Letter 74: Procopius hopes Ilasius will enjoy the place's fruits without surrendering bodily health.

The place where you live seems to produce good fruits, but to be hostile only to bodies. The fruits amaze those who see them and force the nature of the season; but bodies that it receives healthy it returns, a little later, pale. For that reason I would not choose to enjoy a few fruits, become sick, and then, when asked the cause, be ashamed and keep silent. That is what you are used to doing, adorning places with silence. As for you, I want you both to enjoy the greatest number of good things and, by bodily strength, to defeat the nature of the place.

Ἰλασίωι Τὸ παρ' ὑμῖν χωρίον καρποὺς μὲν τίκτειν ἔοικεν ἀγαθούς, ἀντικεῖσθαι δὲ μόνοις τοῖς σώμασι· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ θαῦμα τοῖς ὁρῶσι παρέχει καὶ τὴν τῆς ὥρας βιάζεται φύσιν, τὰ δὲ λαβὸν ἐρρωμένα μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀπέδωκεν ὠχριῶντα. ὅθεν οὐκ ἂν ἑλοίμην ὀλίγων καρπῶν ἀπολαύσας νοσεῖν καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐρωτώμενος αἰσχύνεσθαι καὶ σιγᾶν, ὃ δὴ ποιεῖν εἴωθας σιγῇ τὰ χωρία κοσμῶν. σὲ δὲ βούλομαι καὶ πλείστων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύειν καὶ τῇ τοῦ σώματος ῥώσει τὴν τοῦ χωρίου φύσιν νικᾶν.