Letter 8: Procopius recommends Orion to Diodorus and praises Diodorus's legal courage.

Reports about your education have filled my ears with exactly the sort of news I had hoped for. One person described your zeal as an advocate; another admired your strength in the courts; another praised your goodwill toward those who come to you, unless someone happens to have done wrong. I have also heard this: when you saw certain powerful people who cared nothing for justice, you breathed great force against them and poured out a rebuke that deserved praise. As I listened, with each person telling me something different, I became almost inspired with pleasure. Proud of eloquence, I felt as if I myself were being praised, and I even thanked the people who brought the reports, as people do when they hear others praising them. While I was in that state and thinking these things over, good Orion came to me and delivered the letter you had written for him. He congratulated me on my friendship with you, as if it would be shameful for me not to know what kind of man you are. After rumor, then, I learned by experience what you are like toward people in need, even when they are absent. I could not say how much I admired you, and I called Orion blessed for having met with your zeal. When he also asked to receive letters from me that would stir your readiness even more by the memory of our friendship, I called him naive; a man naturally formed for virtue, I said, would not need letters urging him toward it. Still, I could not persuade him. He seemed to have a just point: "If he is such a man on his own, what might he become after receiving letters from you?" So may you remain as you were before; may I be praised again for your friendship; may the young man not miss the hope he has placed in me; and may those who think they hold great power learn that they are rightly defeated by justice.

Διοδώρῳ Ἡ περὶ τῆς σῆς παιδεύσεως φήμη ὁποίων ηὐχόμεθα λόγων τὰς ἡμετέρας ἐνέπλησεν ἀκοάς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὴν τῆς συνηγορίας ἀφηγεῖτο σπουδήν, ὁ δὲ τὸ ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις εὔτονον ἀπεθαύμαζεν, ὁ δὲ τὴν περὶ τοὺς προσιόντας εὔνοιαν, πλὴν εἰ μή τις ἀδικήσας ἐτύγχανεν. οἶδα δὲ καὶ τόδε ἀκούσας, ὡς ὁρῶν τινας μέγα μὲν δυναμένους, θαυμάζοντας δὲ τῶν δικαίων μηδέν, πολὺς ἔπνευσας κατ' αὐτῶν καὶ λοιδορίαν ἐπαινουμένην κατέχεες. ἐγὼ δὲ τούτων ἀκούων, ἄλλων ἄλλα διηγουμένων, ὥσπερ ἔνθους ἐγενόμην ὑφ' ἡδονῆς καὶ μέγα τοῖς λόγοις φρονῶν ἐδόκουν αὐτὸς ἐπαινεῖσθαι, ἤδη δὲ καὶ χάριν ὡμολόγουν τοῖς ἀπαγγέλλουσιν, ὥσπερ εἰώθασιν οἱ τῶν αὐτοὺς ἐπαινούντων ἀκούοντες. οὕτω δὲ ἔχοντι καὶ λογιζομένῳ προσελθὼν ὁ καλὸς Ὠρίων τὴν παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῷ γραφεῖσαν ἐπιστολὴν ἐπεδίδου, καί μοι τῆς φιλίας συνέχαιρεν, ὥσπερ δεινὸν ἡγούμενος εἰ λανθάνεις παρ' ἐμοὶ τοιοῦτος ὑπάρχων. ἐγὼ δέ σε μετὰ τὴν φήμην τῇ πείρᾳ μαθὼν καὶ οἷος περὶ τοὺς δεομένους, κἂν μὴ παρῶσι, καθέστηκας, οὐδ' ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοις ὅσον ἐθαύμασα, καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπεκάλουν εὐδαίμονα τὴν σὴν εὐτυχηκότα σπουδήν. ὡς δὲ καὶ γραμμάτων ἠξίου τυχεῖν παρ' ἐμοῦ τῇ τῆς φιλίας μνήμῃ τὴν σὴν προθυμίαν ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐγειρόντων, εὐήθη τοῦτον ἐκάλουν· μὴ γὰρ ἄν σε πρὸς ἀρετὴν πεφυκότα καλῶς γραμμάτων δεῖσθαι πρὸς ταύτην παρακαλούντων. ἀλλ' ὅμως τοῦτον οὐκ ἔπειθον. ἐδόκει γάρ τι καὶ δίκαιον λέγειν ὡς «ὁ καθ' αὑτὸν τοιοῦτος τίς ἂν γένοιτο γραμμάτων τυχὼν παρὰ σοῦ;» οὐκοῦν γένοιο μὲν αὐτὸς ὁποῖος καὶ πρότερον, ἐπαινοίμην δὲ πάλιν τῆς φιλίας ἐγώ, μὴ διαμάρτοι δὲ τῆς ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐλπίδος ὁ νέος, ἀλλὰ γνόντων οἱ τὰ μεγάλα δύνασθαι δοκοῦντες ὡς ἄρα τῶν δικαίων ἐστὶν εἰκότως ἡττᾶσθαι.