Petition from an inhabitant of Oxyrhynchus to the prefect of Egypt Flavius Philagrius, complaining that his creditors Pasois and his wife demanded more than lawful interest on a loan of 500 (units lost) and made him mortgage part of his house. He asks that the city advocate compel them to accept repayment with lawful interest and return his loan documents.
In English machine translation
To Flavius Philagrius, the most illustrious prefect of Egypt,
from […]aios, of the illustrious and most illustrious city of the Oxyrhynchites.
[…] having given a beneficent form to the matter, and that nothing [be] furnished to the creditors beyond the lawful interest, nor […] unlawfully […] to covet the property of those who have borrowed […] I borrowed from a certain Pasois and his wife […] in the necessity which then pressed upon me […] five hundred of principal, but for interest […] and more; and thus they made me mortgage […] part of my house; a sale having taken place, then a standstill (?) […] showing the sale of the mortgage; since therefore […] the house […] stands (?), and of the time of the standstill (?) […] to the principal with the lawful […] interest, I ask that the advocate (syndikos) be given to me as helper […] to compel them, accepting the money with the lawful interest of one per cent monthly, to return the notes of debt to me, so that […] obtaining justice […]
Farewell.
[…] I have submitted it.
[…]
The syndikos was a city advocate or defender appointed to assist petitioners. 'Hundredth' interest means the legal maximum of 1% per month (12% a year).
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Petition an den Präfekten von Ägypten Flavius Philagrius). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.