The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

VII STORIES TOLD IN GESTURES 253
allude to it in that aspect, nor does he indeed to any
priestly action.
Precisely the attitude we are describing is to be
Fig. iio.
seen in a very characteristic painting- by Perugino on
the soffit of one of the famous stanze in the Vatican,
Minerva turns her face to the right, while she raises her left arm with the
hand open ; she seems to be in the act of stepping forward to the left, and is
pointing her left hand while brandishing her lance in the same direction. The
old man sitting on her right is holding his right hand spread out and reversed,
as if to signify "Cogently,'' or "Don't excite yourself." The woman
standing raises her left hand with palm extended as if saying to the goddess,
" Listen ! Keep quiet ! " These two figures then being in tranquil attitudes
seem to say, "Wait; go carefully; the business is doubtful." The sitting
warrior has his left hand open, palm upward, a little raised—a position when
the hand is flat denoting a question asked, while the raising it upward de-
notes much disapproval of the words of his opponents. The standing figure
behind him has his right hand raised so as to show vivacity in his whole
body, and indicates his entire and active disapproval of the counsel of the others.
The whole picture represents Minerva proposing some great operation, which
those on her right discountenance, and advise prudent waiting, while those on
the left support and urge it with heat and animosity.
The whole picture is one of manual gesture telling a plain story.
Fig. no, No. 18 of Jorio, is from a vase in the collection of Sir John
Coghill, and is fully described by Millingen. Jorio says the principal figure