TGDB.NET - S.P.Q.R. - The Empire's Darkest Hour solution
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The Unofficial S.P.Q.R.Tm Walkthrough
for CyberSites' "S.P.Q.R.TM: The Empire's Darkest Hour" on CD-ROM
by Venusta

 Introduction
 Game Start
 January
 February
 March
 April
 May
 June
 July
 August
 September
 October
 November
 December
 Endgame
 Things Not to Bother With (Semi-spoilers)
 Acknowledgments
 Links to Roman Citizens' Sites

 New! Each section contains a "Just Hints" area for those who don't
 want to be totally "spoiled." Just go to the section you want help
 with, and view "Just Hints" for subtle hints or view "Spoilers"
 for a complete walkthrough for that section's puzzles.

 Introduction

 It is 205 A.D., and Septimius Severus reigns over the vast Roman
 Empire. But an oracle has predicted disaster: the Calamitus, a
 clever saboteur whose mission is to destroy Rome. The ingenious
 inventor Cornelius has summoned you to identify and foil the
 Calamitus. He has put at your disposal his Navitor, a prototype
 device allowing you to travel about the city at will, find the
 necessary clues, and save Rome from destruction. (See Game Start -
 The Navitor for the workings of this technological marvel.) You
 must accomplish this task within the space of a year. But the
 Calamitus is very slippery, and there will be various acts of
 sabotage throughout the year that you must investigate. There are
 five suspects, whose notebooks and journals you will find and read
 along the way; one of them is the Calamitus. This Walkthrough will
 help you get the clues you need, zero in on the correct suspect,
 and stop the Calamitus in time to preserve the Empire.

 Saving your game and quitting:

 Remember that you can save your game at any time by pressing ESC,
 pointing your cursor at an empty space on the list to highlight
 it, and clicking Save. The saved game will indicate the location
 and date at the point you saved. To load a saved game, press ESC,
 highlight it, and click Load. You can overwrite an old saved game
 by highlighting its entry and clicking Save; you'll be asked to
 confirm that you want to overwrite it. "Exitus" exits this window
 and returns you to the game at the point you saved it; "Quit"
 quits the game.

 Game Start

 Just Hints

 Sewer: Examine the machinery.

 First room: If it's broke, fix it!

 Second room: Reading is fundamental.

 Spoilers

 Sewer: You are in a sewer; ahead of you is a gate with a ladder
 behind it. To open the gate, click over to the crank. Pick up the
 little handle and place it in the hole on the top of the crank.
 Then click to turn the crank until the boat rises; continue until
 it stops. The gate should now be open; go up the ladder and turn
 the door handle.

 Useless things to play with: the brazier to the left of the crank
 (pick up the coal on the floor, put it in the brazier, and watch
 the flame flare up); the skeleton on the wall (running the cursor
 over the missing thighbone area produces a "click" -- but remember
 this for the Endgame).

 Cornelius's Office: At the model city, click on the fallen
 buildings to pick them up; a scroll pops up; read it, and click on
 the picture to run the little mini-video that shows you where
 Cornelius's desk is. Picking up the little buildings also opens
 the door to the next room, where Cornelius's desk is. Go to the
 desk, read all the scrolls and the note, click on the box to open
 it (you can't open the box until after you've clicked on the
 note), and get the crank. It will fly over to the Navitor. You
 might also want to play with the four machines a bit; each one is
 associated with a season. Ver=Spring; Aestas=Summer; Autumnus
 =Autumn; Hiems=Winter. Notice that there are also doors marked
 "Ver" and "Autumnus". This will give you an idea of what to do and
 where to go when you need to restart the Navitor after its
 seasonal breakdowns in March, June, September, and November.

 The Navitor

 Start the Navitor by pulling the crank to the right. Here's how it
 works:

 Time. The crank can be manipulated to slow down or speed up the
 passage of time; slower to the left, faster to the right. All the
 way to the left brings you back to Cornelius's study; pull to the
 right to restart. All the way to the right will go extra fast if
 you hold it there; very useful for advancing to the next date that
 something will be open if you don't feel like wandering around
 waiting for time to pass automatically. Keep it at a
 slow-to-moderate pace at the beginning, until you've familiarized
 yourself with the Forum and done everything you need to do the
 first month. You cannot go backward in time, unless you reload a
 saved game (see below). The center of the timebar indicates
 today's date in ancient Roman reckoning: "a.d." stands for "ante
 diem," or days before; "Kal." stands for Kalends, the first day of
 the month; "Non." stands for Nones, the 5th or 7th day of the
 month; and "Id." stands for Ides, the 13th or 15th day of the
 month. "Pridie" stands for the day before, i.e., the "eve" of the
 Kalends, Nones, or Ides of the month. Thus, for example, "a.d. XII
 Kal. Aug." is 12 days before the 1st of August -- in other words,
 you're in July, but past the Ides (or middle) of July. Nearly all
 of the places you have to visit to solve the puzzles will have
 specific opening dates (e.g., the Regia sign says "Apertus XIV
 Kal. Nov.", which is in October). Some dates will be indicated in
 the scrolls or Acta. You cannot get inside the place to solve the
 puzzle until on or after the specified date.

