Letter 467: Terentianus asks Tiberianus for military gear before being sent toward Syria.

Claudius Terentianus sends many greetings to Claudius Tiberianus, his lord and dearest father. Before anything else, I pray that you are strong, cheerful, and well, together with everyone in our household. Whenever I have news from you, I am well myself. You should know, father, that I received the cloak, the tunic, and the belted cloths, and also what came through Nepotianus, though part of the text is damaged here. But you had given him rough coins. You know very well how much he lied to his companions. Know also that I am being hurried off to Syria and am about to depart with a detachment. I asked him to give the items to me, but he denied that he had the rough coins. He told me that if I did not return something to him, he would report it to your father. If I had not needed it, I would gladly have returned it to him, so that you could recover our wrapping from him. Kalabel and Deipistus have enrolled in the Augustan fleet at Alexandria. No one has reckoned up the risks of his own life. I do not hate Marcellus because of this; before the gods, they were nothing to me but words, and I have conceived hatred for no one. I went and put myself forward for the ship, and through those men I was accepted into the fleet, so that I would not seem to you to be wandering like a runaway, lured on by bitter hope. I ask and beg you, father, since I have no one dearer to me after the gods than you: send me through Valerius a fighting sword, a spear, a pickaxe, a grappling hook, two of the best lances you can get, a castor cloak, and a belted tunic with my trousers. I need them because I wore out my tunic before I was accepted into military service, though the trousers had been put away new. If you are going to send anything, write addresses on everything and tell me the marks in your letter, so that nothing gets switched while it is being carried. If you write me a letter, address it to me on the liburnian Neptune [a light warship in the Alexandrian fleet]. Know that at home, by the favor of the gods, everything is going well. I sent you two jars of olives, one in brine and one black. Please, father, go with those jars to the Delta on a trading boat, buy what is needed, and send three breeders; the papyrus is damaged at this point. My mother, my father Ptolemaeus, and all my brothers send you greetings. Greet Aphrodisia and Isityche, Serenus the clerk, your colleague Marcellus, your colleague Terentius, and all your tentmates. I pray that you may be well for many years, together with all your family. Farewell.

Claudius Terentianus Claudio Tiberiano domino et patri karissimo plurimam salutem. Ante omnia opto te fortem et hilarem et salvom mihi esse cum nostris omnibus; quotiensque autem a te habeo novom, mihi bene est. Scias me, pater, accepisse [anaboladium] et tunicam et pannos braciles, et ab Nepotiano [lacuna]. Tu autem dedisti illi aspros. Scias autem rapi me in Syriam, exiturum cum vexillo. Rogavi illum dare mihi; ille autem negavit se habere aspros. Si non mihi reddas [lacuna], referam patri tuo; et nisi quod opus mihi fuit, reddidissem illi libenter, ut reciperes ab illo nostrum involucrum. Kalabel et Deipistus probaverunt se in classe Augusta Alexandrina. Nullus computavit casus suae vitae. Nec ob haec Marcellum odi, quoniam nihil mihi pro diis fuerunt nisi verba; nullius concepi odium. Ivi me obicere navi, et per eos me probavi in classe, ne tibi paream a spe amara palpatum vagari quasi fugitivom. Oro et rogo te, pater, neminem habeo enim karum nisi secundum deos te, ut mittas mihi per Valerium gladium pugnatorium et lanceam et dolabram et coplam et lonchas duas quam optimas et byrrum castalinum et tunicam bracilem cum bracis meis. Ut habeam, quoniam extrivi tunicam antequam me probarem in militiam; bracae autem novae positae sunt. Et si quid missurus es, inscribe omnia et signa mihi scribe in epistula, ne quid mutetur dum adfertur. Et si scribes mihi epistulam, inscribas in liburna Neptuni. Scias domo nostrae deorum beneficio omnia recte esse. Misi tibi amphoras duas olivarum, colymbade una et una nigra. Rogo et oro te, pater, ut eas ad Delta mercatoria navi, ut emas et mittas tres tocadas. Salutat te mater mea et Ptolemaeus pater meus et fratres mei omnes. Saluta Aphrodisiam et Isitychen, Serenum scribam et Marcellum collegam tuum et Terentium collegam tuum et omnes contubernales tuos. Bene valere te opto multis annis cum tuis omnibus. Vale.