Letter 163: Cledonius praises so well that Procopius worries about meeting the standard in teaching his child.

Well done for the grace in your letter and for a tongue that flows unhindered and can say whatever it wishes. Since you lifted me, a small man in words who wears the art only as an outward shape, so far upward that I now worry I may write to others and accidentally put your name on the address, what could you not easily say if you wished? I think you moved your tongue so much because you mean to demand from me a child capable of speaking in this way. You have given me such a contest that I nearly withdrew from the promise to teach him, if a thought had not come to me: since the young man has received his father's nature, he will probably surpass my teaching and supply from home whatever it lacks. So now is the time for you not to seek everything from me, lest, at a loss when accounts are due, I fall silent. I promise as much goodwill toward him as you yourself would have supplied if you had happened to be his teacher; the young man draws me toward this by showing zeal equal to his nature.