In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Richard Alan Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >When I last taught the AENEID, I mentioned that at one time people would >tell fortunes by asking questions and then randomly turning to passages >from Virgil, but I couldn't remember who, exactly, practiced this form of >fortune-telling, or when; nor could I provide other details for the >inquiring minds who wanted to know. James Wiersum seemed to be alluding >to the practice when he described Virgil as serving as an I Ching for >Europe. Can anyone elaborate? > You'll find examples in the _Historia Augusta_, a set of lives of emperors and near-emperors purportedly written by six authors at the beginning of the fourth century but now recognized by virtually everyone as having been written by one author under six pseudonyms in the 390s.
Leofranc Holford-Strevens *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
