Trouble with Papyrus that bans divination

[Barry Hofstetter]

1. [ἐντυχὼν πολλοῖ]ς οἰ̣[ηθ]ε̣ῖσιν μαντείας τρόποις ἐξαπατᾶσθ̣[αι]
2. [ε]ὐ̣θ̣[έως ἀναγκ]α̣ῖ̣[ον ἡγη]σάμην περὶ τοῦ μηδένα κίνδυνο̣[ν]
3. τῇ ἀ[νο]ί̣ᾳ α̣ὐ[τ]ῶν ἐπακολουθηση(* [actually infinitive ἐπακολουθῆσαι) σαφῶς πᾶσιν ἐνταῦθα̣
4. διαγ[ορ]ε̣ῦσαι εἴ̣ρ̣[γεσ]θ̣[α]ι̣ τῆς ἐπισφαλοῦς ταύτης περιεργίας.

Having come upon many suspected to be deceived by various types of divination I deemed it immediately necessary, concerning the fact that, due to their ignorance, no risk follow clearly upon all there, to declare that they be kept/keep themselves from this dangerous pursuit...

A slight rephrasing of Barry's version, after pondering some of the phrasing):

Having found that several persons have suspected they are being cheated by various kinds of divination, I decided forthwith, so that no peril should arise because of their folly, to proclaim to all henceforth to refrain from this predatory sort of public nuisance.

--οἰ̣[ηθ]ε̣ῖσιν, I think, is not passive but middle here, the Koine aorist of οἴεσθαι
--τῇ ἀ[νο]ί̣ᾳ α̣ὐ[τ]ῶν: presumably the reference is to the foolishness of those who are taken in by the τρόποι μαντείας
--ἐπακολουθηση(* [actually infinitive ἐπακολουθῆσαι): come about as a consequence
--ἐπισφαλοῦς: of an activity that "trips up (unsuspecting people)"
--περιεργία: being a busybody, bothering people for no good reason

Clearly οἴομαι is deponent, not passive and should read something like "having suspected..." My phrasing was intended to be painfully literal to show the structure of the text, and especially the articular infinitive phrase. As for the precise nuance of the key vocabulary terms, that needs to be determined from context. It still strikes me as a text intended to warn people away from the practise without immediate punishment for involvement. Has anybody looked at the rest of the text?

[Stephen Hughes]

Has anybody looked at the rest of the text.

It is not difficult to get the gist of.

[Barry Hofstetter]

Has anybody looked at the rest of the text.

It is not difficult to get the gist of.

Thanks for the helpful comment...

No, it's not hard to get the gist, and it doesn't really seem to provide sufficient information. I intuitively like Carl's interpretation (because, you know, like Carl is awesome), but I'm reluctant to give up my own, so I was wondering if anybody else had given it some attention.

[Stephen Hughes]

Has anybody looked at the rest of the text.

It is not difficult to get the gist of.

Thanks for the helpful comment...

No, it's not hard to get the gist, and it doesn't really seem to provide sufficient information.

Well... I don't want to give away any spoilers. This papyrus is not uninteresting to read, and not overly taxing.

Here is the version of the text of the relevant rest of the papyrus that I've arranged in a format that can be hopperised. What is written in the parentheses is to allow the machine to understand what is written before the parentheses.

