Acts 26:1

Verse 1. Saint Paul having obtained liberty of speaking, stretches out his right hand, disengaged from his cloak. We must recollect that Saint Paul still bore his chains about him, those chains in which he gloried; (verse 26) it is therefore necessary to suppose that his left hand only was tied; or, what is less likely, that these chains were not so tight nor heavy as to hinder the easy motion of the right. It is observed by Apuleius, that orators in this action closed the two shorter fingers, and had the others extended. Calmet.