מכתב: MIAC 23973.5
מכתב MIAC 23973.5What's in the PGP
- 1 Transcription
- 1 Translation
תיאור
Letter from an unknown sender to an eparch. The sender acknowledges receipt of a letter from the eparch, in which the eparch reported having sent letters to the commander (al-amīr) and the executive officer (al-shadīd), urging them to address the sender's requests, which seem to deal with a slave (raqīq) belonging to the king, a sum of cash, and two other slaves (al-raʾsayn; the numerical signifier "heads" is used to count slaves, but here the word is used by itself). So far, the amīr has not taken heed of those requests, even though he promised that he would do so upon receiving the letter from the Master of the Horses. The sender reports seeing him once and subsequently not being granted access to see him despite staying in the district day and night waiting for him. The executive officer offers to take the sender to the amīr's house, but those visits are to no effect. The sender asks the eparch to write to the amīr about a slave (raqīq), who he says belongs to the king and should be brought downriver (to where he is) to carry out the king's requests. He urges the eparch to do so quickly before the cold and the Marīsī wind make it impossible for him to carry out his business. Traveling downriver is easy, he says, and traveling upriver is difficult. The letter mentions a man named Yūsū, possibly a servant, who has also been acting on the sender's behalf and is the bearer of this letter as he travels to the eparch. The sender asks the eparch to send 19 dīnārs and eight dirhams, and cautions that if the recipient does not act fast, he will lose out on a favorable exchange rate where the sender is. He reports also sending gold dīnārs with Yūsū, and says there is nothing else good to send. Regarding a slave girl (jāriya), he says she was inspected and purchased for 10 dīnārs but subsequently returned by the purchasers because she was crippled (muqʿida). He has now put her up for sale for 12 dīnārs and seven dirhams to another woman in a private transaction (khārij ʿan al-farīz), and has taken some clothing back from the girl. The letter mentions two slaves (al-raʾsayn) "with them" (who?), but it is unclear if this transaction is a purchase, sale, or something else. He reports that they paid him 32 dinars for them, implying that he sold them. However, he adds that "they" have not given him control over the slaves, and that he was instructed to sell them only in Egypt. The letter concludes with a repeated entreaty to the eparch to write letters to the amīr and the shadīd concerning the two slaves. He ends by urging thrice: "Be quick, be quick, be quick." PG. Khan, Qaṣr Ibrīm doc. 25.
תגים
Editor: Khan, Geoffrey
Translator: Khan, Geoffrey (in English)
MIAC 23973.5 recto
Recto
- [بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم]
- مملوك الحضرة السامية الـ[ـا] جلية الكريمة
- ثبت الله قواعد مجدها ووطد سعدها واهلك عدوها وضدها يقبل الارض
- بين يديها اليها وينهي اليها حرس الله معاليـها الذى يريد علمه ان وصلني كتابك وقراته
- وفهمت ما فيه وذكرت فيه انك سيرت للامير كتاب وللشديد كتاب تقضي حوائجي
- اما الامير فانني دخلت له فرد يوم فقال لي نقضي حوائجك ولم ارجع لنظره الى
- الان ولا يتركوني ادخل اليه وصرت ملازم الربع بكرة وعشية فلم تقضي لي حاجة
- اكثر ما يقول لي قم اطلع معي دار الامير فاطلع معه مثل ما اطلع ارجع انزل
- ما تقضي لي حاجة قال لي اذا جاني كتاب صاحب الخيل انا اقضي حوائجك وقد اتعبني
- ولم يردني الا مطال وكلمه يوسوا طريق على طريق فما له جواب الا ان نقول له نعم
- نعم وذكر عن الكاتب التي كتب الكتاب للامير ماعرف ايش يكتب وما فيه وصية عن الرقيق
- ولا دفعة غير ذكر الامير ولا غيره والى الان لم يدفعوا لا ذا ولا ذا فتكتب كتابك
- للامير وتقول له ان هذا الرقيق للملك ينحدر به يقضي به حوائج الملك احتراما
- يدخل على البرد فما اقدر والريح المريسي ما تقدرني اصل فيها فتعجلهم في قضى حوائجي
- وتسليم الرقيق الى وان سيرت اليهم رسولي من عندك فافعل فقد حال على الوقت
Recto, right margin
[ ] . . يرسـ<ـلـ>ـوا الى اخر ساعتي هذه تسعة عشر دينارا وثمانية دراهم على صرف خمس ة كل دينار
Recto
- [In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate.]
- The slave of the lofty, most glorious and munificent presence—
- may God establish the foundations of his glory, consolidate his good fortune, and destroy his enemy and opponent—kisses the ground
- before him and reports to him, may God protect his exalted position, that what he wishes him to know is that your letter has arrived and I have read it
- and I have understood what is in it. You mentioned in it that you have sent to the commander a letter and also sent to the executive officer a letter in order that my requests be carried out.
- As for the commander, I visited him one day and he saidto me, “We shall carry out your requests,” but I have notseen him again
- since and they do not allow me to visit him. I have stayed in the district morning and evening and my request has not been carried out.