5 μήτʼ οὖν διὰ χρη̣[σμῶ]ν (χρησμῶν) ἤτοι ἐνγράφων διὰ γραφῶν ὡς
ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου διδομένων μήτε διὰ κωμασίας ἀκαλμάτω[ν] (ἀγαλμάτων)
ἢ τοιαύτης παγγανίας (μαγγανίας) τὰ̣ (τὰ) ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπόν τις εἰδένα[ι] (εἰδέναι)
προσποιείσθω καὶ τὴν τῶν μελλόντων ἀτηλείαν (ἀδηλίαν) ἐπαγγε̣[λ-]
λέσθω (ἐπαγγελλέσθω) μέτε (μήτε) τους (τοῖς) περὶ τ̣[ού]τ̣ου (τούτου) πυνθανομενους (πυνθανομένοις) ἑαυτὸν
10 ἐπιδιδότω ἢ ὅλως ἀπ[ο]κρινέ̣σ̣θ̣ω (ἀποκρινέσθω). ἐὰν δέ τις την (τῇ) ἐπαγγελιαν (ἐπαγγελίᾳ)
ταυτην (ταύτῃ) παραμ̣έ̣ν̣ων (παραμένων) [φ]ω̣ραθῇ (φωραθῇ), πεπίσθω (πεπείσθω) ὅτι τῇ ἐσχά[τ]ῃ (ἐσχάτῃ)
τιμωριαν (τιμωρίᾳ) παραδοθήσεται. τῆς ἐ[π]ιστολῆς (ἐπιστολῆς) ταύτης τὸ ἀντίγρα-
φον (ἀντίγραφον) δημοσίᾳ ἔν τε ταῖς μητροπ[ό]λ̣εσιν (μητροπόλεσιν) καὶ κατὰ κώμην
φανεροῖς καὶ εὐαναγνώστοις τοῖς γράμμασιν ἕκαστος
15 ὑμῶν [εἰς (εἰς) λε]ύ̣κωμ[α] (λεύκωμα) προθῖ[ν]αι (προθεῖναι) προνοησατο (προνοησάτω), καὶ διὰ παν-
τὸς (παντὸς) πολυπραγμ̣ο̣νίτω̣ (πολυπραγμονείτω) <καὶ> (καὶ) ἐ̣άν (ἐάν) τι[ν]α (τινα) παρὰ τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα
πρασσον (πράσσοντα) εὑρον (εὕρῃ), δεδεμ̣[έ]ν̣ο̣ν (δεδεμένον) ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμὴν διάγνωσιν
πεμψάτω• οὐδὲ γὰρ [ὑμῖν] (ὑμῖν) ἀ̣κίνδυνον (ἀκίνδυνον) ἔσ ̣ται (ἔσται), εἰ μάθοι
αὖ τοιούτον (τοιούτων) τινο͂ν (τινῶν) ἐν [τοῖς ὑ]φʼ (ὑφʼ) ὑμᾶς νομοῖς περιορομένον (περιορωμένων)
20 ἀλλὰ τὴν ἴσην κόλασι[ν (κόλασιν) τοῖ]ς̣ (τοῖς) σκεπομένοις ὑποστήσεσθαι (ὑποστήσεσθε).
ἐκείνον ( ἐκείνων) μὲν γὰρ ἕκα[στος] (ἕκαστος), εἰ καὶ τὰ παρὰ <τὰ> (τὰ) ἀ̣π̣ιρημένα ( ἀπειρημένα) τολμ[ᾷ] (τολμᾷ),
εἷς γέ ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ μὴ παντ[αχό]θεν (πανταχόθεν) αὐτοὺς ἐπε̣[ι]σ̣χὼν (ἐπισχὼν) πολλοῖ[ς] (πολλοῖς)
κινδύνου αὐτὸς αἴτιο[ς (αἴτιος) γεγ]ένηται (γεγένηται).

[gshogren]

Guys, seriously, thank you so much.

I am Gary Shogren, by the way - Professor of New Testament, Seminario ESEPA, San Jose, Costa Rica

Blessings.

[gshogren]

Dear guys, with your permission I would like to use an amalgam of your translations for my paper. I'll thank you in a footnote. Gary

[Stephen Hughes]

Dear guys, with your permission I would like to use an amalgam of your translations for my paper. I'll thank you in a footnote. Gary

You're welcome to quote mine in the usual manner prescribed by your institution - I think that goes without saying. Unless you're in a rush to publish, I don't think the fat lady has sung here yet. There are quite an number of small pointers in the rest of this text that clarify things in the first part.

[gshogren]

Guys, again, thanks so much. May I use parts of your translations in my article? Gary

[Barry Hofstetter]

That's fine with me.

[gshogren]

Gentlemen, this discussion was a whole 5 years ago, but I am only now, finally getting published the paper that this papyrus appears in. Thanks again for your help with a difficult text! Gary