 Calendar: The scroll just above the timebar brings up a visual
 clue to where you'll need to solve that month's puzzle. There is
 one major puzzle each month (in addition to many minor ones).
 Press the button to the right to go forward and get a preview; the
 one to the left moves backward.

 Info. The nameplates contain the characters' notebooks, containing
 useful historical information about all aspects of ancient Rome,
 as well as clues to some of the puzzles you'll encounter as you go
 along. To get a table of contents, click on the initial on the
 bottom left of the notebook scroll. To move forward in the
 scrolls, click on the right; backward, to the left. The "Exitus"
 button exits the notebook. When a name is lit, click to read the
 notebook entry; it may contain clues. You can read the notebooks
 any time, even when the name isn't lit.

 Storage: Most of the non-scroll items you pick up (i.e., those not
 to be used immediately) will be stored in one of the two cabinets
 at the bottom left and right of the Navitor. The doors move down
 to open and up to close.

 Maps: The storage doors, when closed, have two maps. The one on
 the left is architectural, and allows you to click on individual
 buildings to see their layout. The one on the right is of the city
 itself. The places you visit are marked with circles; a flashing
 circle is where you're at now. You can hyperjump from one place to
 another by clicking on a circle near where you want to be. The
 names of the places are indicated at the bottom of the map as your
 cursor moves over them. Look for the turned-down edges indicating
 that you can turn the page to see more maps. "Exitus" exits.

 Compass: Bottom right. For use in conjunction with the city map.
 Shows you which way you're facing.

 Acta Diurna: Bottom left. Dated official mouthpiece of the
 Emperor; flashes when there's a new one. Can contain clues and
 indications as to when an important festival will be or when and
 where a crime you need to "investigate" was committed. Can be read
 anytime, even when not flashing, and you can go backward and
 forward (click "Retro" for backward; click on the right to go
 forward) but you cannot go into the future. Some Acta go beyond
 one page -- look for a "Cont." button. "Exitus" to exit.

 Scrolls: Each character's dated scrolls are stored on the
 five-slot shelf below the viewer. (See January for where to find
 all five.) A new scroll is indicated when it unfurls; click on it
 to read it. You can read scrolls even when they're furled; click,
 and the most recent one appears. Like the Acta, you can go
 backward or forward (look for the furled edges), but not beyond
 the date you're at. Scrolls contain textual and visual clues to
 minor and major puzzles, as well as giving an idea of each
 character's history and personality, and his or her possible
 motives for being the Calamitus.

 January

 Just Hints

 Where are the scrolls? Ask someone with a map.

 Getting the scrolls:

 Verania: Under your nose.

 Lucius: Drinking and boating DO go together -- count on it!

 Gordian: Pick one from column A, one from column B, etc. -- but
 get it right from the ground up. (See Lucius's notebook.)

 Xanthus: A stone is a many-sided thing. (See Gordian's notebook.)

 Sibyl: Mirror mirror on the wall . . . . Monkey see, monkey do.
 (See Sibyl's notebook.)

 The strongbox:

 The twins have the key, and the box.

 In Gordian's journal, between a nag and an inconvenience lies a
 security precaution, especially on January 22nd.

 Trust Gordian -- he knows all the angles.

 Spoilers

 You'll find yourself in the Forum, behind the Arch of Severus, on
 the first day of the year, Kal. Jan.

 1. Get all five scrolls:

 Locations are marked on one of the maps in Gordian's notebook.

 Verania - under the Arch of Severus -- you'll see it as soon as
 you get to the Forum from Cornelius's study. Verania is the
 Vestalis Maxima, or head of the Vestal Virgins.

 Lucius - upstairs at the Wineshop (just west of the Senate House).
 Go to the cabinet with the two levers and set both at VII. (The
 clue to this is at the bottom of the stairs -- if you click on the
 tree in the boat picture, grapes appear; click on the grapes, and
 dolphins appear. There are 7.) The cabinet opens, revealing
 Lucius's scroll. Lucius is the drunken son of a Senator, now a
 sort of private eye. Notice the wooden soldiers on his desk.
 Useless things to play with: the box by the stairs (which opens to
 reveal an animated helmet); the items on his desk; the other
 pictures in the wineshop downstairs.

 Gordian - up the Stair of Sighs in the Tabularium (next to the
 Tullian Jail), left, straight twice, and through the door to the
 right. Pick up the compass, which draws a circle and opens a door
 to the center office (Gordian's). Behind his desk is a picture of
 four columns with four boxes. Click to see the names of the column
 types; then click and drag to put them in the boxes in the right
 order from the ground up: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite.
 (Clue in Lucius's notebook entry on the Colosseum.) A gate to the
 right of the desk will open; go into that room and get Gordian's
 scroll. Gordian is the Curator Fori (curator of the Forum) and a
 prominent engineer. Useless things to play with: the other
 pictures on the walls.

 Xanthus - the third of the offices in the Tabularium. At the desk,
 place the stones in the numbered grooves according to the number
 of sides each has (i.e., the pyramid has four sides, so place it
 in the groove marked "IV" - clue in Gordian's notebook). You'll
 hear a click; turn around and click on the cabinet door to get his
 scroll. Xanthus is a foreigner working for Gordian.

