A father justifies himself to his daughter, for not having died and mingled his ashes with hers, by his duty to his surviving children. Quæ tibi cunque mei potuerunt pignora amoris Nata, dari, populo sunt lacrumante data. Et volui majora nimis; sed cura meorum Fida tui prohibet me cinerem esse rogi.[84] Mothers regret, under the loss of their children, that they had ever become mothers. Cernis ut orba meis, hospes monumenta locavi, Et tristis senior natos miseranda requiro. Exemplis referenda mea est deserta senectus, Ut steriles vere possint gaudere maritæ.[85] Hæc quæcunque legis, devoto pectore, mater Da lacrimas, et me sic peperisse dole. Hic jacet, extinctus crudeli funere, natus Ultima vivendi qui mihi causa fuit.[86] The sentiment of the following inscription frequently occurs on monuments, and has been imitated in modern times. MATER MONUMENTUM FECIT MOERENS FILIO, EX QUO NIHIL UNQUAM DOLUIT, NISI CUM IS NON FUIT.[87] We learn from the sepulcral inscriptions that the Romans had the same familiar substitutes as ourselves for the formal appellations of father and mother, _mamma_ and _tata_. The following inscription is found at Rome: D.M. ZETHO CORINTHUS TATA EJUS ET NICE MAMMA. VIXIT. ANN. I. D. VI.[88] These again had their affectionate diminutives, _mammula_ and _tatula_. It is probable, however, that the use of them was confined to freedmen, and to that class of society. In one instance[89] a man erects a monument to his aged _bonne_, NONNÆ SUÆ. The word is not found in classical Latinity; but it is the undoubted original of _nun_, and may suggest that conventual vows were originally taken chiefly by aged females. In Italy at the present day it is the familiar name for grandmother. The inscriptions of children on the tombs of their parents, as might be expected, are more brief and general, expressive of gratitude and filial piety: MATRI DULCISSIMÆ, PIENTISSIMÆ, or PIISSIMÆ, CARISSIMÆ, OPTIMÆ; PATRI AMABILI, OPTIMO; or conjointly PARENTIBUS OPTIMIS, is the usual style of these inscriptions. The monument of Meia records that she was the mother of seven sons who had joined in raising a monument of Parian marble to her memory. Meia fui, felix septem circumdata natis; Dum vixi adstabat turba tenella mihi. Ut mihi grata vicem natorum turba referret Hoc mihi de Pario marmore struxit opus.[90]