On Chiromancy

curious. But he who is delighted by music and instruments is nonetheless an upright man and associates well with other people. And whenever someone has an excessively long hand, with fingers that are long and somewhat slender, and if it reflects back onto the back of the hand itself, and if the hand is soft to the touch, it is a sign of a warm humor. And heat renders a man industrious in his affairs, and also desirous of seeking those things which he least ought, and especially cruel. Whence you may know, just as Julian says, that those who have very long hands are similar to animals and also to birds that live by rapine. For the longer, slenderer, drier, and larger they have their fingers and nails, the more apt they will be for rapine, and they are held in greater esteem by princes and fowlers. Nature likewise made the hands of tyrants long, as well as those of men wishing to live by rapine and by the sweat of other men. It is necessary also to take account of the lines that are in the hand. For the left hand produces its lines from the virtues and celestial powers proceeding at the hour of birth, when he emerges from the maternal womb into the light of this world. In which matter it is to be noted that, for the most part, the lines of the left hand are not similar to the lines of the right, nor are they as perfect or conspicuous. But when you find them similar and conforming, let it be certain to you that an effect of either good or evil will undoubtedly be produced from them, according to their goodness or malice. But when they are misshapen, and do not possess the due correspondence together, judge that the superior powers of the heavens have favored that part where the more perfect lines are found: whether that be in the right hand or in the left. And as it has been said, the left [receives them] at the hour of conception, but the right at birth.