 Sibyl - go to the alley next to the Temple of Vespasian. Turn the
 skull to open the curtain. On the table to the right is a note
 saying, "Who is the greatest Sibyl of them all?" Turn to the left
 wall (which says the same thing in Latin) and click on "Roma" on
 the map. The back curtain will open. Look at the box on the table
 to the left, then repeat the sequence of skulls in the dishes to
 the right (i.e., the third dish should be empty). The box will
 open -- get the scroll. (Clue in Sibyl's notebook on Dreams.)
 Sibyl is a fortune teller. Useless things to play with: the Zodiac
 wall; the things on her tables.

 2. Open Gordian's strongbox:

 A. Find the key to Gordian's Taberna. Gordian tells in his scrolls
 of finding a mysterious document, possibly belonging to Xanthus.
 On Gordian's desk in the Tabularium is a notebook with "Castor and
 Pollux" written on it. Turn the pages to find a key. Click on it;
 it will automatically go into your storage cabinet.

 B. Find Gordian's Taberna. Go to the alley on the west (Basilica
 Julia) side of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, where you will
 find a locked green door. Click on the key in your storage cabinet
 to open the door (the key remains in your storage cabinet in case
 you want to go back). You'll see a strongbox with a combination
 lock and two other closed wooden boxes.

 C. Open the strongbox. Enter XXIII on the strongbox by turning the
 wheels so that the numbers appear in the second set from the top,
 leaving the last number blank. (Clue to number: Gordian has a
 "hidden scroll" for a.d. X Kal. Feb. -- his scroll doesn't unfurl
 on that date, and if you click on the furled scroll on a.d. X Kal.
 Feb., you get his previous scroll for a.d. XIII Kal. Feb., called
 "The Nag." Notice, though, that on a.d. X Kal. Feb., the upper
 right corner of "The Nag" scroll is turned down, indicating
 another scroll after it. Click on the corner, and you'll find a
 scroll entitled "A Security Precaution" with a picture of a
 column, a circle over the column, and a number at the right. Point
 at the small circle at the bottom of the larger circle and drag it
 down until it reaches the bottom of the column. A right angle
 appears and the number changes to XXIII. If you're past a.d. X
 Kal. Feb., Gordian's next scroll is "An Inconvenience" on a.d. VII
 Kal. Feb., and you can flip backwards to "A Security Precaution"
 from there.) Press the button to open the box. Then pull the left
 lever ("sinister"=left). This opens the box to the left. Pull the
 left lever and go to the third box. Pull the right lever
 ("dexter"=right) and go back to the strongbox. There, you will
 find a partial list of ways in which Rome can be destroyed,
 presumably written by the Calamitus. This is a preview of the acts
 of sabotage you'll be investigating over the next year.

 February

 Just Hints

 Treasure lies beneath your feet.

 You pay your money and you take your chances.

 Every picture tells a story. (See Verania's notebook.)

 Spoilers

 The Lupercal Cave (a.d. XV Kal. Mar.)

 The scrolls and Acta report vandalism at the altar of the Lupercal
 Cave during the Lupercalia festival. Enter the Lacus Curtius well
 in the center of the Forum. Pick up one of the coins. Turn right;
 you'll see a loose brick. Click to break a hole open. To the right
 is Xanthus's lair (nothing important there, but you can play with
 the wooden horse picture); go to the left. At the big stone block,
 turn left to find an open passageway. Follow it to the end (past
 another block) and turn right. Go up the stairs and to the right
 to exit; you're under the Arch of Severus (if you turn back around
 toward the left, you'll find a staircase leading up to the top of
 the Arch, where there are some lovely views of Rome. In December
 there will be a clue there). Go east through the Forum and turn
 right (south) at the Temple of Vesta. Go up the stairs (this is
 the Via Nova) until you see a slot. Click on the coin; it flies
 into the slot and you'll be transported up the hill. Go through
 the doors in front of you and down into the cave. At the altar,
 rearrange the tiles in the chronological order of the story of
 Romulus and Remus -- babies, wolf, twins, man wielding sword, dead
 man, victorious man (clue in Verania's notebook). Then click on
 the final picture; the altar box will open, revealing a wooden
 horse, a stone key, and a scroll. Click on all three. Note that
 the scrolls you find in the monthly puzzles will name the "useful"
 item you've found (here, it's the stone key) -- the other item is
 a clue to the identity of the person who left it there (see
 Endgame).These scrolls also give a hint as to how this person
 would destroy Rome; click on the picture in the scroll to run an
 animation of how it would be done.

 March

 Just Hints

 Restarting the Navitor: You'll get it by hook or by crook in
 Spring.

 The puzzle: Get thee behind me and figure out the difference
 between then and now. Then light my fire!

 Spoilers

 1. Restart the Navitor.

 It is now Spring (Ver), so on Kal. Mar. the Navitor breaks down
 and you're back in Cornelius's study. Go to the double doors at
 the back of the study (to the right of the Navitor) and click on
 the handle. A note appears under the door with a code number (59).
 Go to the Ver table (to the right of the Navitor),enter LIX on the
 box, and take the machine piece out. Insert the piece between the
 crank and the vents and run the machine. A slot opens along the
 table edge; pull the knob. Find the door marked "Ver" by going to
 the left of the Navitor, and then to the right. Go in, climb the
 ladder, and attach the hook to the bellows. The Navitor will now
 run; go back to it, pull the crank to the right, and find yourself
 back at the Arch of Severus.

