¶ Here must be borne away that there be
thre maner of states in suche oracions.
¶ The fyrst is called coniecturall. The se-
conde / legitime. The thirde / iudiciale / and
euery of these hathe his owne proper pla-
ces to fet out argumentes of them / where-
fore they shall be spoken of seuerally. And
fyrste we wyll treate of state coniecturall /
whiche is vsed whan we be certayne that
the dede is done / but we be ignorant who
dyd it / and yet by certayne coniectures we
haue one suspecte / that of very lykelyhode
it shulde be he that hathe commytted the
cryme. And therfore this state is called con[-]
iecturall / bicause we haue no manifest p[ro]fe /
but all onely great lykelyhodes / or as the
Rhetoriciens call them / coniectures.
¶ Example.
THere was a great contencion in the
Grekes army afore Troye betwene
Ulisses and Aiax / after the dethe of Achil-
les / which of them shulde haue his armour
as nexte to the sayd Achilles in valiaunt-
nes. In whiche controuersye whan the
Grekes had Iuged the sayd armour vnto
Ulisses / Aiax for very great disdayne fell
out of his mynde / & shortly after in a wode
nygh to the hooste / after he had knowen
(whan he cam agayne to hym selfe) what
folyssh prankes he had played in the tyme
of his phrenesy / for sorow & shame he slewe
hym selfe. Sone vpon this dede cam Ulis-
ses by / whiche seynge Aiax thrust thrughe
with a swerde: cam to hym / and as he was
about to pull out the swerd / the frendes of
Aiax chaūced to com the same way / which
seynge theyr frende deed / and his olde ene-
my pullyng out a swerde of his body / they
accused hym of murder.
¶ In very dede here was no profe. For of
truthe Ulisses was nat gylty in the cause.
Neuer theles the enuye that was betwene
Aiax and hym: made the mater to be nat a
lytle suspect / specially for yt he was foūde
there with the sayd Aiax alone / wherefore
the state of the plee was coniecturall / whe[-]
ther Ulisses slew Aiax or nat.
¶ The preface.
THe preface is here euyn as it is in
other oracions. For we begyn accor[-]
dyng to the nature of the cause yt we haue
on hāde / either in blamyng our aduersary /
or els mouynge the herers to haue pity on
our client. Or els we begyn at our owne p[er]-
sone / or at the prayse of the Iuge. &c[etera].
¶ The narracion.
THe narraciō or tale is the shewynge
of the dede in maner of an historye /
wherin ye accuser must craftly entermēgle
many suspicions which shall seme to make
his mater p[ro]uable. As Tulli in his oracion
for Milo / where in his narracion he inten-
deth by certayn cōiectures to shew yt Clo[-]
dius laye in waite for Milo / he in his sayd
narracion handeleth that place thus.
¶ In the meane season whā Clodius had
knowlege that Milo had a lawfull & [neces[-]
ry] iourney to the city of Lauine ye .xiii. day
afore the kalendes of Marche / to poynte
who shuld be hed preest there / which thing
longed to Milo because he was dictatour
of that towne: Clodius sodaynely the day
afore departed out of Rome to set vppon
Milo in a lordeshyp of his owne / as after
was well perceyued. And suche haste he
made to be goyng that were as the people
were gadered ye same day for mat[er]s wher-
in also he had great adoo hym selfe / & very
necessarye it had ben for hym to haue ben
there / yet this nat withstandyng / all other
thynges aparte: he went his way / whiche
you may be sure he wold neuer haue done /
saue onely that he had fully determined to
preuent a tyme and place conuenient for
his malicius entēt afore Miloes comyng.