A loan agreement submitted to Protarchos, the Alexandrian official who handled such contracts (synchoreseis), in which Sarapion acknowledges an interest-free loan of 48 silver drachmas from Felix, a slave of the emperor Augustus, to be repaid by the end of Mesore. It sets heavy penalties for late payment and is dated 16 April 10 BC at Alexandria.
In English machine translation
Sheet (kollema) […]
To Protarchos,
from Felix, slave of Caesar, and from Sarapion son of Pete[…]. Sarapion acknowledges that he has received from Felix a loan, from hand to hand out of the house, of 48 drachmas of Ptolemaic silver, without interest, which he will also repay by the 30th of Mesore of the present 20th year of Caesar without any delay; otherwise he is to be liable to immediate arrest and to be held until he pays the loan with an additional half, and for the overdue time the interest according to the ordinance at 2 drachmas, Felix having the right of execution upon Sarapion himself and upon all his property, as if by judgment, all guarantees and every protection that he may bring forward being invalid. We request (this).
Farewell.
Year 20 of Caesar, Pharmouthi 21.
I, Felix, agree to the terms written above.
I, Ape…, have written for Sarapion (?), since he does not know letters.
I, Sarapion, agree to the terms written above. I, Ptolemaios, have written for him because he does not know letters.
A synchoresis is a contract form typical of Augustan Alexandria, addressed to the head of the court (Protarchos) for registration. The first subscription is garbled in the text; the writer's name and the phrase are uncertain.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Rückzahlung eines Darlehns, Alexandrien). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.