Greek literature -- History and criticism; Nurses; Thesis (Ph. D.)
In addition to the sepulchral inscriptions mentioned above, we have
literary evidence of the existence of other monuments in honor of
nurses. Theocritus furnishes the following:
ὁ μικκὸς τόδ’ ἔτευξε τᾲ Θραΐσσᾳ,
Μήδειος τὸ μνᾶμ’ ἐπὶ τᾷ ὁδῷ κηπέγραψε Κλείτας
ἕξει τὰν χάριν ἁ γυνὰ ἀντὶ τήνων
ὧν τὸν κοῦρον ἔθρεψε. τί μάν; ἔτι χρησίμα καλεῖται.[304]
The use of χρησίμα in the last line is in accordance with the custom
referred to before.[305]
Less complimentary to the nurse is the following selection from the
Anthology, ascribed to Dioscuridus:
Τὴν τίτθην Ἱέρων Σειληνίδα, τὴν, ὅτι πίνοι
Ζωρὸν, ὑπ’ οὐδεμιῆς θλιβουμένην κύλικος,
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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. TEXTS OF SOURCES
AELIAN: Varia Historia, ed. Hercher. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1866.
AESCHINES: Orationes, ed. Blass. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1896.
AESCHYLUS: Tragoediæ, ed. Weil. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1898.
AESOP: Fabulæ, ed. Halm. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.
ANTHOLOGIA GRAECA, ed. Bosch. 1795–1822.
ANALECTA VETERUM POETARUM GRÆCORUM, ed. Brunck, 1776.
APOLLONIUS RHODIUS: Argonautica, ed. Seaton. London, 1912.
ARISTOTLE: Opera, ed. Didot. Paris, 1848.
ATHENAEUS: Deipnosophistæ, ed. Kaibel. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1890.
BERGK: Poetæ Lyrici Græci, Lipsiæ, 1878–1882.
BLAYDES: Aristophanes, Halis, 1883.
CALLIMACHUS, Hymni, ed. Blomfield. London, 1815.
CICERO: De Officiis, ed. Holden. Cambridge, 1899.
CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ATTICARUM, ed. Boeckh, 1875–1882.
DEMOSTHENES: Orationes, ed. Blass. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.
DIODORUS SICULUS: Bibliotheca Historica, ed. Vogel. Lipsiæ: Teubner,
1888.
DION CHRYSOSTOM: Orationes, ed. Dindorf. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1857.
DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS: Antiquitatum Romanorum, ed. Jacoby. Lipsiæ:
Teubner, 1885.
DIONYSIUS PERIGETES, ed. Wells. Oxford, 1704.
EPICTETUS: Dessertationes, ed. Didot. Paris, 1840.
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