Petition from Aurelius Silvanus of Oxyrhynchus to a high official, objecting that the local exactor (tax and judicial officer) is biased in favour of his opponent Apphous. He asks to be allowed to reject this judge, so that any case be heard in the official's own court and his possession of property not be disturbed.
In English machine translation
[…] […]
[…] them […]
From Aurelius Silvanus, from the glorious and most glorious […]
Apphous, our brother, in collusion (?) and […] having joined as an advocate (?) against me the local exactor […], requested the assistant of the case (?) […]
And since the law orders that the one who is named […] be permitted to decline (him), and I perceive that he is acting zealously for my opponent, from the fact that he wished to entangle me in the lawsuit, for this reason I ask your magnificence, since I decline him, to grant me […], so that, if he should wish, he may summon (me) by official notice to your great court, and my rights may not be betrayed before the exactor, and no innovation be made against the possession which is mine; and I shall acknowledge my gratitude to you. Farewell.
I, Aurelius Silvanus, submitted (this). I, Aurelius Serapodoros, wrote on his behalf, as he does not know letters.
The exactor was a late Roman fiscal official who also handled certain legal matters; the petitioner invokes a law allowing a party to decline a suspect judge. The opening lines and the addressee's name are lost.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Petition). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.