TheSortes Vergilianae (Virgilian Lots) is a form ofdivination bybibliomancy in which advice or predictions of the future are sought by interpreting passages from the works of the Roman poetVirgil. The use of Virgil for divination may date to as early as the second century AD, and is part of a wider tradition that associated the poet withmagic.^[1] The system seems to have been modeled on the ancient Romansortes as seen in theSortes Homericae, and later theSortes Sanctorum.

SirPhilip Sidney'sDefence of Poesie describes Roman beliefs about poetry and recounts a famous Sors Vergiliana byDecimus Clodius Albinus, a Roman who ruled Britain and laid claim to the Roman Empire, but was defeated in battle bySeptimius Severus:

Among theRomans apoet was calledvates, which is as much as a diviner, foreseer, or prophet, as by his conjoined words,vaticinium andvaticinari, 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 ofAlbinus, the governor ofour island, who in his childhood met with this verse,^[2]

Arma amens capio, nec sat rationis in armis,^[3]

and in his age performed it.

Other recorded Roman instances of the practice are by

• Hadrian – drewAeneid 6, 808,^[4] taken as predicting his adoption byTrajan and succession to the imperial throne
• Alexander Severus – drewAeneid 6, 851,^[5] taken as predicting his later becoming emperor
• Gordian II – drewAeneid 1, 278^[6] when concerned as to whether he would have a long line of successors or not, taken as predicting the former
• Claudius II – drewAeneid 1, 265,^[7] apparently predicting he would rule for three more years (he in fact only ruled for two); consulting as to whether his brotherQuintillus should be made joint emperor with him, drewAeneid 6, 869,^[8] which was taken to predict Quintillus' death 17 days after being made joint emperor

In the medieval era Vergil was often thought to have magic powers or a gift ofprophecy (e.g. in the works ofDante, where he is the author's guide in the underworld). Clyde Pharr, in the introduction to his edition of theAeneid, 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 ofChrist. It was at this period that the spellingVirgil came into vogue, thus associating the great poet with the magic or prophetic wand,virga.^[9]

Rabelais also relates that he drew the more optimisticAeneid 6, 857,^[10] which he took to mean himself.

Viscount Falkland once went to a public library inOxford with KingCharles I and, being shown a finely printed and bound copy of theAeneid, suggested to the King that he use theSortes Virgilanae to tell his future. The King opened the book but happened onDido's prayer againstAeneas in Book 4.615,^[11] 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 ofEvander upon the untimely death of his sonPallas in Book 11, which contemporaries later took to presage Falkland's death at theFirst Battle of Newbury in 1643 (with Charles's passage predicting his beheading in 1649).^[12]

• This page draws text from'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction', Vol. 10, Issue 273, September 15, 1827, a text now in thepublic domain.
• Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book 3, from"The Complete Works of François Rabelais", pp. 285–287
• Ziolkowski, Jan M.; Putnam, Michael C. J. (2008).The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years. Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0300108224. RetrievedNovember 11, 2013.

• 2nd-century introductions
• Bibliomancy
• Aeneid

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