Letter 39: Procopius praises the rumor of Zacharias's success and hopes it proves true.

Winter has now reached its end for me. It has stopped while I was blaming both things, your silence and the season. Spring has arrived gladly, and it has become more spring than usual. The swallows are not the only ones singing the season; rumor too is proclaiming the judgment about you: that you have advanced to something great, that you have been counted among a chorus of fortunate rhetors. If rumor had added as much as I wish, then surely nothing would be lacking for happiness. If these things have happened, I will certainly ask for greater ones. If I am rejoicing only in words, I praise Rumor and infer the facts from the report.

Ζαχαρίαι Ὁ μὲν χειμὼν ἡμῖν καὶ δὴ πέρας ἔχει καὶ πέπαυται μεμφομένοις ἀμφότερα, καὶ τὴν σιγὴν καὶ τὴν ὥραν, τὸ δὲ ἔαρ ἀσμένοις ἀφῖκται καὶ μᾶλλον ἤπερ εἰώθει γέγονεν ἔαρ· οὐ γὰρ μόνον ᾄδουσιν αἱ χελιδόνες τὴν ὥραν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ σοὶ ψῆφον ἡ φήμη βοᾷ, ὡς ἐπὶ μέγα προῆλθες, ὡς εὐδαιμόνων ῥητόρων ἐγκατελέγης χορῷ. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὅσον βουλόμεθα προσετίθη, πάντως ἂν οὐδὲν εἰς εὐτυχίαν ἀπῆν. εἰ μὲν οὖν γέγονε ταῦτα, τὰ μείζω πάντως αἰτήσομαι· εἰ δὲ μέχρι τῶν λόγων ἡδόμεθα, τὴν μὲν φήμην ἐπαινῶ, τὰ δὲ ἔργα διὰ τὴν φήμην μαντεύομαι.