DIAPHORESIS, (Διαφροσύς), 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;
Τι πρώτον τι δ' ἔπειτα, τι δ' ὑστέρω κατελέη;
Quid primum, quid deinde, quid postremo alloquar?
This figure is most naturally placed in the exordium or introduction to a discourse. See DOUBTING.