Certainty: 1 Psellos told Aristenos his son spent too long at the spoonfeeders, afraid of his demanding teaching Certainty: 1
1066
Certainty: 1 Psellos told Aristenos in exile that lack of access to the emperor made it hard to help him Certainty: 1
1067
Certainty: 2 Psellos wrote three letters to Aristenos, with thanks, comparison of two grammatikoi & advice on rhetoric
In the first letter, Psellos made no requests, but thanked Aristenos for help he had given a man over tax relief. He seemed to have received at least ten times more than he had asked, and reacted as if forgiven sins, not tax. Aristenos was fertile ground for sowing the word, giving crops all year round. In the second he spoke of two different grammatikoi he had sent Aristenos. One preferred closer thrones on earth to those of heaven, aimed to be crowned (a solemn ceremony might be needed - greenstuff was available) and paraded like a peacock, The other wanted the kingdom of heaven, was passing through rituals to complete initiation in Mithraism (as a monk?), and in the interim might be a good grammatikos (?). The third letter made hypotheses based on various exchange rates between his letters and those of his ex-pupil Aristenos, settling on 1:1. Aristenos, remembering his lessons, should embellish his letters, maybe outdoing his master, who enjoyed defeat by his children. His eloquence developed as Psellos' waned. He should take a branch from Psellos (or one of the ancients) and graft it on his trunk. Psellos had many garlands ready, and would give him a crown he would not win in war
1068
Certainty: 2 Psellos wrote to five friends in central Anatolia to reconcile the bishop of Gordiason with the bishop of Matiane Certainty: 2
1069
Certainty: 2 Psellos wrote from Caesarea to 3 friends who continued with Romanos: he could not keep up Certainty: 2