Arthur Brooke 2
Next we deal with the mysterious figures obtaind at (AB1d).
Considering “o” as zero, we ignore “o” in ⑪ to ⑬. Thus we get 2. Though 1 looks like the letter E, we turn it together with the phrase “we gat no M” anticlockwise in 90-degree so that the phrase can be read easily, that is, can be read from the top. Then we get 3 the shape of the letter W.
Considering anticlockwise turn as going back in time, we regard 3 as the former, and 1 as the latter. In this order 3 1 can be read as “WE” which coincides with triple “we” at the ends of the words ① to ⑥, and “we” of “we gat no M”. Recall that we obtained
1 and 2 in this order. 1 2 can be read as “ES” which coincides with the ends of the words ⑦ to ⑬. So the required order is 3 1 2 ,which can be read as
“WES”→”WE S”
Moreover “W”and “S” denoted by 3 and 2 respectively coincide with the initials of William Shakespeare.
Without the hints by the ends of the words ① to ⑬, 2 can not be regarded as a proper shape of “s”, and 1 looks like the Greek capital Σ rather than modern E. Recall that Σ is the ancestor of English letter S. Recall also that “gat” of “we gat no M” is the past form of “get” in the old English. So we need to back to ancient times. ([16] p. 140 with heads translated from Japanese by me)
(AB2a)
By this chart, we perceive that all 1 2 3 are ancestors of modern “S”. This coincides with “WE S”. So they are also ancestors of Greek sigma Σ. S is regarded as the prototype of our cedilla, and hence as the prototype of medilla. The foot note of this chart says that in each area people used 3) or 4), and M-shaped 3) vanished later. So “we gat no M” refers to the stream from Phoenician letter 3. Among 1 2 3, the oldest one is the Phoenician letter 3. (Phoenician letter 3 is called “shin”, and denotes “tooth”.) Similarly, in the required order mentioned above, 3 was the oldest one. The chart shows us that the areas where people used 1 and 2 are Athens and Boeotia. For contemporaries of Shakespeare, the reliable source of this area was Herodotus’ “The Histories”. This can be known by the presence of the book [14]. We refer [13] BOOK FIVE pp.299-300.
（AB2b）
The Gephyraei, to whom the two men who killed Hipparchus belonged,
came, by their own account, originally from Eretria; but I have myself
looked into the matter and find that they were really Phoenicians,
descendants of those who came with Cadmus to what is now Boeotia where
they were allotted the district of Tanagra to make their homes in.
After the expulsion of the Cadmeans by the Argiva, the Gephyraei were
expelled by the Boeotians and took refuge in Athens, where they were
received into the community on certain stated terms, which excluded them
from a few privileges not worth mentioning here. The Phoenicians who
came with Cadmus - amongst whom were the Gephyraei - introduced into
Greece, after their settlement in the country, a number of accomplishments,
of which the most important was writing, an art till then, I think, unknown
to the Greeks. At first they used the same characters as all the other
Phoenicians, but as time went on, and they changed their language, they
also changed the shape of their letters. At that period most of the Greeks in
the neighbourhood were Ionians; they were taught these letters by the
Phoenicians and adopted them, with a few alterations, for their own use,
continuing to refer to them as the Phoenician characters - as was only right,
as the Phoenicians had introduced them.
Apart true or false, by this book, contemporaries of Shakespeare must have believed that Phoenician characters were first implemented into Boeotia, and they became the origin of Greek characters. In (AB2b) the career of Gephyraei is
Phoenicia→Boeotia→Athens
which coincides with our order 3 1 2 of “WE S” as follows.
Here we will refer to the end of Act 2 Scene 4 in Romeo and Juliet. ([1] pp.152-153)
For the explanation of this “R” which is bizarre at first glance, many researchers refer to Ben Jonson’s English Grammer published about 1600. It says that “R” sounds like dog’s growl. It seems to be appropriate. But at our first reading without any explanation as this, Nurse’s speech is interpreted as her mistake of “R” and “D”, and self correction of it without interruption. In (AB2a) the stream ended with modern Greek ρ (it is of course the stream of modern “r”) lies above the one started from Phoenician letter 3. Modern “R” took the shapes look alike modern “R” and “D” in Athens, when 1 and 2 were used. This “look alike” coincides with Nurse’s “Ah, mocker!” Our 1 and 2 lie beneath these “R” and “D”. So this Nurse’s difficult (and hence conspicuous in first reading) speech coincides with our recognition of 1 and 2 as two old “S” in Athens.
When our Phoenician letter 3 appeared, the word WE (3 1) was born, and “we gat no M” took the right place (from the top to the bottom). So it is natural to regard 3 itself denotes “we” of “we gat no M”. Single 3 as “we” must be the queen.
Now remember that s^ has started as “m” in (D3h). s^ was also the unrecognized successor of the throne. So “we gat no M” means that the queen denied the acknowledgement.
In time line, 1 and 2 are successors of the queen 3, and in alphabetical order, in same time and place, 1 and 2 are successors of “RD”. So these situation asserts that 1 and 2 denote s^, and s^ is a child of the queen and “RD”. (Of course this does not make the proof of the historical fact by itself.)