The position and treatment of the slaves varied in different periods, and differed also in the different parts of Greece. Here, too, the conditions of the heroic age were patriarchal, and the distinction between free men and slaves was not so great as afterwards. Trustworthy slaves superintended extensive farms and numerous herds; old female slaves had the whole direction of the household; they were often intimately connected with the inmates of the house, and showed touching fidelity and affection for their masters, with whom they lived on a familiar footing. Similar conditions existed in later times too, but only in remote pasture districts, such as Arcadia, where even in the historic age the slaves were almost regarded as members of the family, ate at the same table as their masters, and shared their labours and recreations. Generally speaking, the Dorians were regarded as stern masters, and the Athenians as kinder and more considerate; in fact, a common reproach against the Athenians was that their kindness degenerated into weakness, and that the slaves were nowhere so insolent as at Athens; they expressed themselves freely, it was said, did not give way even to free citizens in the street, they drank, they met together for common banquets, carried on love affairs, etc., just like free men. These reproaches seem not to have been altogether exaggerated, as is proved by the important part played by slaves in the newer Attic comedy; they were usually insolent, cunning fellows, who cared little for an occasional beating, and were always ready to play their masters a trick, or to intrigue with the sons against their stern fathers. Still it was not unusual in Attica for slaves to run away, and therefore the slave-owners tried to prevent this by stern supervision, and even by chaining and branding. It is natural that the temperament of the Athenians, which changed quickly from extreme to extreme, should not often succeed in finding the right mean between severity and kindness, and therefore, in their sudden transitions from excessive consideration to severest cruelty, a real feeling of attachment between slaves and masters was very rare; still there were instances of devoted fidelity on the part of the slaves, and many inscriptions still extant speak of such devotion continuing even to the grave.