Private Letter
Letter written to Sempronius by his brother Satornilos, who is worried not to have received any reply from Sempronius after he had sent him a letter as soon as he had arrived home
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 28798
Letter from Saturnilus to his brother Sempronius asking for a reply TM 28798Unknown place (Arsinoite nome?), province of Egypt(Late) IInd century or early IIIrd century A.D.
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 3 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A private letter from Saturnilus to his brother Sempronius (Maximus), complaining that this is his second letter since arriving home and no reply has come. He reports his safe arrival on the 21st, that all is well with 'our lady' (probably their mother), and sends greetings from and to family and friends.
In English machine translation
[recto]
Saturnilus to Sempronius his brother and lord, very many greetings.
Before all else I pray that you are in health and prospering, and at the same time I make your obeisance daily before our ancestral gods. I am surprised, brother, this is the second letter I have sent you since I reached home, and you have sent me no reply. Please, then, brother, write to me quickly about your well-being, so that I too may live less anxiously. For you know, brother, that I regard you not only as a brother but also as father and lord and god. For when I reached home, at that very hour I made a point of writing you the first letter, since I arrived home safely on the 21st, and I found everything well and our lady faring well. Our lady greets you, and Maximus and his wife and the children, and Gemellus, and Julius and his wife, and Helene, and all the children by name. Greet Valerius warmly, and Celer and his family, and Julius Serenus warmly, and Serenus Sabinus and Sarapion and all who love you, by name.
I pray for your health, most lordly brother.
[verso]
[…] from Saturnilus his brother.
To Sempronius Maximus
The address spells the sender's name 'Sarytnilos', a scribal variant of Saturnilus. 'Our lady' is a respectful term, probably for their mother; the proskynema is a customary prayer made on the addressee's behalf before the gods.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter of Saturnilus to Sempronius). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
p.mich.3.209
[r] Σατορνῖλος Σεμπρωνίῳ τῷ ἀδελφῶι καὶ κυρίῳ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πρὸ μὲν πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν καὶ προκόπτειν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸ προσκύνημά σου ποιοῦμαι ἡμερησίως παρὰ τοῖς πατρῴοις θεοῖς. θαυμάζω, ἄδελφε, δευτέρα ἐπιστολὴ αὕτη ἣν ἔπεμψά σοι ἀφʼ ἧς ἐγενόμην εἰς οἶκον καὶ οὐδεμίαν…