DIAPORESIS, ΔΙΑΠΟΡΕΣΙΣ, in rhetoric, is used to express the hesitation or uncertainty of the speaker.
We have an example in Homer, where Ulysses, going to relate his sufferings to Alcinous, begins thus:
Τὶ σπέρμα, τὶ δ' ἔσται, τὶ δ' ἔσται κατὰ μέγα;
Quid primum, quid deinceps, quid postremo alloquar?
This figure is most naturally placed in the exordium or introduction to a discourse. See DOUBTING.