 2. The Vestal Flame (Id. Mar.)

 The scrolls and Acta report the Eternal Flame going out. Across
 from the back of the Temple of Vesta is a set of doors. Go through
 and get the lens holder. Turn around and pull the lever by the
 door; a backdoor to the Temple opens. Slide the upper wooden knob
 to enter "Kal. Mar." -- the date of the old New Year and when the
 Vestals relight the flame -- at the top. With the lower knob,
 enter the number of days between Kal. Mar. and today (if today is
 Id. Mar., enter XV). Pull the lever; a little door at the bottom
 right opens to reveal a lens. Click on it and enter the front of
 the Temple. Attach the lens to the holder above the brazier; the
 flame lights up the Temple, revealing on the side a skull, a vial,
 and a scroll. Get them.

 April

 Just Hints

 Play the ancient fiddler.

 The right isn't right, but be quick.

 Patience is a virtue when you want to leave.

 Spoilers

 Temple of Antoninus and Faustina/Water Organ (Pridie Id. Apr.)

 This temple is at the northeast end of the Forum, just past the
 Temple of Caesar. Inside the temple is a pump and an organ. Pull
 the pump lever, then go to the organ and slide the knobs on the
 doors to open them. You'll see that you need to enter a
 four-letter word. Press the 8th, 9th, 1st, and 2nd keys, spelling
 "NERO". (Clue: this is referred to in scrolls and notebooks as
 "Nero's water organ," and if you press all twelve keys in order
 from left to right it spells out "ROMA INCENDIT" -- "Rome burns".)
 VERYQUICKLY click to the LEFT (there's a niche there) -- the back
 wall is opening. (Although it appears that the opening is to the
 right, all you'll find on the right side is a soldier statue,
 which doesn't help you very much. If you miss the left-hand
 opening, just start over and enter NERO again.) Inside you'll find
 a wooden soldier, a piece of marble, and a scroll. Get them, turn
 around, and wait until the niche turns into a door, which leads
 out to the back of the temple. If you try to exit too soon, you'll
 wind up back in the organ room, and you can't get through the
 front doors; the head of the horseman statue turns to look at you
 (shades of "Jason and the Argonauts"!). You can retry all of this
 if you don't get it right the first time.

 May

 Just Hints

 What really weighs what -- and where?

 Remember your multiplication tables.

 Spoilers

 Aerarium/Weights (a.d. XIV Kal. Iun)

 The Acta and scrolls will tell of a break-in at the Aerarium and
 the possibility that the weights were tampered with. Go to the
 alley on the east side of Castor and Pollux (not the one where you
 found Gordian's strongbox in January, but the other side). Go
 through the Aerarium doors on the right and go around to the back
 of the room (right, ahead, left, ahead, left, left). You'll see a
 scale, a lever, some numbered weights, and a funnel marked "XXXV"
 (35).

 Hang the weights in this order: I, II, V, IV. Pull the lever so
 that sand flows into the scale pan, until the scale is even (if
 you go too far, just keep letting the sand flow until the pan
 dumps itself, then pull the lever to start again). Remove the pan
 and pour the sand into the funnel. A niche above the funnel opens,
 revealing a stylus, a weight, and a scroll. (Clue: in one of the
 scrolls or Acta, there is a reference to the weights being
 tampered with. IV is debased by 1/4; and the hooks increase in
 multiples, i.e., 1st=x1,2nd=x2, 3rd=x3, 4th=x4. Thus, the 1 1b.
 weight on the first hook is 1 lb., the 2 lb. weight on the second
 hook is 4 lbs., the 5 lb. weight on the third hook is 15 lbs., and
 the debased 4 lb. weight on the fourth hook is 15 lbs. Total: 35
 lbs.; you have to put 35 lbs. of sand in the funnel to open the
 niche.)

 June

 Just Hints

 Restarting the Navitor: Optimum is best where Spring leads to
 Summer.

 The puzzle:

 The Sacred Grove holds many secrets. Can you dig it?

 Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, And burnt the
 topless towers of Ilium? (See Verania's notebook.)

 A very jarring situation.

 Spoilers

 1. Restart the Navitor:

 On Kal. June the Navitor breaks down. Again, get your clue (19)
 from under the double doors. Enter XIX on the box at the Aestas
 table (left of the desk), get the piece, attach it to the side of
 the rocket launcher, run the machine, and pull the knob. Enter the
 Ver door and find the Aestas door to the right. Get the water
 running by clicking on the wheels (the right one first) until the
 level is at OPT. Back to the Navitor.

