{Sortes Homeric[ae]} or {Virgilian[ae]} [L., Homeric or
Virgilian lots], a form of divination anciently practiced,
which consisted in taking the first passage on which the
eye fell, upon opening a volume of Homer or Virgil, or a
passage drawn from an urn which several were deposited, as
indicating future events, or the proper course to be
pursued. In later times the Bible was used for the same
purpose by Christians.