A monk brought news of the spiritual welfare of Aimilianos of Antioch, enthusing Psellos, as he had no such soothing music from Aimilianos himself. Psellos replied, asking Aimilianos to write as he wished: Psellos would read his letters in his own way. Another letter complained of the lack of replies, claiming that Psellos once got perfume and letters from Antioch: if the perfume had stopped, why should Aimilianos' more valuable letters stop too? A third letter tried another approach. Psellos lamented the cessation of letters from Aimilianos requesting advice. Now with Socratic boldness, Psellos discoursed on Aimilianos and Antioch with generalised advice, answering out of total ignorance questions which had not been asked. He was not close to the capital's expert on Antioch. A fourth was a letter of clichés, apparently elicited by letter-carriers. Psellos was well and happy; memories made him want conversation with Aimilianos, but as this was impossible, distance imposed letters. Aimilianos should write whenever possible, to reassure Psellos on his health, but also perform patriarchal duties of prayer, especially for Psellos. In a fifth, Psellos claimed to be always thinking of Aimilianos (though he rarely wrote), boasting of strong support by Michael VII. By adding sophistic to philosophy, Psellos had a high reputation, which he would try in time to deserve