gallery (whom Melanchthon often addresses as “dear readers”). The speech follows the pattern of an introduction (exordium) by which the speaker engages the listeners and prepares them for what will soon follow. Then follow what one might call the opening statements (narratio), by which a lawyer rehearses the events that brought the discussion to this point and in the process sets forth the position or thesis of his opponent (minor proposition) and then his own thesis (major proposition). After both