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 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 y^e Comedy plaier, & Ter[en]ce, & 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.
The mean and temperate kynd of indyghting standeth of the lower, and yet not of the loweste, and moste comen wordes and sent[en]ces. And it is ryghtyly called the temperate kynde of speakyng, because it is very nygh vnto the small, and to the greate kynde, folowyng a moderacion and temper betwyxt th[em]. And it foloweth as we saye in one tenour, distinguyshyng all the oracion wyth small ornamentes both of wordes, and sentences. Cicero vseth thys for the lawe of Manilius, for Aulus Cecinna, for Marcus Marcellus, and moste of all in hys bookes of offices. In this it is fautye to come to the kynd that is nye vnto it, whyche is called dissolute, because it waueth hyther and thyther, as it were wythout senowes and ioyntes, standyng surely in no poynte. And suche an oracion can not cause the hearer to take anye heede, when it goeth so in and out, and comprehendeth not any thyng wyth perfecte wordes.
