Letter 40: Procopius praises Zacharias for becoming more moderate as his success grows.

Now I truly know that Rumor was not mere talk but fact, and perhaps I admire the Attic law that established her too among the gods. It is not only Hesiod who hymns her as a goddess. The Athenians, when they learned on the same day of the battle at Mycale, said it would be intolerable if they did not regard Rumor as divine. If I were speaking to someone else, I would immediately say that you will raise your eyebrow at me and complain terribly if someone does not frequently call you governor or rhetor. I would say that you will think more of yourself than Demosthenes on an Attic platform: he led one city by his public speaking, but you will command a court from which justice goes out to the subjects of the emperor. I would say this to another man. About you I will be silent, because I see that in good fortune you become more moderate. For that reason I always expect greater things. Fortune surely gives more to people like this, begrudging none of what came before.

Ζαχαρίαι Νῦν ὄντως ἔγνων ὡς οὐκ ἦν ἄρα λόγος ἀλλ' ἔργον ἡ φήμη, καὶ θαυμάζω τάχα τὸν νόμον τὸν Ἀττικόν, ὃς ἐν θεοῖς καὶ ταύτην ἱδρύσατο. οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον Ἡσίοδος θεὸν αὐτὴν ἀνυμνεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι οἱ τὴν ἐν Μυκάλῃ μάχην αὐθημερὸν ἐγνωκότες οὐκ ἀνεκτὸν ἔφασαν εἰ μὴ θεὸν ἡγοῖντο τὴν Φήμην. εἰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς ἄλλον ὑπῆρχεν ὁ λόγος, εἶπον ἂν εὐθὺς ὡς ἀνασπάσεις ἡμῖν τὴν ὀφρῦν καὶ δεινὰ φήσεις πάσχειν, εἰ μή σέ τις πυκνῶς ἔπαρχων καλέσειε ῥήτορα, καὶ μεῖζον φρονήσεις ἢ Δημοσθένης ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ βήματος Ἀττικοῦ· ὁ μὲν γὰρ μίαν ἦγε πόλιν δημηγορῶν, σὺ δὲ δικαστηρίου κρατήσεις, ἐξ οὗ προέρχεται τοῖς βασιλέως ὑπηκόοις ἡ δίκη. ταῦτα πρὸς ἄλλον ἂν εἰπὼν ἐπὶ σοῦ σιωπήσαιμι, ὃν ἐν τοῖς εὐτυχίαις μᾶλλον ὁρῶ μετριώτερον. ὅθεν ἀεὶ καὶ τὰ μείζω προσδέχομαι. τοῖς γὰρ τοιούτοις ἐπιμετρεῖται πάντως ἡ τύχη, μηδὲν τῶν προλαβόντων βασκαίνουσα.