A business letter from Oxyrhynchus of the 6th or 7th century AD. The writer asks the addressees to arrange a lease of a whole house in his name, since he cannot take only lord John's share, and to remind the steward of small payments due to him at the Kalends; he also promises to send leeks by boat.
In English machine translation
[recto]
From […]
[…] of your brotherliness […]
[…] lord (?) thus other […]
[…]. Your greatness therefore will kindly write […]
[…] about his health […]
[…] of the house I learned, and for this I gave thanks […]
the other things. Therefore I urge you to make the lease in my name,
but of the whole house, for I cannot take the part of lord John
without having the other part. Having been greeted with obeisance by me,
please greet the most pious steward and remind
his God-belovedness about my few kalends-dues, concerning which he also promised me face to face, having told your admired splendour
that he has these firmly fixed to be given to me through you.
I wrote for this reason, that having incurred expenses here I am dreaming of
these. And while I am here, I make obeisance to your footsteps many times. As for the leeks,
if I find a boat I am sending them according to your order. †
[verso]
…
"Kalandika" were customary gifts or payments made at the Kalends of January. "Kephalota" are headed leeks, a common commodity in such letters.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Business Letter). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.