 2. Sacred Grove/Palladium (a.d. III Id. Iun.)

 The Acta and scrolls report the theft of the Palladium, a small
 sacred statue kept hidden in the House of the Vestal Virgins. Go
 to the Sacred Grove behind the House of the Vestal Virgins (to the
 southeast) by going up the Via Nova and making a left at the
 fountain. Go straight and turn right at the gates. Go through the
 gates, turn around, close the right-hand gate, and go through the
 secret door. Get the shovel, turn around, close the door, and go
 through another secret door at the left. Go upstairs, straight up
 the hill, left, straight, three rights, and find the grass patch
 that looks disturbed. Click on the shovel to dig up the Palladium
 (a small statue of a woman). Then go left and straight down the
 hill to the other exit(not the one you came in). Go down the
 stairs, turn right, open the door, go in, turn around, close the
 door, and click on another door to the right to exit.

 Turn left and go through the back door of the House of the Vestal
 Virgins. Put the statute in the niche. You'll hear a door open. Go
 through the door and press "Troia" on the map (Verania's notebook
 tells the story of Aeneas bringing the Palladium to Rome from
 Troy; the scrolls and Acta tell of its theft from the secret jar
 it's usually stored in). Find the room with the jars. Pull the
 jars to the right, then the left, which sends a jar to the next
 room (the button rearranges the jars in case you make a mistake).
 Go back to the niche and click on the Palladium, which flies over
 to the room with the single jar in a groove. Click on the jar.
 Look up to find the Regia capstone (marked "V"), an acorn, and a
 scroll. Exit by going back up the stairs and out to the Grove
 gates; you can also exit by going through the small wooden door
 into the House of the Vestal Virgins.

 July

 Just Hints

 What comes up, must come down, then go out, then go up.

 Veni, vidi, vici -- chronologically. (See Gordian's notebook.)

 If heat makes things bigger, then cold . . .

 Go with the flow of hot to not so hot.

 Spoilers

 Temple of Caesar/Baths (a.d. IV Id. Iul.)

 You'll read about the flooding of the Temple of Caesar due to a
 malfunction at the nearby Baths. Go to the temple (east end of the
 Forum) and insert the stone key into the altar in front. Pull it
 right, then left, revealing an unlit torch. Light the torch at the
 flaming torch to the altar's left. You'll be transported inside.
 Go down to the pot and release all the water by pulling on the
 handle at the bottom. When the pot rises, go up, turn so you're
 facing the pot, and look up. Attach the rope hook to the pot hook,
 which sends you out of the temple, but opens the main temple
 doors. Go up to the main doors and enter. At the map, press
 Gallia, Aegyptus, Asia, Africa (clue in Gordian's notebook entry
 on Julius Caesar ñ the order of his campaigns.)

 Go through the gate at the right of the map. You'll find yourself
 on the other side of the room with the pot. Go through the tunnel
 and enter the barrel-shaped door. Pick up the bar in the sunken
 area and bring it to the Frigidarium; dip it in the water to cool
 it down and shrink it. Go to the pump room and attach the bar to
 the pump by placing the center over the brass knob between the
 pumps. On the left(marked "Intro") press "C"; on the right
 ("Exitus") press "T", which drains water from the Calidarium into
 the "Tepidarium" (i.e., the sunken area you saw before). When the
 Tepidarium is full, enter the Calidarium and look into the tub --
 it should be empty except for a gold box. Open the box and get the
 curved wire, wooden horse, and scroll. (Clue to all this is in the
 scrolls -- complaints about the temperature of the baths.) Examine
 the scroll carefully and play with the animation; you can't take
 it with you and you can't re-open that gold box once you leave the
 room. Note that turning the animated valve clockwise shuts the
 flow of water off; counterclockwise turns it on. This is relevant
 to one of the possible endings.

 August

 Just Hints

 Can cows swim?

 I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth with a bang over
 there.

 Spoilers

 Tiber River/Crossbow (a.d. IX Kal. Sep.)

 You'll see reports that someone has flooded the cattle market down
 by the Tiber. Go down to the river by following the street to the
 left of the Temple of Saturn until you hit some wooden machinery
 (to the right of which is where Gordian's temple is being built --
 you can check on its progress periodically).Click on the machinery
 and continue to the river steps. To the left is the flooded cattle
 market mentioned in the scrolls and Acta -- playing with the
 animals does nothing important, but it's fun. Downstairs, you'll
 see a bunch of junk and a box marked "Explosive." Go back up the
 stairs and continue to the bridge; make a left. On the left-hand
 railing is a crossbow. Click on the wire thing you found in the
 Baths and it will attach itself to the crossbow. Click on one of
 the arrows to "load" it. Watch the wind indicator to the right,
 and try to fire at the spot near the temple in the distance (where
 the junk is). Keep trying until there's an explosion; a wooden
 horse, a "water key", and a scroll come flying down.

 September

 Just Hints

 Restarting the Navitor: Get the connection in Autumn.

 The puzzle:

 Whaddaya got that Vespasian ain't got?

 Crawlin' through the wreckage.

 Jupiter has something to relay.

 Find in the light going up what you couldn't find in the dark
 going down.

 Spoilers

 1. Restart the Navitor.

 The Kal. Sep. breakdown brings you back to Cornelius's study.
 Again, go to the double doors and get the note with the code
 number: 95. Go to the Autumnus table to the right of the desk,
 enter the XCV in the box, get the piece, attach it to the bolts,
 run the machine, and pull the knob. Find the Autumnus door to the
 left of the double doors. Set the switches at 1 down, 2 and 3 up,
 and 4 down. Remove the fuse from the bolts at the left to make the
 electrical connection; you'll see blue sparks. Back to the
 Navitor.

