The Trial of Salvius
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© The Classical Couple.
Salvius, once governor in Britain, stands accused before the Emperor and the assembled Senate. The charge: forging the will of King Cogidubnus. Witnesses wait to speak. The evidence waits to be weighed.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the verdict. Solve one, and the case moves to the next — until, at the end, one final word will settle it.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a Roman trial.
Anagrams — unscramble eight words the prosecution and defense both use.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — one verb, every tense, active and passive.
Picture Count — reassemble a scattered scene, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the mismatched word in each row to reveal the verdict, then answer questions about it.
Final Rebus — one clue from every lock. Their first letters, rearranged, spell the final word.
Every answer box checks itself instantly. Spelling and capitalization are forgiving — macrons are never required.
Fifteen words from the courtroom. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Six cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the six red letters:
Eight words — verbs a prosecutor and a defendant both need. Unscramble each one.
A message has been shifted 3 letters forward through the alphabet. Shift each letter back 3 to decode it — the message speaks for itself. Answer the question it asks, in Latin.
Decode the message, then answer: Quid sum?
One verb, accūsō, accūsāre ("to accuse"), in every tense — active and passive. Drag each English meaning onto its matching Latin form.
The picture below has been scattered into 24 pieces — click two to swap them. Each piece locks in place once it's correct. When the whole picture is assembled, five counting questions will appear — in Latin, they ask quot ("how many") of each thing you can find.
Click two pieces to swap them. Correct pieces lock in place — keep going until the whole picture is assembled.
In each row, three tiles belong together and one doesn't. Drag out the odd tile. Find all 20 to learn what the Senate decided.
Now that the verdict is whole, answer these in Latin:
One clue from every lock you solved. Answer each in Latin — the first letter of each answer will reveal itself, in the order the locks appeared.
You're almost there! Arrange these letters to make a word.
The password was:
amīcus — "friend." In the end, it was loyalty — who kept faith, and who betrayed it — that decided the case.