Letter 43: Procopius asks Zacharias to honor Aeneas's just character with action.

After receiving your letters, I seem not to remain where I was before. I enjoy the moment and treat the occasion as a windfall. So here I am suddenly among those who make requests. You, amazed at the speed, will perhaps quote comedy and call it fast. But I thought it would be shameful to watch the time go by and not quickly ask for something honorable for you to give and for me to receive. Aeneas, the man delivering this letter to you, is one of my fellow citizens, and I want him to prosper through you. He is well born, free in character, and knows the laws as an art. He wants to profit from that art only so far as his judgment may remain free; gain does not delight him unless it comes with justice. You can learn this from experience too. Put forward by certain cities in matters of justice, and receiving the title of advocate, he imitated the name so well that he even conquered the nature of a sycophant. No one has complained of him in anything, not even unjustly. Perhaps this seemed laughable to the officials before you. They belonged only to the side that receives, not to the side that gives. So he withdrew, and others, as one would expect, did things worthy of what they had paid. Now he wants to come into the same fortune again, bringing you as a gift a judgment that is just. Am I beginning my requests with something improper? If the request surprises you, honor it by your actions.

Ζαχαρίᾳ ἀδελφῷ Ἔοικα τῶν ὑμετέρων γραμμάτων μετειληφὼς οὐ μένειν ἐφ' οἷς που καὶ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ τρυφᾶν τῷ καιρῷ καὶ ἕρμαιον ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν ἀφορμήν. ἰδοὺ γάρ σοι τῶν αἰτούντων ἐξαίφνης ἐγώ, σὺ δὲ τὸ τάχος, οἶμαι, θαυμάζων, ταχὺ τὸ τῆς κωμῳδίας ἐρεῖς. ἀλλ' ἐγὼ δεινὸν ἡγούμην εἰ τὸν χρόνον περισκοπῶν οὐκ αἰτήσω θᾶττον ὃ καὶ σοὶ διδόναι κἀμοὶ λαβεῖν εὐπρεπές. Αἰνείας γὰρ ὁ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὑμῖν ἐπιδιδοὺς πολίτης ἐστὶν ἡμέτερος, ὃν εὐτυχεῖν βούλομαι δι' ὑμῶν. γένους τε γὰρ ἔχει καλῶς, καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἐστὶν ἐλεύθερος, καὶ τέχνην οἶδε τοὺς νόμους. βούλεται δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀπολαύειν τῆς τέχνης, ὡς ἐξεῖναι καὶ τὴν γνώμην μένειν ἐλεύθερον. οὐ γὰρ οἶδε κέρδος τοῦτον εὐφραίνειν μὴ μετὰ δικαίου γενόμενον. πάρεστι δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ μαθεῖν. πόλεων γάρ τινων ἐπὶ τοῖς δικαίοις προβεβλημένος καὶ τὴν ἐκδίκου προσηγορίαν λαβὼν οὗτος ἐμιμήσατο τοὔνομα, ὥστε καὶ συκοφάντου φύσιν ἐνίκησεν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἀδίκως ἐμέμψατο. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τάχα καὶ γέλως ἐδόκει τοῖς ἄρχουσι πρὸ ὑμῶν· μόνου γὰρ ἦσαν τοῦ λαβεῖν· ὁ δὲ τῶν διδόντων οὐκ ἦν. ὅθεν ὁ μὲν ἐπαύετο, ἕτεροι δὲ ἦσαν ὡς εἰκὸς ἄξια δρῶντες ὧν ἐδεδώκεσαν. βούλεται δὲ νῦν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς τύχης γενέσθαι, δωρεὰν ὑμῖν προσάγων τὸ δικαίαν ἔχειν τὴν γνώμην. ἆρά σοι τοῦ αἰτεῖν ἐκ μὴ προσηκόντων κατάρχομαι; οὐκοῦν εἰ θαυμάζεις τὴν αἴτησιν, τίμα ταύτην τοῖς ἔργοις.