Letter 120: A taste of Pancratius's Muse makes Procopius imagine himself living in Alexandria with him.

Those who once sailed past the Sirens and drew their songs into their ears did not long for their homelands or remember their children. Everything seemed better to them than leaving the pleasures they had tasted. I have tasted your Muse only with the tip of a finger, as the saying goes, and yet I have been carried into such complete longing for her that I would choose not to be away from her even for a little while, though necessity separates our bodies. When you are carried upward in mind, I am carried up with you, and now I inhabit Alexandria, shaping in imagination what it would be to be with you. The Loves plant this thought in me. Even if I recover for a little while and become myself again, I return to delighting in your accounts. Everyone in turn remembers something of yours: one person the gentleness of your speech, another the dignity of your character; some call you sweet, another speaks of your moderation of mind, another says you carry the Muses on your tongue. Each person competes to be first in telling your qualities. So write. Heal absence with letters, and be willing to receive the bearer of this letter gladly.

Παγκρατίωι Οἱ τὰς Σειρῆνάς ποτε παραπλέοντες καὶ τὰ μέλη ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἀρυόμενοι οὐ πατρίδας ἐπόθουν, οὐ παίδων ἀνεμιμνήσκοντο, πάντα δὲ πάσχειν αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει καλὸν ἢ τούτων ἀπαίρειν, ὧν τῆς ἡδονῆς ἐπειράθησαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ τῆς σῆς μούσης ἄκρῳ, φησί, δακτύλῳ γευσάμενοι οὕτως ὅλῳ πόθῳ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐβακχεύσαμεν, ὡς μηδὲ μικρὸν ἀπεῖναι ταύτης αἱρεῖσθαι, κἂν ἀνάγκη διεστάναι τοῖς σώμασιν. ἀναγομένοις δὲ ὑμῖν τῇ διανοίᾳ συνανηγόμεθα καὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου νῦν οἰκοῦμεν, τὸ σὺν ὑμῖν εἶναι τῇ φαντασίᾳ πλαττόμενοι. τοιαύτην μοι γνώμην ἐναποτίκτουσιν Ἔρωτες. κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀνενεγκὼν ἐν ἐμαυτῷ πάλιν γένωμαι, τοῖς σοῖς ἐπεντρυφῶ διηγήμασι. καὶ πάντες ἀνὰ μέρος τὰ ὑμέτερα μνημονεύουσα, ὁ μὲν τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἥμερον, ὁ δὲ τῶν τρό πων τὸ σεμνόν. ἄλλοι γλυκὺν προσωνόμασαν, ὁ δὲ τῆς γνώμης λέγει τὸ μέτριον, ὁ δέ σε φέρειν ἐπὶ τῆς γλώττης εἶπε τὰς Μούσας, καὶ πᾶς τις φιλο νεικεῖ φθάσαι τοὺς ἄλλους μόνος τὰ σὰ διηγούμενος. σὺ δὲ γράφε, τὴν ἀπου σίαν θεραπεύων τοῖς γράμμασι καὶ τὸν φέροντα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἡδέως ἰδεῖν καταξίωσον.