DIAPHORESIS, (Διαφόρεσις), 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 Alcinoos, begins thus;
Τι πρώτος τι δ' ἔπειτα, τι δ' ὀκείοις καταλίγω;
Quid primum, quid deinde, quid postremo alloquar?
This figure is most naturally placed in the exordium or introduction to a discourse. See DOUBTING.