Fragments of what appear to be imperial or high official ordinances, recovered from papyrus used in the cartonnage of the Nag Hammadi codices. The surviving phrases denounce shameless informers and tax collectors who plunder the provincials, refer to storehouses, registers and fixed quantities of demands, and order such abuses to stop.
In English machine translation
[Fragment A]
[…] … […]
[…] … and […]
[…] […]
[…] of the rest […]
[…] of the shameless […]
[…] but they are also informers (sykophants) […]
[…] plundering (?) […]
[…] accurate (?) […]
[…] them and […]
[…] we have ordered […]
[…] of the collectors (exactores) […]
[…] pretext; for he has […]
[…] much eagerness […]
[…] in rivalry the storehouses […]
[…] injustice […]
[…] will register in the […]
[…] of the year of the indiction (?) […]
[…] the register will show […]
[…] to the province (ethnos) before the eyes […]
[Fragment B]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…] of our judgement […]
[…] of the provincials […]
[…] on the one hand the […]
[…] demanding an account […]
[…] products of their own labour […]
[…] let it be guarded […]
[…] having […]
[…] and civil (?) […]
[…] of themselves on behalf of […]
[…] and enemies and […]
[…] dangers and […]
[…] before making the seizures […]
[…] should attempt, let them be […]
[…] beyond the fixed quantity […]
[…] the appropriate […] declared […]
[…] both in the demands […]
[…] resembling […]
[Fragment C]
[…]
[…] care (?) […]
[…]
[Fragment D]
[…]
[…] papyrus (?) […]
[Fragment E]
[…]
[…] moved […]
[…] in the […]
[…] men […]
[Fragment F, column 1]
[…]
[…] of blame […]
[…] let him be armed against the […]
[…] are, for the rest […]
[…] arranged now […]
[…] that we are present with you […]
[…] our moderation to you […]
[…] of the just […] throwing, burying […]
[…] ⟦with inborn wickedness⟧ of the race from the […]
[…] with inborn wickedness of his own
[…] compelling to the payment
[…] for we, to those who have done no wrong, no
[…] let them cease plotting against those of the provincials […] and neither […] greed […] with undeserved outrages those who […]
[Fragment F, column 2]
[…]
[…] and […]
[…] provincials […]
[Fragment G]
[…]
[…] demand […]
[…] of the men […]
[…] of the men […]
[…]
[Fragments H to L]
[…]
Identification as imperial ordinances is tentative. The exactores were late Roman tax-collecting officials.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Imperial Ordinances (?)). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.