DOUBTING, in Rhetoric, a figure wherein the orator appears some time fluctuating, and undetermined what to do or say. Tacitus furnishes us with an instance of doubting, almost to a degree of distraction, in those words of Tiberius written to the senate: Quid scribam, P. S. aut quomodo scribam, aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore, diu me deaque pejus perdant quam perire quotidie sentio, si scio.