Sortes Virgilianae

The Sortes Virgilianae or "Sortes Vergilianae" (Latin - "Virgilian lots"; singular - sors Vergiliana) is a form of divination by bibliomancy in which advice or predictions of the future are sought by randomly selecting a passage from Virgil's "Aeneid". It was most widely practiced in the later Roman Empire and in medieval times. It seems to have been modeled on the ancient Roman "sortes" as seen in the "Sortes Homerica", and later the "Sortes Sanctorum".

History

Classical instances

Sir Philip Sidney's "Defence of Poesie" describes Roman beliefs about poetry and recounts a famous Sors Vergiliana by Decimus Clodius Albinus, a Roman who ruled Britain and laid claim to the Roman Empire, but was defeated in battle by Septimus Severus:

:Among the Romans a poet was called " [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2350255 vates] ", which is as much as a diviner, foreseer, or prophet, as by his conjoined words, " [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2350262 vaticinium] " and " [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2350264 vaticinari] ", is manifest; so heavenly a title did that excellent people bestow upon this heart-ravishing knowledge. And so far were they carried into the admiration thereof, that they thought in the chanceable hitting upon any such verses great fore-tokens of their following fortunes were placed; whereupon grew the word of Sortes Virgilianae, when by sudden opening Virgil's book they lighted upon some verse of his making. Whereof the Histories of the Emperors' Lives are full: as of Albinus, the governor of our island, who in his childhood met with this verse ["Aeneid" II, 314] ,::Arma amens capio, nec sat rationis in armis, ["madly I take up arms, without having reason to do so"] :and in his age performed it.

Rabelais also relates that he drew the more optimistic "Aeneid" 6, 857 [He, when his country, threaten'd with alarms, / Requires his courage and his conqu'ring arms, / Shall more than once the Punic bands affright; / Shall kill the Gaulish king in single fight;"] , which he took to mean himself.

Other recorded Roman instances of the practice are by
*Hadrian - drew "Aeneid" 6, 808 [His head with olive crown'd, his hand a censer bears, / His hoary beard and holy vestments bring / His lost idea back: I know the Roman king.] , taken as predicting his adoption by Trajan and succession to the imperial throne
*Alexander Severus - drew "Aeneid" 6, 851 ["Remember, Roman, o'er the world to rule"] , taken as predicting his later becoming emperor
*Gordian II - drew "Aeneid" 1, 278 ["For these no bounds are set, no deadlines drawn] when concerned as to whether he would have a long line of successors or not, taken as predicting the former
*Claudius II - drew "Aeneid" 1, 265 ["While the third summer saw his Latian reign"] , apparently predicting he would rule for three more years (he in fact only ruled for two); consulting as to whether his brother Quintillus should be made joint emperor with him, drew "Aeneid" 6, 869 ["Fate will but show this man unto the lands"] , which was taken to predict Quintillus' death 17 days after being made joint emperor

Medieval instances

In the medieval era Vergil was often thought to have magic powers or a gift of prophecy (eg in the works of Dante, where he is the author's guide in the underworld). Clyde Pharr, in the introduction to his edition of the "Aeneid", notes that

:In the mediaeval period a great circle of legends and stories of miracles gathered around [Vergil's] name, and the Vergil of history was transformed into the Vergil of magic. He was looked upon not only as a great magician but as an inspired pagan prophet who had foretold the birth of Christ. It was at this period that the spelling "Virgil" came into vogue, thus associating the great poet with the magic or prophetic wand, "virga". [Compare virge and virgule.]

Renaissance instances

Viscount Falkland once went to a public library in Oxford with King Charles I and, being shown a finely printed and bound copy of the Aeneid, suggested to the King that he use the "Sortes Virgilanae" to tell his future. The king opened the book but happened on Dido's prayer against Aeneas in Book 4.615 [Nor let him then enjoy supreme command; / But fall, untimely, by some hostile hand] , at which he was troubled. Nevertheless, Falkland took his own lots, hoping to pick a passage that did not relate to him and thus stop the king from worrying about his own. However, he picked the expressions of Evander upon the untimely death of his son Pallas in Book 11, which contemporaries later took to presage Falkland's death at the first Battle of Newbury in 1643 (with Charles's passage predicting his beheading in 1649).

In fiction

The sortes Vergilianae appear in several of Graham Greene's books, including "The Comedians", "Travels with My Aunt", and "Doctor Fischer of Geneva, or The Bomb Party" [cite book
last = Greene
first = Graham
title = Doctor Fischer of Geneva, or The Bomb Party
publisher = Simon & Schuster
date = 1980
location = New York
pages = 96 - 100
isbn = 0-671-25467-7] .

References

ources

*"This page draws text from [http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/3/8/11387/11387.htm 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction', Vol. 10, Issue 273, September 15, 1827] , a text now in the public domain."
*"Gargantua and Pantagruel", Book 3, from [http://books.google.com/books?id=Hl6PtUdIFawC&pg=RA1-PA284&lpg=RA1-PA284&dq=socrates+homeric+lots&source=web&ots=XOAQbnQ-Px&sig=i5itJhAiKpg29SsB1D5J8cRFtIY "The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais", p285-7]