THat thynge is now entreated while
fortune is fauourable vnto you / that
we ought moost to abhorre / and you sure-
ly ought aboue all thynges to desyre / that
is to haue peace. And it is most for the pro[-]
fyte of vs two / whiche haue the mater in
handelyng that peace be had. And sure we
be / that what so euer we agree vppon / our
cities wyll ratifie the same.
¶ Next foloweth the confirmacion of tho
thynges yt we entende to persuade / which
must be fet out of the places of honesty / pro[-]
fite / easines / or difficulty. As if we will per[-]
suade any thynge to be done / we shall shew
that it is nat only honest & laudable: but al[-]
so profytable & easy ynough to perfourme.
Or if we can nat chose but graūt that it is
harde / yet we shall shew that it is so honest
a dede / so worthy praise / & besydes so great
cōmodity wyll come therof / that the hard-
nes ought in no wise to fere vs: but rather
be as an instigacion to take the thynge on
hande / remembrynge the greke prouerbe.
[Scisnola ta nala] / that is to say / all excellent
& cōmēdable thyng[e]s be hard & of difficulty.
¶ In honesty are cōprehēded all vertues /
as wysdō / iustice / due loue to god / & to our
parentes / liberality / pity / constāce / tempe-
rance. And therfore he that wyll for the cō[-]
fyrmyng of his purpose declare & proue yt
it is honest & cōmendable yt he entēdeth to
persuade hym: behoueth to haue perfyte
knowlege of ye natures of vertues. And al[-]
so to haue in redy remembraūce sentences
bothe of scripture & of philosophy / as ora-
tours & poetes / & besyde these / examples of
historyes / for [garnyssshyng] of his maters.
¶ As cōcernynge the place of vtilitie / we
must in all causes loke if we may haue any
argumētes wherby we may p[ro]ue that our
coūcell is of suche necessity / that it can nat
be chosen but they must nedes folow it / for
tho argumētes be of farre greater strēgth
than they yt do but onely proue the vtility
of ye mater. But if we cā haue no suche ne-
cessary reasōs / thā we must serche out ar-
gumētes to p[ro]ue our mynde to be p[ro]fitable
by circūstances of the cause. In like maner
to persuade a thyng by the easines therof /
or dissuade it by the difficulty of the thing /
we must haue respect to possibility or īpossi[-]
bilite / for these p[ro]ues are of strenger nature
thā the other / & he yt wyll shew yt a thyng
may be done easely: must presuppose ye pos[-]
sibilite therof. As he on the other side that
wyll p[er]suade a thyng nat to be done / yf he
shew & manifest yt it is impossible / argueth
more strōgely thā if he could but only p[ro]ue
difficulty in it / for as I sayd / many thyng[e]s
of difficulty yet may be the rather to be ta-
ken on hande / that they may get thē that
acheue them the greater fame and prayse.
And these argumentes be fet out of the cir[-]
cūstances of ye cause / yt is to say / the time /
the place / the doers / the thynge it selfe / the
meanes whereby it shulde be done / the cau[-]
ses wherefore it shulde be done or nat / the
helpes or impedimētes that may be ther-
in. In this purpose examples of histories
are of great efficacy.
¶ The confutacion is the soilynge and re-
fellyng of other mēnes sayeng[e]s that haue
or might be brought against our purpose /
wherefore it consisteth in places contrary
to the places of confirmaciō / as in p[ro]uyng
the sayenges of the contrary part / neither
to be honest nor profitable / nor easy to per-
forme / or els vtterly impossible.
¶ The conclusion standeth in two thyn-
ges / that [is is] to say / a briefe and compen-
diouse repetyng of all our reasons that we
haue [bronght] for vs afore / and in mouyng
of affections. And so dothe Ulysses con-
clude his oracion in the .xiii. boke of Oui-
des metamorphosy.
¶ Of the thyrde kynde of ora-
cions / called Iudiciall.
ORacions iudiciall be that longe
to controuersies in the lawe and
plees / which kynde of oracion in
olde tyme longed onely to Iudges & men
of law / but now for the more parte it is ne-
glecte of them / though there be nothynge
more necessarye to quicken them in crafty
and wyse handelynge of theyr maters.
¶ In these oracions the fyrste is to fynde
out the state of the cause / whiche is a short
proposicion / conteynynge the hole effect of
all the controuersies. As in the oracion of
Tulli / made for Milo / of ye which I made
mencion in the begynnynge of my boke.
The state of the cause is this. Milo slewe
Clodius lawfully / whiche thynge his ad-
uersaries denyed / and yf Tully can proue
it / the plee is wonne.