The petition of the villagers of Skaptopara, a village of Roman Thrace, to the emperor Gordian III, with his rescript — inscribed together on one stele in December AD 238. Skaptopara had the misfortune to be desirable: hot springs, a position between two army camps, a great fair held nearby. Soldiers turned aside from their roads, fairgoers and officials billeted themselves on the village, all taking lodging and supplies and many paying nothing; and the village was draining away, householder by householder. Having appealed to the governors of Thrace in vain, the villagers sent one of their own — a serving praetorian who was also a Skaptopara landholder — to carry their petition to the emperor. Gordian's reply refers the complaint back to the governor's justice. The whole dossier — Latin certification, Greek petition, the record of the hearing, and the Latin rescript — is the fullest petition-and-response inscription to survive. Verbatim bilingual text, translation, apparatus and a section-by-section commentary.罗马治下色雷斯之斯卡普托帕拉村村民致皇帝戈尔迪安三世之请愿，连同其批复，于公元后238年12月同刻一碑。斯卡普托帕拉之不幸在于其地可欲：有温泉、居两军营之间、近处又设大集市。军人弃其本道而绕至此村，集市人群与官员强住村中，皆索取食宿与给养，且多不付价；村庄遂逐户凋零。村民屡向色雷斯诸总督申诉无果，乃遣本村之人——一名在役禁卫军士、亦本村地主——携请愿上达皇帝。戈尔迪安之批复将此诉讼发回总督依法裁断。此卷宗全文——拉丁文之核验款、希腊文之请愿、听审记录、拉丁文之批复——乃现存最完整之「请愿与回应」铭文。附拉丁—希腊双语原文、译文、校勘与逐节笺注。