Plato speaks of a method nurses had of finding out what children want. When anything is brought to an infant and he is silent, then he is supposed to be pleased, but when he weeps and cries out, then he is not pleased.[149] Aristotle thinks that the crying of infants should not be restrained since it is conducive to their growth: συμφέρουσι γὰρ πρὸς αὔξησιν,[150] but Plutarch in his De Cohibenda Ira says: ὅπερ οὖν αἱ τίτθαι πρὸς τὰ παιδία λέγουσι “μὴ κλαῖε καὶ λήψῃ” τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν οὐκ ἀχρήστως.[151] By means of amulets and charms the nurses sedulously guarded the children against the pernicious influence of witchcraft and the evil eye. Demeter, in the Homeric Hymn, promises the mother that no harm shall come to the child from witchcraft: θρέψω, κοὔ μιν ἔολπα κακοφραδίῃσι τιθήνης οὔτ’ ἄρ’ ἐπηλυσίη δηλήσεται οὔθ’ ὑποτάμνον.[152] The amulets were usually of a grotesque character that the sight being diverted to them should not make so strong an impression on the child.[153] On the approach of a stranger, a nurse in charge of a sleeping infant would spit towards him as if to keep off from the child a possibly evil influence.[154] Another charm against the evil eye is preserved by St. John Chrysostom: βόρβορον αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν τῷ βαλανείῳ λαμβάνουσαι τροφοὶ καὶ θεραπαινίδες καὶ τῷ δακτύλῳ χρίσασαι κατὰ τοῦ πετώπου τυποῦσι τοῦ παιδίου κἂν ἔρηταί τις, τί βούλεται ὁ βόρβορος τὶ δὲ ὁ πηλός; ὀφθαλμὸν πονηρὸν ἀναστρέφει, φασί, καὶ βασκανίαν καὶ φθόνον.[155] At what age the children left the care of the nurses is not certain. Chrysippus allows three years to them,[156] and according to Plato, the boys and girls were separated at six.[157] It seems clear that the boys, at least, were sent early to school to keep them out of harm’s way: ἐπεὶ καὶ αἱ τίτθαι τοιάδε λέγουσι περὶ τῶν παιδίων ὡς ἀπιτέον αὐτοῖς ἐς διδασκάλου. καὶ γὰρ ἂν μηδέπω μαθεῖν ἀγαθόν τι δύνωνται, ἀλλ’ οὖν φαῦλον οὐδὲν ποιήσουσιν ἐκεῖ μένοντες.[158] _The Nurse and the Grown Daughter_ The tie between nurse and child might continue strong in later years. She often remained in the family as the attendant and sometimes as the confidante of the young maiden. Thus Nausicaa’s old nurse lights her fire and prepares her evening meal: ἥ οἱ πῦρ ἀνέκαιε καὶ εἴσω δόρπον ἐκόσμει.[159] The same nurse who had tended Phaedra as an infant remained in her service until the death of her mistress. Her devotion, introduced mainly as a dramatic expedient, is nevertheless lifelike. Indeed it is the blindness, even to precipitancy, of her love of Phaedra which must be held accountable for the method employed by her to cure the distemper of her mistress. This she herself acknowledges in her answer to Phaedra: ἔθρεψά σ’ εὔνους τ’ εἰμί· τῆς νόσου δέ σοι ζητοῦσα φάρμαχ’ ηὗρον οὐχ ἁβουλόμην. εἰ δ’ εὔ γ’ ἔπραξα, κάρτ’ ἂν ἐν σοφοῖσιν ἦ· πρὸς τὰς τύχας γὰρ τὰς φρένας κεκτήμεθα.[160]