Two joining fragments from the top of the left-hand portion of a diptych containing the opening of a letter to a person called Fadus. There is a tiny scrap with traces of a few letters which we cannot place; it might supply part of the name of the sender. Only the first line of the message survives and, rather surprisingly, it seems to express the wish that something might turn out badly for the recipient. The hand is a reasonably competent but not very elegant cursive.
].s Fado suo
salutem
opto male tibi eueniat ut per
traces
. . . . . . . . .
"... to his Fadus, greetings. It is my wish that it might turn out badly for you ...."
The space at the left suggests that the gentilicium and cognomen of the author will have been written. There is a large gap between the end of the cognomen and the name of the addressee, cf. [347.]a.1 and note.
Fado: there is no doubt about the reading despite the fact that the lower part of the oblique of a has been abraded. For the cognomen Fadus, which is not common, see LC 178; it is held by a legionary soldier in CIL 6.3618. It does not occur elsewhere in the Vindolanda texts.