A private letter from Paulos, a shorthand clerk (exceptor) travelling with a high official, to his "mother" Maria at Oxyrhynchus. He acknowledges her letter, the first to reach him, brought by the official courier Anelios, announces his imminent arrival in the Oxyrhynchite nome with the archon, and explains he had not received her earlier letters.
In English machine translation
[recto]
[…]
☧ I received the letter of your motherly goodwill through the most admirable Anelios the singularius; God knows this is the first to reach me; and I was very glad to learn from it that you are well. And with God's help, in these days we are arriving at the Oxyrhynchite (nome) with my lord the most magnificent and most esteemed archon, and I hope that, when we reach those parts, an instruction will be given concerning each matter. You should not blame me on the grounds that you wrote to me a first, a second and a third time and did not receive replies. For God the Almighty knows that since I left the Oxyrhynchite (nome) I have received no letter from you except this one alone. I learned that Kalemeros is not being detained, both from my symmachos and from many others. I greet you warmly, and so does our most sweet common son Theon and […]nis. And thanks be to the Almighty who prepared you to send this letter, the one through Anelios the singularius.
[verso]
☧ Deliver to my lady, most venerable and most noble mother Maria, from Paulos, exceptor.
A singularius was an official courier or attendant of a governor's staff; a symmachos was a letter-carrier or messenger. "Mother" and "common son" may be respectful or familial terms.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Private Letter: Paul to Mary). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.