Excerpt from Counting-Out Rhymes of Children Among the Romans future events were prognosticated from the casting of lots. These lors were a kind of dice made either of wood, gold, or other material, with certain letters, words, or marks inscribed on them. They were thrown commonly into an urn, sometimes filled with water, and drawn out either by a boy or by the one who consulted the oracle. The priests of the temple interpreted the meaning of the lots as they were drawn out. The lots were sometimes thrown like common dice. At times it was decided by lot who was to preside at a meeting. Thus, at the committee for electing the consuls and creating the praetors, the consuls fixed by lot which of them was to preside, if they did not decide by consent. Sometimes the election of magis trates, priests, and other functionaries was effected by the lot. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.