Sortes Virgilianae

The Sortes Virgilianae, or Virgilian lots, are the form of bibliomancy that consists of opening Virgil’s work at random, usually the Aeneid, and interpreting the line the eye falls on. The practice is reported as early as late antiquity, the Historia Augusta giving several examples involving emperors, and it continued into the early modern period. The prestige of Virgil, regarded in the Middle Ages as an almost prophetic sage, explains this choice.