' It was good of you to send me presents on the 12th, the day
you sailed. Send me a lyre, I implore you. If you don't, I won't eat, I
won't drink: there now!'" Is not this more like the letter of a spoiled
child of to-day than are the solemnly dutiful epistles of even our
grandfathers and grandmothers when young? The touch about "Mother said
to Archelaus, 'It quite upsets him to be left behind'" is delightfully
like the modern small boy, and the final request and threat are also
eminently characteristic.
Here is a letter asking somebody to redeem the writer's property from
the pawnshop: "Now please redeem my property from Sarapion. It is
pledged for two minas. I have paid the interest up to the month Epeiph,
at the rate of a stater per mina. There is a casket of incense-wood,
and another of onyx, a tunic, a white veil with a real purple border, a
handkerchief, a tunic with a Laconian stripe, a garment of purple linen,
two armlets, a necklace, a coverlet, a figure of Aphrodite, a cup, a big
tin flask, and a wine-jar. From Onetor get the two bracelets. They have
been pledged since the month Tybi of last year for eight... at the
rate of a stater per mina. If the cash is insufficient owing to the
carelessness of Theagenis, if, I say, it is insufficient, sell the
bracelets and make up the money.
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