CHAPTER XII.

OF THE PARTS OF AN ORATION, AND THEIR ORDER.

The _necessary_ parts of an oration are but two; _propositions_ and _proof_; which are, as it were, the _problem_ and _demonstration_.

The _proposition_ is the explication or opening of the matter to be _proved_. And _proof_ is the _demonstration_ of the matter _propounded_.

To these _necessary parts_ are sometimes added two other, the _proem_ and the _epilogue_; neither of which is any _proof_.

So that in some there be _four parts_ of an oration; the _proem_; the _proposition_, or as others call it, the _narration_; the _proofs_, which contain _confirmation_, _confutation_, _amplification_, and _diminution_; and the _epilogue_.

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