A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

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496 From Principate to Monarchy
of
Theon, weaver, both partiss belonging to the city of
Oxyrhynchus. Tryphon agrees to apprentice to Ptolemseus
his son Thoonis, his mother being Saraeus the daughter
of Apion, who is not yet of age, for a period of one
year from the present day, to serve and to do everything
commanded him by Ptolemaeus in accordance with the
whole weaving art, as also he himself knows it—the boy
being supported and clothed during the whole time by
his father Tryphon, on whom also all
the public dues for
the boy shall fall, on condition that Ptolemaeus shall give
him monthly on account of his keep five drachmas, and
at the expiry of the whole period on account of his clothing
twelve drachmas, it not being permitted to Tryphon
to remove the boy from Ptolemaeus until the time is completed.
And if there are any days during this period on
which he (the boy) plays truant, he (Tryphon) will produce
him for an equal number of days after the time, or let
him pay back for each day one silver drachma, and the
penalty for removing him within the period shall be a
hundred drachmas and a like amount to the public treasury.
But if Ptolemaeus himself does not teach the boy
thoroughly, let him be liable to the like penalties. This
contract of apprenticeship is valid. The 13th year of
Sebastus, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator,
A.u"' 20
Sept. 27. the month Sebastus, 21.
I Ptolemaeus, son of Pausirion, the son of Ptolemaeus,
my mother being Ophelous the daughter of Theon, will
carry out each of these requirements in the one year.
I Zoilus, son of Horus, the son of Zoilus, my mother
being Dieus daughter of Socceus, write on his behalf seeing
that he does not know letters. The 13th year of Nero
Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator, the
month Sebastus 21.