Closing lines of a 4th-century AD contract, probably from the Herakleopolite nome, in which two or more parties, one a son of Ammonios, acknowledge receiving a price under mutual guarantee and promise repayment by the agreed date. A man, son of Dionysios, signed for them because they were illiterate.
In English machine translation
[…]
[…] in answer to the formal question we have agreed. Aurelius […]
[…]sas son of Ammonios, Annia[…]
[…] we have received, under mutual guarantee, the price […]
[…] half, and we will repay at the due date as aforesaid […]
[…]des son of Dionysios, wrote on their behalf, as they do not know letters […]
Receipt of a price with a promise to repay at a due date suggests an advance sale, in which the goods are paid for now and delivered later, but the object is lost. "Mutual guarantee" means each party is liable for the whole sum.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Conclusione di un contratto). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.