Letter 134: Stephanus's envoy nearly makes Procopius leave at once, but justice toward homeland and guests restrains him.

Your brilliance is proclaimed by everything that knows how to make good men known. Yet, as the testimony of those who have experienced you shows, speech is defeated by deeds and seems to lag behind reality. I have always handed over your zeal for me to the greatest admiration, and now I do this no less, since it persuaded so great a man to set out on the shortest stretch of road for me. Even if he had used only bare letters, I could not have contradicted his command. So he placed a heavy load on me: I was ashamed before his arrival, before the virtue of his whole life, and before everything that report had already proclaimed and experience confirmed. I nearly followed him just as I was, without even saying farewell to my household. But a thought barely held me back as I rushed forward: that I must not overlook the homeland where I first saw the sun, that preserving what is just toward it is better than possessing much gold, and that I must not neglect so many strangers present because of me.

Στεφάνωι Τὴν ὑμετέραν λαμπρότητα κηρύττει μὲν ὅσα τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς γνωρίζειν ἄνδρας ἐπίσταται. ὡς δὲ τῶν πειραθέντων ἡ μαρτυρία, νικᾶται τοῖς ἔργοις ὁ λόγος καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων κατόπιν εἶναι δοκεῖ. τὴν δὲ περὶ ἐμὲ σπουδὴν ἀεὶ μεγίστῳ παραδεδωκὼς θαύματι, νῦν οὐχ ἥκιστα τοῦτο ποιῶ, ὅτεπερ ἄνδρα μοι τοσοῦτον ἔπεισεν ἐπὶ μικρότατον μῆκος ὁδοῦ θεῖναι, ὡς εἰ καὶ ψιλοῖς ἐχρήσατο γράμμασιν, οὐκ ἂν ἔσχον ἀντιλέγειν κελεύοντι. οὕτω δέ μοι βαρὺ φορτίον ἐπέθηκεν αἰδουμένῳ τὴν ἄφιξιν καὶ τοῦ παντὸς βίου τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ ὅσα προλαβοῦσα κηρύττει φήμη βεβαιωθεῖσα τῇ πείρᾳ, ὥστε μικροῦ δεῖν ὡς εἶχον σχήματος εἱπόμην, μηδὲ τοῖς οἰκείοις χαίρειν εἰπών. ἀλλά μέ τις ἔννοια μόλις ἐπέσχεν ὁρμῶντα, λογιζόμενον τὸ μηδὲν ὑπερορᾶν πατρίδος ἐν ᾗ πρῶτον εἶδον τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ὡς καλὸν τὰ πρὸς ταύτην δίκαια φυλάττειν ἢ πολὺ κεκτῆσθαι χρυσίον, καὶ ξένους τοσούτους δι' ἐμὲ παρόντας ὑπεριδεῖν.