Letter of Octavius to his brother Candidus

European Museums, The British Museum

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Letter of Octavius to his brother Candidus.

Letter to Candidus
Translation

'Octavius to his brother Candidus, greetings. The hundred pounds of sinew from Marinus - I will settle up. From the time when you wrote about this matter, he has not even mentioned it to me. I have several times written to you that I have bought about five thousand modii of ears of grain, on account of which I need cash. Unless you send me some cash, at least five hundred denarii, the result will be that I shall lose what I have laid out as a deposit, about three hundred denarii, and I shall be embarrassed. So, I ask you, send me some cash as soon as possible. The hides which you write are at Cataractonium - write that they be given to me and the wagon about which you write. And write to me what is with that wagon. I would have already been to collect them except that I did not care to injure the animals while the roads are bad. See with Tertius about the 8 1/2 denarii which he received from Fatalis. He has not credited them to my account. Know that I have completed the 170 hides and I have 119 modii of threshed bracis. Make sure that you send me cash so that I may have ears of grain on the threshing-floor. Moreover, I have already finished threshing all that I had. A messmate of our friend Frontius has been here. He was wanting me to allocate (?) him hides and that being so, was ready to give cash. I told him I would give him the hides by 1 March. He decided that he would come on 13 January. He did not turn up nor did he take any trouble to obtain them since he had hides. If he had given the cash, I would have given him them. [cont.]

Translation continued

I hear that Frontinius Iulius has for sale at a high price the leather ware (?) which he bought here for five denarii apiece. Greet Spectatus and ... and Firmus, I have received letters from Gleuco. Farewell.

Back:
(Deliver) at Vindolanda.'

This, the most impressive and extensive letter found so far, consists of two complete diptychs with notches and tie-holes. It is a rapidly-written business letter by Octavius, an entrepreneur supplying goods on a considerable scale to the Roman army. The style is colloquial, with a variety of financial idioms and a few technical terms. The well-preserved text is slightly obscured by 'offsets', which were caused when the leaves were folded before the ink had dried. The use of the abbreviation Vindol on the back in place of the normal address implies that the letter was brought to Candidus at Vindolanda by an acquaintance.

The writer may have been left-handed since the normal letter format has been reversed: page 1, top right; page 2, top left; page 3, bottom right; page 4, bottom left. The closing, greeting and main letter are in the same hand suggesting that the writing is that of Octavius himself. He evidently wrote the letter in haste to judge by the form of the script, the offsets and a number of mis-spellings and this may have been related to his main concern, the urgent need for cash. The letter sheds valuable light on the scale and sophistication of financial dealings in northern Britain at this time.

PRB P1989,6-2.74. Tab. Vindol. II,343

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Supplementary images:

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Letter of Octavius to his brother Candidus

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Source:  London, United Kingdom