Psellos wrote to Ioannes Mauropous about his waning creativity and the death of Mauropous' brother. Psellos ascribed his failing powers to Ioannes' brief letters coming at unpredictable moments, as times grew less propitious. Why was Ioannes so inconsistent? Why did he change his mind so often? Events like the death of Mavropous' brother refined the soul, the holiness of the departed marking the survivors. Psellos knew little of the brother, but he seemed a straightforward man whose virtues were visible in Ioannes himself