72 THE ARTE OR CRAFTE OF RHETHORYKE
all onely great lykelyhodes / or as the Rhetoriciens call them / coniectures.
Example.
There was a great contencion in the Grekes army afore Troye betwene Uliffes and Aiax / after the dethe of Achelles / whiche of them fhulde haue his armour as nexte to the fayd Achilles in valiauntnes. In whiche co//trouerfye wha the Grekes hadde judged the fayde armour vnto Uliffes / Aiax for very great difdayne fel out of his mynde / and fhortly after in a wode nygh to the hoite / after he had knowen (whan he cam agayne to him felfe) what folyffhe prankes he had played in the tyme of his phrenefy / for ibrow and fhame he flewe hym felfe. Sone vpon this dede cam Uliffes by / whiche feynge Aiax thruft thrughe with a fwerde : cam to hym, and as he was about to put out the fwerd / the frendes of Aiax chaunced to come the fame way / which feying theyr frede deade / and his olde enemy pullynge out a fwerde of his body / they accufed hym of murder.
[D vi a] In very dede here was no profe. For of truthe Uliffes was nat gylty in the caufe. Neuer theles the enuye that was betwene Aiax and hym : made the mater to be nat a lytle 1 fufpecte / fpecyally for that he was fouwde there with the fayd Aiax alone / wherefore the ftate of the plee was co/nectural / whether Uliffes flewe Aiax or nat.
The Preface.
The preface is here euyn as it is in other oracions. For we begyn accordynge to the. nature of the, caufe that we haue on hande / either in blamyng our aduerfary / or els mouying the herers to haue pity on our client. Or els we begyn at our owne p<?rfon / or at the praife of the Juge. &c.
The narracion.
The narracio# or tale is the f hewynge of the dede in maner of an hiftorye / wherin the accufer mufte craftly enterme^gle many fufpicyons which fhall feme to make his mater prouable. As Tulli in his oracion for Milo / where in his narracyon he intendeth by certayne coniectures to fhewe that Clodius laye in wayte for Milo / he in his fayde narracyon handelethe that place thus.
1 So B. ; A. lytlye.
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