letters, whole words were adopted: and even here the answer was very often not to be understood. To obviate this, Cicero tells us, that a variety of predictions were inscribed on pieces of wood, which were kept in a box, shaken, and one drawn out by a child. He informs us how these were first discovered, but observes, "tota res est inventa fallaciis, aut ad quæstum, aut ad superstitionem"-" the whole matter is, however, fallacious every way:" and again, in speaking of it, he says, "quibus in rebus temeritas et casus, non ratio, nec consilium valet"-" chance, not reason, presides over these things." This mode of divination is continually spoken of by the writers of that age; thus Lucretius 66 Necquicquam Divûm numen, sortesque fatigant”— “In vain they implore the Gods, and search the lots ;" and Ovid, "auxilium per sacras quærere sortes"-" to seek for aid in the sacred lots;" numberless other instances might be given of the frequency of the practice. But as the urn and heaven-descended mystical pieces of wood were not always at hand, another mode was invented throughout Greece and Italy, which superseded their use. This was to take the works of some celebrated poet, as Homer, Euripides, or Virgil, to open the book at hazard, and to receive as an oracle the first passage that met the eye. This, in Greek, as Homer was principally consulted, was termed rhapsadomoncy (Pawdoμavтea); and by the Romans, the "sortes Homericæ," or "Virgilianæ." The resorting to them was very frequent: thus Severus founded his hopes of the Roman Empire on a Virgilian consultation, which had declared to him "Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento. Roman, 'tis thine to hold imperial sway, The world itself shall thee its lord obey. And Gordianus, whose reign was extremely short, was dismayed by another in the same page, which said "Ostendunt terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra IBID. V. 870. Him just on earth the rigorous Fates shall show, Brutus is likewise said to have looked into Homer the night before the battle of Philippi, and most ominously fell on the passage where Patroclus is lamenting his defeat and death. Among the Hebrews, too, there was a divination called the Bath-Kol (ip), which was, taking as a prediction the first words they heard anybody pronounce; and, as superstitions have ever been contagious, we find something similar to this in the Grecian records, for when Socrates was in prison, a person there happened to quote from Homer the following line Ηματί κεν τριτάτῳ φθίην ἔριβωλον ἱκόιμην. I Phthia's shores the third day hence shall reach. Socrates immediately cried to Eschinus, "from this I learn that I shall die in three days." He formed this opinion from the double sense of the word Phthia, it being in Greek not only the name of a place, but also signifies death. Conformably to this prediction, Socrates was put to death three days after. All these various modes have descended to our times. The first Christians, in adopting them, rejected the searching in profane writers, and looked for these-as they termed them, divine ordinances, in the Scripture. They termed them the "sortes sanctorum," and even attempted to justify the practice from the authority of Proverbs, c. xvi. v. 33:-" The lot is cast into the lap, but the disposing thereof is of the Lord;" and again of this text-" search, and ye shall find; but, on the other hand, they omitted to pay due attention to such verses as these-" thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" and Deut. c. xviii. v. 10, "there shall not be found among you any that useth divination, &c.; for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord:" and their sentence, according to Leviticus, c. xx. v. 27, was to be stoned to death. St. Augustine, in his Epistles, tells us that he does not disapprove of this practice, provided it be not for worldly purposes. So common was once the custom, that every bishop, on coming to his see, examined the "sortes sanctorum," to discover the future success of his episcopate. The choice itself of bishops sometimes depended on it; thus when Aignan was proposed for the see of Orleans, the people first demanded a biblical confirmation, and on opening, the following verse in the Psalms appeared:-" Blessed is the man whom thou choosest; he shall dwell in thy holy temple." It was usual, however, to go previously through many ceremonies, among others, the Bible was first laid on the altar. When Heraclius, in his war against Cosroes, wished to learn in what place he should take up his winter-quarters, he purified his army for three days, opened the Gospels, and found "Arabia!" a thousand other instances might be given, to prove its prevalency; and many learned divines have seriously argued in its favour in many grave and ponderous folio volumes!! Nor is it less amusing now-a-days to remember, that the Council of Agda, at which were assembled all the chief dignitaries of the Church, and all the learned men of that age, thought it worth their while to take the matter into their serious consideration, and after discussing with due solemnity all the pros and cons of the question, they, in the year 506, condemned the practice as superstitious, heretical, and abominable; and denounced the severest ecclesiastical vengeance on all who should resort to it!! The Virgilian lots, in the meantime, did not languish, though the "holy" ones so much flourished; there were still found many admirers of the classics, who preferred consulting Virgil to Scripture, not the less so, perhaps, from the then generally received opinion of Virgil's having been a great conjuror, (some entertaining proofs of which are given, by the bye, in Walter Scott's Lay of the last Minstrel."). 66 In the reign of Charles the First, when implicit credence was placed in lots, anagrams, &c. we meet with several accounts of this divination having been had recourse to. Howell, in his entertaining letters, frequently mentions it; and Cowley, in writing of the Scotch treaty, makes use of the following curious words:-"The Scotch will moderate something of the rigour of their demands; the mutual necessity of an accord is visible; the King is persuaded of it; and, to tell you the truth, (which I take to be an argument above all the rest) Virgil has told the same thing to that purpose." Charles the First himself, and Lord Falkland, being in the Bodleian Library, were shown a magnificently bound Virgil, and the latter, to amuse the King, proposed that they should try to discover, in the "Virgilian lots," D |