Ἀγρῶν ἐντὸς ἔθηκεν, ἵν’ ἡ φιλάκρητος ἐκείνη
Καὶ φθιμένη, ληνῶν γείτονα τύμβον ἔχη.[[306]]
The unfortunate weakness of this nurse was made a subject of jest with the comic poets.[[307]]
But more in keeping with the true character of the nurse is Callimachus’ epigram, wherein he commemorates the goodness of the Phrygian nurse Aeschra, to whose memory her master set up her statue in token of gratitude for her nurture:
Τὴν Φρυγίην Αἴσχρην, ἀγαθὸν γάλα, πᾶσιν ἐν ἐσθλοῖς
Μίκκος καὶ ζωὴν οὖσαν ἐγηροκόμει,
Καὶ φθιμένην ἀνέθηκεν, ἐπ’ ἐσσομένοισιν ὁρᾶσθαι,
Ἡ γρῆυς μαστῶν ὡς ἀπέχει χάριτας.[[308]]
Thus from the study of the inscriptions, as well as from the literature, we learn that the Greeks had for those devoted women who stood to them in place of mother, a tender attachment which often continued all through life; and even after the nurse’s death they sought to give some expression to it by writing epitaphs and erecting monuments to their memory.