Letter of Kurrah ibn Sharik to Basileios demanding arrears of gold taxes TM 19835Aphrodites Kome (Antaiopolites)1. Juni 710

[recto] [In the name of God. Kurrah son of Sharik, governor, to Basileios, administrator] of the village of Aphrodito. [We give thanks] to God, and after that: We have evidently written to you many times about the two-thirds instalment of the public gold taxes of your district, and we supposed that you had already paid it. So when we instructed the notaries to look into the papers of the treasury in order to learn what you had paid into the treasury, we found your work inadequate and worthless, and that you are handling this matter badly. For we did not send you to idle away your time in gluttony; rather we sent you to fear God and keep your faith and accomplish what is due to the Commander of the Faithful. For neither you nor the people of your district have any excuse whatsoever. For the produce of the land has turned out well, and God has blessed it and doubled it beyond what it was before; and the grain too has fetched a high price, and it has been sold by the people of the country. So, as has been said, you have no excuse whatsoever. See to it, then, the arrears owed by your district from the two-thirds instalment of its public gold taxes. Accomplish this with all speed, without leaving even a single miliaresion of it unpaid, for God knows that we were not pleased with how you have acted in the matter of these public taxes. For we wished to give you a reward on this account. If then there is any good in you, as has been said, accomplish with all zeal the arrears owed by your district from this two-thirds instalment of the public gold taxes, and send them. For it is beneficial to the people of the country to pay their dues by instalments and not to leave them until they accumulate upon them and they are hard pressed to pay in full. We know that an official carried along by incompetence and uselessness seeks pretexts for leaving his dues unpaid. Do not be such a one, and give a pretext against your own soul. Behold, we call you to witness. Written on Pauni 7, indiction 9. [verso] [† Month] […], indiction 9, by Muslim the courier, concerning sending the completion of the two-thirds instalment of the public gold taxes.