Letter 27: Procopius enjoys Elias's letter as a near-visit and wishes he could return Megas already complete.

When I took your letter into my hands, I seemed to see you yourself present. You placed your whole grace into the letter so fully that I kept smiling at it, just as when I saw you and was filled with pleasure. If you remember absent friends, there is nothing astonishing or unexpected in that. It has happened just as I hoped beforehand. Even in sleep I seem to converse with you, and often, after waking, I have been distressed because it was a dream. As for my companion Megas, if it were easy for me to give as much as I wish, you would certainly already have received him complete and a rhetorician.

Ἠλίαι Τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιστολὴν εἰς χεῖρας λαβὼν αὐτόν σε παρόντα βλέπειν ἐδόκουν, οὕτω σου τὴν χάριν ἐνέθηκας ὅλην τοῖς γράμμασι, καὶ τῇ ἐπιστολῇ προσεγέλων πυκνότερον, ὥσπερ ὅτε σε βλέπων ἐνεφορούμην τῆς ἡδονῆς. εἰ δὲ μέμνησαι τῶν φίλων ἀπόντων, θαυμαστὸν ἢ παρ' ἐλπίδας οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γέγονεν ὃ καὶ προλαβόντες ἠλπίσαμεν. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ καθεύδων προσδιαλέγεσθαί σοι δοκῶ, καὶ πολλάκις ἀναστὰς ἠνιάθην ὅτιπερ ὄνειρος ἦν. τὸν δὲ ἑταῖρον Μέγαν, εἰ διδόναι ῥᾳδίως εἶχον ὅσον καὶ βούλομαι, πάντως ἂν αὐτὸν ἤδη καὶ τέλειον ἀπειλήφεις καὶ ῥήτορα.