Complaint of a goldsmith about silver seized by a tax farmer TM 8768Oxyrhyncha, Polemonos meris, Arsinoite nome, Egyptca. 194/193 B.C.

To Protarchos, epimeletes, from Menches, goldsmith, of the inhabitants of Oxyrhyncha in the division of Polemon. Ptolemaios, who farms the goldsmiths' tax of the nome, found me in Krokodilopolis and brought a false charge against me, though I owe nothing further to the king; and taking as his accomplice Menelaos, the one in the city, they led me off, laid hands on me, and took from me a lump of silver which I had been given out to work, and a necklace (?) weighing 108 drachmas, the proofs of which will be presented. I confronted them before Asklepiades, your agent, and before him they admitted it and said they would give it back to me, but up to now they have not given it back. And I, harassed by the owner of the silver, am unable to leave home but am being ruined by idleness. So, in order that I may be able to pay in full the taxes due to the royal treasury, I ask you, beseeching you, to summon them and compel them to give the silver back to me. For if this is done, being a taxpayer, I shall not be wronged but shall obtain help. Farewell.