Letter from Chrysaris to Leontios
Private letter from Chrysaris to Leontios
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 41035
Letter from Chrysaris to Leontios demanding payment of two solidi TM 41035Provenance uncertainca 500 A. D.
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 2 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
Private letter from Chrysaris, daughter of Ambrosios, to Leontios, a cumin-seller living in Narmouthis, demanding payment of 2 gold solidi. She hints that she could have brought a cavalry soldier or obtained letters from the bishop or vicarius to have him pursued, but has refrained, and asks him to send the money or half of it now.
In English machine translation
[recto]
To my lord brother Leontios, Chrysaris the daughter of Ambrosios, greetings.
Know that I have learned that you have been living in Narmouthis for a long time, and I did not want to come there to you on account of a forced exaction (?), although I could have brought with me Elias the klibanarios, who is close to me and who could have exacted even many times as much from you. The same Elias told me that I could also obtain letters from the bishop or from the vicarius to the councillors, so that they would proceed against you, but I did not want this because of the oil, so that you would not suffer an exaction. Be willing, then, to send the 2 solidi, or, if you wish, I will come there. Write back to me and I will come to you; or if again you wish to send me half, send it right now for the time being, and after a few days the remainder.
I pray that you are well for many years, lord.
[verso]
Deliver to Leontios the cumin-seller, from Chrysaris daughter of Ambrosios.
A klibanarios was a heavily armoured cavalryman of the late Roman army. The word exagoge here seems to mean a forcible exaction or legal execution against a debtor; the reference to oil probably alludes to an earlier transaction between them.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter from Chrysaris to Leontios). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
p.lund.2.5
[r] κυρίῳ μου ἀδελφῷ Λεοντίῳ Χρυσαρὶς ἡ θυγάτηρ Ἀμβροσίου χαίρειν. γίνωσκε, ὡς ὅτι ἔμαθον, ὅτι εἰς Ναρμοῦθιν οἰκεῖς πολλοῦ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησα ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖ πρὸς σὲ δὶα ἐξαγωγὴνδυναμένη ἐνεῖκαι μετʼ ἐμοῦ καὶ Ἠλίαν τὸν κλιβανάριον τὸν διαφέροντά μου καὶ δυνάμενόν σε ἀπαιτῆσαι…