Letter 44: Procopius says Zacharias's letter makes Aeneas confident before the favor is even granted.

I received your letter gladly, as was only right, but since I could not praise it worthily, I nearly sent the same letter back to you, changing only the heading. In the words by which you praised mine, I seemed to hear your own being praised. You struck me as doing something like Nireus admiring Thersites, though Nireus was the most beautiful man who came to Troy. So shame came over me at the praise, though not so much that I failed to enjoy it. The letter, even while supposedly praising my words, made itself beautiful, displayed its own charm, and moved its lover toward greater longing. You also lifted the embassy greatly by your letter. If I am praised merely for serving as ambassador, what would I be if I myself gave assent? As giving is greater than asking, so the person about to give defeats the petitioner in the account of virtue. The most learned Aeneas already hymns you as though he has received what he asks. Having already experienced you, he counts what is still future as equal to what has been done. If he proclaims you before receiving, what will he become once he obtains what he longs for? When he tells your story someday, he will certainly add that you knew how to double favors by speed. As for excellent Megas, if it were possible to refashion him into a rhetorician on the same day, I would not need a second day.

Ζαχαρίᾳ ἀδελφῷ Ἐγώ σου τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἀσμένως ἰδών, ὥσπερ εἰκός, ἐπαινεῖν δὲ πρὸς ἀξίαν οὐκ ἔχων, μικροῦ δεῖν σοι τὴν αὐτὴν ἀντεπέθηκα, τοὐπίγραμμα μόνον μεταβαλών· οἷς γὰρ τἀμὰ θαυμάζων ἐπέστειλας, τῶν σῶν ἀκούειν ἐπαινουμένων ἐδόκουν, καί μοί τι παραπλήσιον ἐδόκεις ποιεῖν, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ καὶ τὸν Θερσίτην ἐθαύμαζεν ὁ Νιρεύς, ὃς κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθεν. ὅθεν αἰδώς μοι προσέπιπτε τῶν ἐπαίνων, πλὴν οὐχ ὥστε μὴ χαίρειν τῷ πράγματι. ἡ γὰρ ἐπιστολὴ δι' ὧν δῆθεν ἐπῄνει τὰ ἐμά, ὡραΐζετό τε καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἐδείκνυ καὶ πρὸς μείζω πόθον ἐκίνει τὸν ἐραστήν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν πρεσβείαν οὐ μετρίως ἐπῆρας τοῖς γράμμασιν. εἰ δὲ πρεσβεύων ἐπαινοῦμαι, τίς ἂν εἴην αὐτὸς ἐπινεύσας; ὅσον γὰρ μεῖζον τοῦ αἰτεῖν τὸ διδόναι, τοσοῦτον εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον ὁ διδόναι μέλλων τὸν ᾐτηκότα νικᾷ. ὁ δὲ λογιώτατος Αἰνείας ὡς ἤδη λαβὼν ἀνυμνεῖ· ἤδη γὰρ ὑμῶν εἰς πεῖραν ἐλθὼν ἐν ἴσῳ τὸ μέλλον τῷ πραχθέντι λογίζεται. εἰ δὲ πρὶν λαβεῖν κηρύττει, τίς ἂν γένοιτο τοῦ ποθουμένου τυχών; καί ποτε τὰ σὰ διηγούμενος προσθήσει πάντως, ὡς καὶ τῷ τάχει διπλασιάζειν ᾔδεις τὰς χάριτας. τὸν δὲ βέλτιστον Μέγαν εἴπερ οἷόν τε ἦν αὐθημερὸν μετασκευάζειν εἰς ῥήτορα, οὐκ ἂν ἡμῖν ἔδει δευτέρας ἡμέρας.