The 25th year of the reign of our most godlike and pious master Flavius Justinianus the eternal Augustus and Imperator, the 10th year after the consulship of Flavius Basilius the most illustrious, July 11, 14th indiction, in the illustrious and honourable city Rome of Flavius Constantinus {Constantinople}. The under-mentioned draw up and make the present reciprocal agreements and covenants with each other, without guile or violence or deceit or compulsion or any fraud, of their own free will and deliberate choice, of the one part Dioscorus son of Apollos, Callinicus son of Victor, Apollos son of John, and Cyrus son of Victor acting through Senouthes son of Apollos who represents him in his absence, all natives of the village called Aphrodito in the Antaeopolite nome in the eparchy of the Thebaid, and of the other part Flavius Palladius the most illustrious count of the sacred consistory, son of John of blessed memory, and Epigonus the most illustrious count, both natives of the most illustrious city of Leontius in the 1st eparchy of Cappadocia, but of recent years resident in this royal city, agreeing with each other on the following terms of accord.
We the aforesaid, Dioscorus, Apollos, Callinicus, and Cyrus, acting through me, Senouthes, as his representative, arriving here in this royal city obtained a divine order against our adversaries the party of Heraclius son of Psaios and other people of our village, furthermore against any person whatsoever indicated by the purport of our divine order, and requiring by the law an . . . exsecutor of the suit we have presented a request to your excellency in June of the present 14th indiction, but of the 15th according to Egyptian reckoning, that by the leave of God you should come to the Thebaid and take the said divine order, that is, the divine memorandum held by us, and lay it before the local courts and devote all goodwill and . . . and expedition and watchfulness and furtherance to our suit until the case be brought to an end and completely dispatched (in pursuance ?) of the said divine order, and produce before the court all the persons mentioned in the said order under safe security, and furthermore all the persons indicated by the import of the said decree, and prosecute the suit till the end of the case, we paying the charges for presenting the order and the costs of the officium and receiving one quarter of all the defendants' fees, and the other three quarters of the said fees being allotted to your excellency ; and of the sums which will be forthcoming in consequence of the action or in anticipation of it, we again are entitled to receive as compensation for our losses the three quarter part, and your excellency the other quarter, to pay for the journey and trouble and expenses of yourself and the servants attached to you ; and you shall not in any wise vacillate or transgress the aforesaid accord, but execute it fairly and earnestly and justly in a perfectly transparent manner, without any kind of treachery or levity or delay or procrastination or abeyance or mockery ; and we again are ready to appear in court at the summons of the most honourable commander of the province or of the . . ., whichever of them your excellency may prefer, until the action concerning our affair be concluded, and to prosecute it blamelessly and irreproachably and to deliver our complaint to the defendants and to speak in court, at our personal risk and on the resources of our property of every kind.
And I, the aforesaid most illustrious Palladius, acknowledge in return that I am ready to abide by the accords and agreements above formulated to me by you and to accept them all and execute them in whatsoever manner you have set forth ... in these two agreements and not transgress them in any respect . . . according to the import of the divine order delivered to you, but rather to conduct the case against all your adversaries mentioned or indicated in respect of every claim which you entertain against them until the conclusion of your suit. And to these terms, for clearer and stronger security, we have sworn to each other, I to you and you to me, the divine and imperial oath, by the holy and consubstantial Trinity and the victory and permanence of our triumphant master Flavius Justinianus the eternal Augustus and Imperator, that ... we will abide by what we have both agreed to in these two duplicate agreements. If we fail to do so, the party which does not abide by them shall pay to the party which does two pounds of gold to be really and truly exacted, and shall abide against its will by all the foregoing accord. And having formally questioned each other and been questioned by each other on all these terms we have acknowledged that they are correct and that we will give, perform, observe, and complete . . .
{Signed} I the aforesaid, Flavius Palladius, count, made this agreement on all the above-mentioned terms of accord and . . . signed it with my hand. (Witnessed) I, Flavius Phoebammon son of Athanasius, of ... in the Thebaid, witness this agreement, having heard it read by the maker. I, Flavius John son of Theodorus, of Lycopolis in the Thebaid, witness this agreement, having heard it read by the maker. I, Flavius . . . son of Theodosius . . ., taktomisthos . . . witness this agreement, having heard it read by the maker. I, Flavius Theodorus, notary, who give my services to all who need them and have my place of work in the most holy great church {Hagia Sophia} of this royal city, witness this deed of surety concluded by Dioscorus, Callinicus, Cyrus represented by Senouthes, and Apollos, with Palladius . . .
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