Kitap 3
14.6
But in speechesThat is, forensic speeches. δράμασι has been suggested for λόγοις. and epic poems the exordia provide a sample of the subject, in order that the hearers may know beforehand what it is about, and that the mind may not be kept in suspense, for that which is undefined leads astray; so then he who puts the beginning, so to say, into the hearer's hand enables him, if he holds fast to it, to follow the story. Hence the following exordia: Sing the wrath, O Muse.Hom. Il 1.1. Tell me of the man, O Muse.Hom. Od. 1.1. Inspire me with another theme, how from the land of Asia a great war crossed into Europe.From Choerilus (sect. 4). Similarly, tragic poets make clear the subject of their drama, if not at the outset, like Euripides, at least somewhere in the prologue, like Sophocles, My father was Polybus.Soph. OT 774. But this can hardly be called the prologue. It is the same in comedy. So then the most essential and special function of the exordium is to make clear what is the end or purpose of the speech; wherefore it should not be employed, if the subject is quite clear or unimportant.
14.7
All the other forms of exordia in use are only remedies,That is, special remedies in the case of the hearers suffering from inattention, unfavorable disposition, and the like (Cope). and are common to all three branches of Rhetoric. These are derived from the speaker, the hearer, the subject, and the opponent. From the speaker and the opponent, all that helps to destroy or create prejudice. But this must not be done in the same way; for the defendant must deal with this at the beginning, the accuser in the epilogue. The reason is obvious. The defendant, when about to introduce himself, must remove all obstacles, so that he must first clear away all prejudice; the accuser must create prejudice in the epilogue, that his hearers may have a livelier recollection of it.
