[201] Ductus sorte: a variety for “electus ducta sorte.” Comp. 1. 508, “sorte trahebat,” and note. So in English a man is said to be drawn for the militia. Soph. Elect. 709, “ὅθ᾽ αὐτοὺς οἱ τεταγμένοι βραβῆς Κλήροις ἔπηλαν”, a thoroughly Sophoclean expression, altered, like others of the sort, by some later critics. Serv. quotes a fragment of Sallust, “sorte ductos fusti necat,” and the phrase is also found Tac. A. 1. 54., 13. 29. According to Euphorion, Laocoon was already the priest of the Thymbraean Apollo, and was chosen by lot on this occasion to sacrifice to Neptune, in place of the former priest, who had been put to death. Herder (referred to by Heyne) thought this description partly suggested by Il. 2. 305 foll.; but the resemblance is very slight.
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John Conington. P. Vergili Maronis opera. P. Vergili Maronis Opera. The works of Virgil, with a Commentary by John Conington, M.A. Late Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. London. Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane. 1876.
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