Letter 11: Herodotus said that men's ears are less trustworthy than their eyes.

To Leontius. Herodotus said that men's ears are less trustworthy than their eyes. But in your case I hold the opposite view: my ears are more trustworthy than my eyes. Even if I had seen you ten times over, I would not trust my eyes as much as I now trust my ears. A man incapable of lying has told me that while you distinguish yourself in every respect, you surpass even yourself in your deeds "with hand and foot," as Homer says [Odyssey 8.148, originally about athletic competitions]. I am therefore entrusting you with a military command. I have sent you a complete suit of infantry armor and enrolled you in my household guard [the protectores domestici, an elite imperial unit].

To Leontius [361 From Naissa or Constantinople] The Thurian historian3 said that men's ears are less to be trusted than their eyes.4 But in your case I hold the opposite opinion from this, since here my ears are more trustworthy than my eyes. For not if I had seen you ten times would I have trusted my eyes as I now trust my ears, instructed as I have been by a man who is in no wise capable of speaking falsely,1 that, while in all respects you show yourself a man, you surpass yourself2 in your achievements "with hand and foot," as Homer says.3 I therefore entrust you with the employment of arms, and have despatched to you a complete suit of armour such as is adapted for the infantry. Moreover I have enrolled you in my household corps.4 3 Herodotus. 4 Herodotus 1. 8; cf. Julian Oration 1. 37c, and 4. 145d. 1 An echo of Demosthenes, Olynthiac 2. 17. 2 Cf. Julian, Oration 7. 235b, Letter to Themistius 264d, Caesars 309d,327c. 3 Odyssey 8. 148; the phrase is there used of the athletic sports of the Phaeacians. 4 i. e. the protectores domestici; cf. Symmachus, Letter 67. In C.I.L. III. 5670a (Dessau 774), a Leontius is mentioned as praepositus militum auxiliarium in 370 a.d.

[Πρός: Ἰουλιανὸς Λεοντίῳ] Ὁ λογοποιὸς ὁ Θούριος ὦτα εἶπεν ἀνθρώποις ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπιστότερα. τούτῳ δ’ ἐπὶ σοῦ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἔχω γνώμην ἐγώ· πιστότερα γάρ ἐστί μοι τὰ ὦτα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν. οὐ γάρ, εἴποτε εἶδόν σε δεκάκις, οὕτως ἂν ἐπίστευσα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ὡς νῦν ταῖς ἀκοαῖς πιστεύω ταῖς ἐμαυτοῦ, παρ’ ἀνδρὸς οὐδαμῶς οἵου τε ψεύδεσθαι δεδιδαγμένος, ὅτι πάντα ἀνὴρ ὢν αὐτὸς σεαυτοῦ κρείττων εἶ περὶ τὸ ῥέξαι, φησὶν Ὅμηρος, χερσί τε καὶ ποσίν. ἐπιτρέψαντες οὖν σοι τὴν τῶν ὅπλων χρῆσιν ἀπεστείλαμέν τε πανοπλίαν, ἥτις τοῖς πεζοῖς ἁρμόττει· ἐγκατελέξαμέν τέ σε τῷ τῶν οἰκείων συντάγματι.