Crown tenants at Oxyrhyncha petition to Phanias (Strategos and overseer of the revenues), asking for his protection against possible oppression by other officials.
Translation: To Phanias, one of the first friends and strategos and overseer of the revenues, from the farmers of crown land at Oxyrhyncha. Since we have done our best at your bidding and sown the Crown land we farm and borrowed no small sum of money to avoid any deficiency and conveyed the produce of the land to the royal threshing-floor and delivered it to the royal store, guarding against the extortions practiced by certain officials whose conduct is not of the best and who transgress the regulations dealing with the position of cultivators of crown land and the injunctions that have proceeded from you to the epistatai about such matters, we beg you, if it seem good, to come to our aid and that of the crown revenues, and order a letter to be written to Demetrios and Stephanos, epistatai, that in accordance with the above they should permit no one in any way to tax us unfairly or force his way on to the threshing-floors, but send all such before you with no removal of any kind on their part, so that you may pass judgement publicly on them. If this is done, we shall be enabled to pay our rents in full, thanks to the help obtained from you, and the crown will suffer no loss. Farewell.