Psellos wrote to Aimilianos, patriarch of Antioch, thanking him for his impressive first letter. He had thought Aimilianos would for ever be silent, wasting his talent and forgetting that closeness to God involved duty ro inferiors. But this deafening letter confirmed his well-known virtues and left Psellos blushing. Aimilianos accepted success modestly, communing with God and the great of the earth yet remembering Psellos. Psellos admitted defeat in the contest of mutual encomia with Aimilianos, thanking him for his gift and asking (unnecessarily) for a reward for Joseph. The eloquent Joseph too praised Aimilianos for his recent progress in virtue. Psellos' second letter added further praise for Aimilianos' first. It amazed everyone, adding to Psellos' prestige as an educator in the East and spreading Aimilianos' fame for virtue. He must write more to confirm his status