- The most he (the executive officer?) says to me is, “Come up with me to the house of the commander,” and I go with him, but just as I go up, I come down again
- without any request of mine being carried out. He (the commander) said to me, “When the letter comes from the Master of the Horses, I shall carry out your requests.” He wore me out
- and replied to us only with delay. Yūsū talked to him in all kinds of ways, but we can only reply to him, “Yes,
- yes.” He says concerning the secretary who wrote the letter for the commander, “I do not know what he is writing.There is no instruction in it concerning the slave (al-raqīq),
- nor payment, only the mention of the commander and nothing else. So far no payment has been made for anything.” Write your letter
- to the commander that this slave belongs to the king and that he should bring him (the slave) down (the river) so that the needs of the king be carried through him out of respect.
- Cold will be upon me (soon) and I shall not be able (to carry out my business) and the Marīsī wind will not allow me to arrive. So, tell them to hurry up to carry out my requests
- and deliver the slave to me. If you would (kindly) send my messenger to them from your place, then please do so, for time has run out for me.
Recto, right margin
[ ] let them send to me in this final hour of mine these nineteen dīnārs and eight dirhams, at the rate of five for every dīnār.
MIAC 23973.5 verso
Verso
- واستقصيت عن الصرف بجهتى ولقيته سبعة فقد اصطرفتها
- بستة ونصف ا ا خير ما اوديها يكون الصرف اكثر تخسر فيها زايد
- الصرف وقد صارت معى دنانير ذهب وقد سيرت وقته بريده صحبة
- يوسوا حق عين فما ثم شى يوافقك ولو كانت خيرة حاضرة او غائبة كنت سيرتها
- لكن العين ما لا نقدر عليه ولا لقينا شاد وعجل على بالجواب والشديد
- ما في له فانت تعرف ان الانحدار هين والصعود صعب اعلمت الحضرة ذلك
- والجارية استعرضت دفع فيها عشرة دنانير لقيوها مقعدة ردوها وقد ابعتها
- لمرة باثنا عشر دينارا وسبعة دراهم خارج عن الافريز واستدركنا الثوب اخذناه
- منها وما احتاج اوصيك بان تكتب كتاب للامير ا يضا فيما يخصنا وكذلك ⟦ . . . ⟧ الشديد
- فقد انضريت في حالي واريد كل يوم نفقة عظيمة واما هذا الكتاب فانني كتبته على سبيل
- ان يوسوا مسافر اليك واذا قضيت حوائجي اعلمتك ما يكون والراسين التى عندهم دفعوا
- لي فيهم اثنين وثلاثين دينارا صرف ستة وثلاثين كل دينار وهم دفعوا ايضا اكثر بدينار واثنين وتلتة
- وما مكنونى فيهم فقلت لهم ما امرني ان ابيعهم الا بمصر فـسير كتابين في معناهم كتاب للامير وكتاب
- للشديد فقد حال على الوقت قبضت لهما دينار ونصف الجملة عشرين دينارا ونصف وربع صرف خمسة وثلثين
- الحمد لله وحده وصلواته على سيدنا محمد نبيه واله وسلامه حسبنا الله [ونعم الوكيل] والله والله العجل العجل العجل
Verso
- I have made inquiries about the exchange rate on my sideand I found it to be seven, but I traded eventually them(at the better rate)
- of six and a half. If I do not go ahead with this transaction, the exchange will be more, and you will lose due to a higher
- exchange rate. I have acquired gold dīnārs. I have sent atthe time (of the transaction) a mail relating to it
- with Yūsū as payment of the amount in coin. But there isnothing that would suit you. If there were anything goodat all, here or elsewhere, I would have sent it to you.
- However, cash is something that we cannot control (i.e.,we have not been able to acquire it or we have no controlof its value) and we have not found an executive officer.Reply to me quickly. But what would I have for the execu-tive officer (in the way of payment)?
- You know that going downriver is easy and going upriver is difficult. This is what I have to say to your honour.
- The slave girl was inspected and the price paid for herwas ten dīnārs, but they found that she was crippled andthey returned her. I had offered her for sale
- to a woman for twelve dīnārs and seven dirhams in a private transaction (literally: outside of the cornice) and I resolved the issue of the clothing and took it back
- from her (the slave girl). I do not need to order you (i.e., remind you) to write a letter to the commander regarding what concerns us and also the executive officer,
- for I have suffered harm and I need to make a large expenditure every day. As for this letter, I have written this because
- Yūsū is travelling to you. When my needs have been fufilled, I shall inform you what the situation is. As for the two slaves who are with them, they paid
- to me for them thirty-two dīnārs, for an equivalent exchange of thirty-six, each dīnār (having this exchange value). They have also paid more, at a rate of a dīnār, two and three.
- They have not, however, given me control over them. I told them he has instructed that I should only sell them in Egypt. So, send two letters concerning them, one letter to the commander and one letter
- to the executive officer. In the end, I accepted for them one dīnār and a half, in total twenty dīnārs and a half and a quarter, at a rate of thirty-five.
- Praise be to God alone and His blessings be upon our lord Muḥammad, His prophet, and his family and His peace. Our sufficiency is God. [What a fine keeper is He!] By God, by God, be quick, be quick, be quick!