place
Praeneste
also: Praeneste, Praenestinorum, Praenestinarum
A Latin town famous for the oracular lots (sortes Praenestinae) drawn at the shrine of Fortuna. Cicero treats its lots as a once-renowned form of divination now reduced to a curiosity of the crowd.
Reading notes
- On Divination §2.85 The lots
Sortes: oracular tokens (here inscribed wooden tablets) drawn at random, most famously the lots of Fortuna at Praeneste. Cicero classes lot-drawing with dice as mere chance.