Psellos had not yet asked the krites of Opsikion for a great favour (of which he would write unless the krites wrote of it first), but as a foretaste he sent him a man from Nicaea, whose modest fortune included a little estate called Doche. The man did not fear bad weather or plagues, just the krites' men, whom only their master might call off. Could the krites please give a sign that he would do so?