the gate — and is trampled by the people.  The explanation at note 1 (shown only in the image) states that the “people pressed out of the gate.” In Latin, foras (adverbial accusative) means to go “out through the doors, out of doors, forth, out (destination).”i  Foris, a synonym of foras, means, as a noun, “door, gate, opening, entrance.”  As an adverb, foris means “outside, outdoors (location).” (Foras is mostly of direction, foris of location.)ii  The meanings of both words— “outdoors” — is an anagram of the name “Tudor.” 

 

If the 2 Kings 7:17 reference was placed in the text as a clue, it may allude to Thomas Seymour's horrible guardianship of, and affair with, Lady Elizabeth Tutor, which resulted in Elizabeth becoming pregnant and giving birth to Edward de Vere.  It may also allude to Thomas Seymour’s eventual downfall because of his actions.

 

i foras - Wiktionary, the free dictionary. (n.d.). Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foras#Latin

ii foris - Wiktionary, the free dictionary. (n.d.). Wiktionary.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foris#Latin

 

Francis Bacon clues around line 33--

In the portion of the text around line 33 there are clues pointing to Francis Bacon (the number 33 is the simple cipher of the letters in the name Bacon):