 2. Temple of Vespasian/Finance Office/Relay Station (Id. Sep.)

 You'll hear about an explosion at the Finance Office, allegedly
 caused by a thunderbolt from the Temple of Jupiter. At the corner
 of the Temple of Vespasian, at the alley near Sibyl's taberna, is
 a stone map with "Id. Sep." carved into the missing map area.
 Click on the marble piece you found earlier to fill it in. The
 door at the end of the alley opens. Enter and go through the door
 to find the burning Finance Office. Go out into the rubble, turn
 right, look down, and get the fuse attached to the wire. Turn
 around and go straight up the stairs, which transports you to a
 hill behind the Tabularium. Go left and up the stairs toward
 Jupiter. Look for a golden door with a wire leading down from the
 Temple of Jupiter. Open the door and follow the wire down the
 stairs, press the button to open the door, go down the hill, and
 go to the right, where you'll see a small building (the Relay
 Station). Enter the building and click on the fuse to attach it to
 the connector on the left (this lights the stairs you just came
 down). Go back up to the stairs and look in the right-hand wall
 (as you're going up) for a wooden niche, where you'll find a
 second fuse. Get it and return to the Relay Station. Attach the
 second fuse to the first, then pull the fuse on the right over so
 that it attaches to the ones on the left. At the left of the room,
 you'll see a switch; throw it, and the big box opens. Get the arch
 form, soldier, and scroll.

 October

 Just Hints

 Spell it, outside and inside.

 Who conquered what? (See Gordian's Notebook.)

 Spoilers

 Regia/Shields (a.d. XIV Kal. Nov.)

 The Acta and scrolls report tampering with the sacred shields of
 Mars at the Regia. Enter the Regia(near the Temple of Vesta). On
 the floor to the left is a circular inscription; click on the
 "capstone" you found earlier. This opens the courtyard door. There
 are three circles on the ground here; each has three rings. Move
 the rings on each circle so that each forms a letter: PAX.
 (There's a fun animation on one of the blank niches here, by the
 way; move your cursor over the figures to see them twirl.) This
 process opens a second door; enter it, open the cabinet, and solve
 the anagram puzzle: BELLUM ET PAX(war and peace). This opens yet
 another door, to the shield room. Hang the appropriate shield on
 each emperor's name (clue in Gordian's notebook on Emperors):
 Arabia on Severus, Gallia on Julius, Egypt on Augustus, Britannia
 on Claudius, Dacia on Trajan. A hole in the floor opens up. Go
 down and get the acorn, Regia tunnel key, and scroll. Open the
 door, and you'll find yourself in the House of the Vestal Virgins.

 November

 Just Hints

 Restarting the Navitor: See Cornelius's sketch and go from Spring
 to Winter.

 The puzzle: Rebuild, and add your own touch.

 Spoilers

 1. Restart the Navitor.

 On Kal. Nov., it becomes Winter. This one is complex; there's a
 sketch of part of it in one of Cornelius's scrolls. Again, at the
 double doors, get the note with the number code (41); go to the
 Hiems table at the left of the Navitor, enter XLI, get the piece,
 attach it next to the similar piece on the right of the machine,
 run the machine, and pull the knob. Then go through the Ver door
 to find the Hiems door at the left and the final machine. Each of
 the three levers has three positions; the big one on the
 left(marked A in Cornelius's drawing) goes from left to right, I
 II III; the next (B and C) go from down to up, I II III. Put A at
 II, B at III, and C at II. Then press the button (D) and WORK
 QUICKLY: B at II, C at III, B at I, A at I. If the machine dies
 down before you complete the second sequence, just start over.
 When it's running, go back to the Navitor.

 2. Gordian's Temple/Arch (a.d. XVI Kal. Dec.)

 You'll see references in the scrolls and Acta to the building and
 destruction of Gordian's temple. Go to the building site (south of
 Saturn, near where you entered the Tiber area). You'll see a
 toppled arch and a crane with a lever. Rebuild the archway by
 clicking on a piece to get the crane to pick it up, rotating the
 piece with the lever, and clicking on where you want it to go.
 Start with a rectangle at the bottom left space, a square at the
 bottom right, a rectangle to the left, a square to the left, a
 rectangle to the left, a rectangle with a curve on its right side
 to the left, and a rectangle with a curve on its left side to the
 right. Then get the big wooden arch piece, rotate so that the
 straight side is on the bottom, and put the piece on the top. Then
 add the small arch piece, rotate it, and place on the right side;
 click on your arch piece and put it on top. Then add the small
 curved pieces and, finally, the keystone. When it transforms into
 a completed archway, click on the top of it to go through into the
 building site. Among the rubble, find the axe, a wooden soldier,
 and a scroll. You'll notice when you look up that a wall has
 opened just beyond this area; this is the Elements Door, but don't
 try to solve that one until you've completed December's puzzle and
 are ready to proceed to the Endgame.

 December

 Just Hints

 On top of old Severus, all covered with clues . . .

