Before we come to the precepts of garnishing an oraciõ, we thinke good, bryeflye, to shewe you of the thre kyndes of stile or endyghting, in the whych all the eloquucion of an oratoure is occupied. For that there be thre sundry kyndes, called of the Grekes characters, of vs figures, I trowe there is no man, though he be meanlye learned, but he knoweth, namely when we se so manye wryters of sciences, bothe Greke and latine, whych haue ben before tyme, to haue folowed for the mooste parte sundrye sortes of wrytyng, the one vnlyke to the other. And there hath bene marked inespecially thre kyndes of endightynge: The greate, the small, the meane.
[ The greate kynde.]
The greate, the noble, the mightye, and the full kynde of endyghtynge, wyth an incredible, & a certen diuine power of oracion, is vsed in wayghty causes: for it hathe wyth an ample maiestye verye garnyshed wordes, proper, translated, & graue sentences, whych ar handled in amplificacion, and commiseracion, and it hathe exornations bothe of woordes and sentences, wherunto in oracions they ascribe verye great strength and grauitie.
And they that vse thys kynde, bee vehement, various, copious, graue, appoynted and readye thorowlye to moue and turne mens myndes.
Thys kynd dyd Cicero vse in the oracion for Aulus Cluencius, for Sylla, for Titus Annius Milo, for Caius Rabirius: agaynste Catiline, agaynste Verres, agaynste Piso. But they that can not skyll of it oftentimes fall into fautes, when vnto them that seemeth a graue oracion, whych swelleth, and is puffed vp, whych vseth straunge wordes hardelye translated, or to olde, and that be nowe longe sythens lefte of from vse of daylye talke, or more graue then the thing requyreth.
[The small kynde.]
The small kynde of indighting, is in a subtile, pressed, and fyled oracion, meete for causes that be a lytel sharper then are in the comon vse of speakynge. For it is a kynde of oracion that is lette downe euen to the mooste vsed custume of pure and clere speakyng. It hathe fyne sentences, subtile, sharpe, teachyng all thynges, and makynge them more playne, not more ample. ¶ And in the same kynde (as Cicero sayeth in hys oratoure) some bee craftye, but vnpolyshed, and of purpose lyke the rude and vnskylfull:
Other in that leaues are trymme, that is somwhat floryshynge also and garnyshed. Cicero vsed thys kynde in hys philosophicall disputacions, in the oraciõ for Quincius for Roscius ye Comedy plaier, & Terẽce, & Plautus in their Comedies.
Such as cã not hãdsomly vse them selues in that mery conceyted slendernes of wordes, fall into a drye and feble kynde of oracion.