Sortes Homerica
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The Sortes Homerica (Latin - Homeric lots) was the practice of drawing a random sentence or line from the works of Homer (usually the Iliad) to answer a question or predict the future. Socrates is recorded as doing so in prison to determine the day of his execution, and the practice even occurred in the Renaissance era. In the Roman world it co-existed with the Sortes Virgilianae and their Christian successor was the Sortes Sanctorum.
In Socrates's case, he drew Iliad 9.363[1]:
- I shall arrive without delay / At fertile Phthia, right on the third day
and took it to mean that he would die three days later, as he then did.
Other examples of the practice include by Brutus (informing him Pompey would lose the battle of Pharsalus[2]), and by the emperor Marcus Opellius Macrinus (drawing Iliad 8, 102-3[3], informing him he would not last long on the imperial throne).
[edit] References
- ^ Crito 44b, Diogenes Laertius, and Book 1 of Cicero's De Republica.
- ^ Drawing Iliad 16, 849 - "By the cruel crown of Fate I was undone / And by the rancor of Latona's son.". Latona's son was Apollo, and Apollo was the Republican forces' password on the day of the battle.
- ^ "Old man, these tough young fighters are too strong, / And age won't let you hold on very long."