 The glittering monument has got your number.

 You can run rings around Saturn.

 Able was I ere I saw Elba.

 Be forceful with the statue -- if you choose.

 Spoilers

 Temple of Saturn (a.d. IV Id. Dec.)

 You're in the home stretch now. You'll see references in the
 scrolls and Acta to the robbery of gold from the Aerarium. But you
 won't be using the same entrance as you did for the weights puzzle
 in May. Go underneath the stairs of the Temple of Saturn and click
 on the vault door there. The combination is CLXV. (Clue: go to the
 top of the Arch of Severus using the stairs at the end of the
 Lacus Curtius tunnels, only when you get out, turn around again
 and you'll see a staircase going up. At the top, you'll see a gold
 circle and batons, as well as graffiti saying "Cumae." Cumae was
 conquered in the year CLXV, as you'll see from the inscription on
 the Golden Milestone near the Aerarium vault door.) Go to the
 planetary map and get the ring of Saturn. Go out and up Saturn's
 front stairs. Click on the ring; it reappears on the doors, which
 open when you click on them. To the left is an anagram/palindrome
 puzzle. Solve it by picking up each letter and running it over the
 board until it magically appears in several places. Or, enter,
 from top to bottom (or left to right), ROTAS, OPERA, TENET,
 AREPO,SATOR. Go to the statue; what you do now will determine the
 ending of the game:

 1. Ignore the statue and proceed to Endgame. (I prefer the ending
 that results from this one.)

 2. Click on the panel beneath the statue to open it slightly, then
 click on your axe to get it out and click on the axe again to
 break the panel open. Get the wooden soldier, bone, and scroll.
 Proceed to Endgame.

 Endgame

 Just Hints

 Brave the elements.

 Not all woods are created equal. (See Gordian's notebook.)

 Go out with a bang, but don't give up!

 Who left the most toys?

 If I were Calamitus, I'd enjoy Winter, where:

 I could be rather cutting,

 OR

 the shinbone's connected to the . . .

 Spoilers

 Must be completed before Kal. Jan.!

 1. Identify the Suspect.

 To help identify your suspect, the final scrolls of all five
 characters will open simultaneously at some point during
 Saturnalia (after Id. Dec.). Each describes what he/she would do
 if he/she were the Calamitus and how to stop him/her. Check to
 make sure you have all the items they mention: the axe (Lucius --
 but if you used the axe in Saturn, make sure you at least have the
 bone), the Regia tunnel key(Verania), the "water key" (Xanthus),
 the vial (Sibyl), and the counterweight (Gordian). Then look at
 the bottom shelf of your storage area; here are all the soldiers
 and horses etc. that you haven't had any apparent use for. But
 each different item is a symbol for each character, and Cornelius
 said in one of his scrolls that the person associated with the
 greatest number of crimes must be the Calamitus. The soldiers
 stand for Lucius (on his desk in the Wine shop), the acorns for
 Verania (on her desk in the House of the Vestal Virgins), the
 horses for Xanthus (on his table in the Lacus Curtius lair), the
 skull for Sibyl (in the back room of her taberna), and the stylus
 for Gordian (on his desk in the Tabularium). If you used the axe
 in Saturn, you should have 4 soldiers, 3 horses, 2 acorns, 1
 skull, and 1 stylus. Lucius, then, is the Calamitus. If you didn't
 use the axe, you'll have 3 soldiers, making Xanthus look like a
 likely suspect too, but Lucius is the man. If you stay in the
 Forum long enough before going on to the next step, Sibyl
 exonerates herself in a final scroll, in which she says that
 Cornelius speaks through her "from beyond."

 2. The Elements Door.

 Go back to Gordian's destroyed temple site (through the rebuilt
 arch) and straight ahead to a court yard. To the right is
 Cornelius's Elements Door. You'll need to click twice on each of
 two of the panels and once on each of the two remaining panels --
 it doesn't matter which ones. For example, click twice on the
 first panel (upper left), once on the second (upper right), twice
 on the third (lower left), and once on the fourth (lower right).
 (Clue in Gordian's "Measures" notebook on the properties of wood ñ
 he mentions what the door is made of, and in the chart of woods,
 the number of times "max" appears is the number of times you
 click. There's also a clue in the final scroll in Saturn, assuming
 you used the axe and got it.) Turn the door handle and enter. The
 Navitor promptly shuts down and explodes, scattering the five
 "stop the Calamitus" items on the floor, along with the first
 initial of each character's name.

 3. Stop the Calamitus.

 Clicking on the initials will re-play the "If I Were Calamitus..."
 messages. Click on your suspect's item to pick it up.

 A. Lucius. If you're going with Lucius (as you should, but the
 other endings are fun to see), click on the axe or bone. You
 already know from his "If I Were Calamitus" message that he plans
 to blow up Cornelius's manure boat in the sewer (the one you
 cranked up at the game start, and which powers the Navitor), and
 that you can stop him by cutting the boat free with the axe. Go
 through the wrecked Ver door and to the left through the old Hiems
 door, where the conveyor belt is, and click on the belt. You'll be
 transported to the sewer -- the same sewer you entered the game
 from. If you chose to keep the axe, get over to the rope holding
 up the boat and click on it. The axe cuts the rope, sending the
 boat out of the sewer and into the Tiber, where it blows up. This
 ending I like best; you'll see the ancient Forum morph into the
 way it looks today, in modern Rome. If you went for the bone, go
 over to the skeleton and click on the missing thigh. The wall
 crashes forward, knocking the boat out of the sewer. This
 transforms Rome into an ancient technological Utopia -- the ending
 Cornelius would have liked, I think.

