The papyrus is a letter from Illarion, whose home is at Oxyrhynchus, and who evidently has gone to Alexandria with other workmen. He has apparently not sent his wife many messages of affection despite the fact that she is about to have a child. When the other workmen are going to return home, he plans to stay in Alexandria, but he promises to send home some of his wages. The part of the letter that is most interesting to us is his injunction that if the child that is expected should turn out to be a female, it should be cast out. In the salutation, Illarion refers to his wife as his sister, marriages between brother and sister having been common in Egypt, and the term being one of endearment. The letter follows:
“Illarion to Alis his sister, many Greetings, and to mother Berous and Apollonarion. Know that I am still even now at Alexandria. I urge and entreat you to be careful of the child, and if I receive wages soon I will send it to you. When you bear offspring, if it is a male let it be, if a female expose it.
LETTER OF ILLARION, AN EGYPTIAN LABOURER, TO ALIS, HIS WIFE. PAPYRUS WRITTEN AT ALEXANDRIA, 17 JUNE, 1 B. C.
(REPRODUCED FROM “LIGHT FROM THE ANCIENT EAST”)
“You told Aphrodisisa, ‘Do not forget me.’
How can I forget you? I urge you therefore not to worry.
“Twenty-ninth year of Cæsar, Paune 23 (addressed). ‘Deliver from Illarion to Alis.’”[164]