STATUE OF CAIN. 301 



hand." Now observe the hands of the Genius, 

 who is not a partaker of the feast, and is not 

 affected to nervousness. His hands are in the 

 posture of energy; he alone of all the figures has 

 the wrists extended. This contrast of the hand 

 postures in the plate leads us to note that, just 

 as nervousness and energy are the antithesis of 

 one another, so "the nervous hand" and "the 

 energetical hand" are antithetical postures (see 

 chap. ix.). 



Now let us look at the Cain in the Pitti 

 Gallery, Florence. The whole figure expresses 

 horror or mental fear. Each hand is free or dis- 

 engaged, and in similar posture. The wrist is 

 extended backwards as in the energetic hand of 

 the Diana, indicating the large amount of nerve- 

 force going to the muscles of the arms. This pos- 

 ture could serve no useful purpose to the man 

 it is not an act performed for the sake of doing 

 something ; it seems to be only the result of the 

 force coming off from that condition of brain of 

 which the " mental manifestation " is horror or fear. 

 Here, as in the Venus, both hands are in similar 

 posture. Analogous hand postures are seen in 

 the members of the Niobe group. In the Dying 

 Gladiator we learn a different lesson. Neither 

 hand is here free. All the postures of the com- 

 position of this figure are the representation of a 

 man in mortal agony, whose urgent dyspnoea 

 determines the position of the body and of the 

 limbs, which are thus not left free or disengaged 

 to be acted upon solely by the spontaneous action 



