Letter 584: Leontios is indeed an excellent man and not unworthy of the praise you heaped on him.

To Demetrius. (357) Leontius is indeed an excellent man, and not unworthy of the praises with which you adorned him. And yet he has spent but little time in my company, on account of the multitude of my affairs. For be well assured, the occupations that concern the magistrates are for us no fewer than those that concern the young men; these we endure with displeasure, yet we cannot escape them, since we feel shame before those who make their requests. The character of Leontius, then, we did not fail to recognize even so, but we found the substance of the letter in the man who carried it. And in being persuaded by what you decree concerning us, he is persuaded by a good thing; but whether he is persuaded concerning such a man, this I do not know.

Δημητρίῳ. (357) Χρηστός γε ὁ Λεόντιος καὶ τῶν εὐφημιῶν αἷς αὐτὸν ἐκόσμεις οὐκ ἀνάξιος. καίτοι μικρὰ μέν μοι συγγεγένηται διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πραγμάτων. εὖ γὰρ ἴσθι, τῶν περὶ τοὺς νέους ἀσχολιῶν οὐκ ἐλάττους ἡμῖν αἱ περὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας, ἃς ἀηδῶς μὲν ὑπομένομεν, φυγεῖν δὲ οὐκ ἔχομεν τοὺς δεομένους αιδού- μενοι. τὸν δ’ οὖν Λεοντίου τρόπον οὐδ’ οὕτως ἠγνοήσα- μεν, ἀλλ’ εὕρομεν τὸ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἐν τῷ φέροντι. πειθόμενος δὲ οἷς ψηφίζῃ περὶ ἡμῶν πείθεται μὲν ἀγαθῷ, εἰ πείθεται δὲ περὶ τοιούτου, τοῦτο οὐκ οἶδα.