PETRONIUS ARBITER

QUALIS nox fuit ilia, di dcaequc,
quam mollis torus, haesimus calentcs
et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
errantes animas. valete, curae
mortales.

(AH God, ah God, that night when we two clung
So close, our hungry lips
Transfused each into each our hovering souls,
Mortality's eclipse !)


In the Vienna Genesis the hand appears above the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.



The hand is found in some Western and later Armenian scenes of the Transfiguration of Jesus, where again the Synoptic Gospels have the voice of God speaking, this time from a cloud.



The hand sometimes appears in scenes of the murder of martyrs, clearly indicating neither involvement nor approval of the deed, but approval of the saint.



Dextera Dei feccit virtutem: Dextera Domini exaltavit me.