In one letter from Michael Italikos to Theodoros Prodromos, lard was compared to cheese. Another was sent via Michael the priest, an ardent admirer of Theodoros, whose poems he knew by heart. He was to take him a letter in the capital, reporting the real news orally. Italikos and Prodromos were such friends as to be more singular than plural, despite the distance between them, and each felt elements of the other's environment