[102]
There is another gesture not unlike
[p. 299]
the preceding, in which the remaining three fingers
are folded: it is much employed by the Greeks both
for the left hand and the right, in rounding off their
enthymemes,1 detail by detail. A gentle movement of
the hand expresses promise or assent, a more violent
movement suggests exhortation or sometimes praise.
There is also that familiar gesture by which we drive
home our words, consisting in the rapid opening
and shutting of the hand: but this is a common
rather than an artistic gesture.
1 Rhetorical or incomplete syllogisms. But see V. x. 2. xiv. 1
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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