 B. Xanthus. He's not the right man, but his ending is fun. Click
 on the water key and go out through the courtyard. You'll be
 transported all the way up the Via Nova stairs and through those
 mysterious wooden doors you couldn't do anything with. This is the
 Valve House. Click on the machine and the water key appears.
 Xanthus says that he can be stopped by rotating the water key "in
 the opposite direction" until it runs off the teeth. Remember the
 scroll in the Baths. If you turn the key counterclockwise, it
 causes a flood, and Byzantium takes over. If you turn it
 clockwise, Rome burns, the Goths take over, and Xanthus is made
 king.

 C. Gordian. Click on the counterweight and try to go out the
 courtyard door; you won't even make it, for Rome burns, the Goths
 take over, and Xanthus is made king.

 D. Verania or Sibyl. Click on their respective items; as with
 Gordian, you won't make it out the door. Rome burns and Byzantium
 takes over.

 Things Not To Bother With

 (Semi-Spoilers)

 Places you can see but can't get into: The Senate House, the
 Temple of Concord, the Tullian Jail, the Temple of Castor and
 Pollux, the Cloaca Maxima (no, not even through that grate in the
 Lacus Curtius tunnel!), the alcoves along the Via Nova, the Tiber
 River, the Temple of Hercules (at the Tiber); the pool in the
 House of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple of Jupiter.

 Places you've heard about but can't get into: The Valve House
 (except during the Xanthus ending), the cistern under the Regia,
 the Imperial Palace, the reservoir on the Palatine Hill, the
 mundus, the Field of Wickedness (where Verania was buried alive),
 the Colosseum.

 Places you can get into but that hold nothing of importance
 (except possibly generating notebook entries): The Basilica Julia,
 the Basilica Aemilia, the Rostra, the top of the Arch of Severus
 (unless you really need that clue to the Aerarium door in
 December).

 Things that do nothing: The gates, stone blocks, and grate in the
 Lacus Curtius; the mysterious wooden doors on the stairs of the
 Via Nova -- they only open for the Xanthus ending.

 Things you can play with but that do nothing important: Most of
 the items on the characters' desks make some kind of appropriate
 noise when you click on them; the chains across the doorways in
 the Lacus Curtius tunnel rattle, and some of the closed gates make
 a clanging sound; the livestock in the Cattle Market make barnyard
 sounds; wall pictures not mentioned above often display some kind
 of fun animation.

 Acknowledgments

 This Walkthrough was the result of hours of play, but by no means
 my own alone. Many thanks to my fellow Citizens of Rome, whose
 cleverness in solving the puzzles they generously shared with me
 and other desperate gamers by responding to our cries for help on
 the Rostra of the S.P.Q.R.TM on-line version and GT Interactive
 Software Corp.'s S.P.Q.R.TM Forum. Special thanks to Birba, who
 helped me realize that I had not yet lost the game!

 Please please PLEASE send your comments, suggestions, and
 especially corrections to me at lcantonimsn.com. Thanks to those
 who have already helped me avoid too much embarrassment.

 Links To Citizens' Sites

 Players of the online version of S.P.Q.R.TM have formed a
 tight-knit community of Roman citizens, whose expertise de rerum
 romanae is well represented on the World Wide Web. Visit these
 sites to enrich your Roman experience:

 When in Rome, do as the Romans do and visit FeAudrey's SPQR
 Companion Page, (www.techinter.com/~feaudrey/spqrcmpn.htm) chock
 full of resources on ancient Rome and the S.P.Q.R.TM on-line
 version, including links to esteemed fellow citizens' sites.

 L. Aelius Stilo's comprehensive and scholarly Encyclopaedia Romana
 (cgi.pathfinder.com/sWRDEgcAK6luxzeD/cgi-bin/boards/read/76/85)
 is an invaluable compendium, updated in installments, of Roman
 history.

 Make yourself at home in Rome with M. Didius Festus's lovely
 Domus, (plaza.interport.net/logomanc/domus/about.html) where you
 can see how the ancient half lived.

 The Women of Rome are celebrated in Livia Drusa's
 (www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2116/) beautiful and
 informative site.

 Cave canem at Canis Venaticus's witty version of S.P.Q.R.TM, The
 Adventures of Canis Venaticus in the Roman Republic and Empire as
 Related and Embellished by Fredericus Pinguinus.
 (langmuir.physics.uoguelph.ca/~freddy/)

 The Unofficial S.P.Q.R.TM Walkthrough © 1997 Linda Cantoni.

 S.P.Q.R. and S.P.Q.R.: the Empire's Darkest Hour are trademarks of
 CyberSites, Inc. © 1996
 CyberSites, Inc. All Rights Reserved.