in Oratory, is the preamble or beginning, which serves to prepare the audience for the rest of the discourse. Exordiums are of two kinds, either just and formal, or vehement and abrupt. The latter are more EXOTIC suitable on occasions of extraordinary joy, indignation, or excitement.

EXOTERIC and ESOTERIC are terms denoting external and internal, and applied to the double doctrine of the ancient philosophers, particularly those of the Peripatetic school. The one was public or exoteric; the other secret or esoteric. The first was that which they openly professed and taught to the world; the latter was confined to a small number of chosen disciples. This method was derived originally from the Egyptians, who, according to the united testimony of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, and others, had a twofold philosophy: one secret and sacred, another public and common. The same practice also obtained amongst the Persian Magi, the Druids of the Gauls, and the Brahmins of India. The Egyptian priests with whom it originated sustained the character of judges and magistrates, and probably introduced this distinction with a view to the public welfare, and to serve the purposes of legislation and government. Clemens Alexandrinus informs us, that they communicated their mysteries principally to those who were concerned in the administration of the state; and Plutarch confirms this declaration. Others, however, have supposed that they invented the fables of their gods and heroes, and the external ceremonies of their religion, to disguise and conceal natural and moral truths; but whatever may have been the motive of their practice, it was certainly applied to political purposes.