The child was suckled either by mother[75] or nurse.[76] Naturally the practice of employing wet-nurses prevailed chiefly among well-to-do mothers.[77] The author of the De Liberis Educandis counsels mothers to nurse their own children, and dilates on the advantages accruing therefrom; nevertheless he permits the employment of wet-nurses wherever the mothers cannot perform the duty themselves.[78] Antiphanes considered the Scythians the wisest of men because they fed their children on mare’s and cow’s milk, and did not entrust them to nurses as did the Greeks.[79] In the Menaechmi of Plautus distinction is made between “mater quae mammam dabat” and “mater quae pepererat,”[80] and in the Adelphi of Terence the services of a nurse are secured for a courtesan.[81] We have ample evidence from Demosthenes that this employment was resorted to by poor women as a means of livelihood during the hard times which followed the Peloponnesian War.[82] We read besides that nurses were allowed to nurse but one child at a time.[83] Plato refers to definite laws regarding the nurture of children,[84] and speaks of the time when they were fed with milk: ἐκ νέων παίδων ἔτι ἐν γάλαξι τρεφόμενοι.[85] In the community of wives and children, he would have the mothers, from a feeling of humanity, assisted in the nurture of the children by wet-nurses: καὶ ἄλλας γάλα ἐχούσας ἐκπορίζοντες.[86] Aristotle associates infantile maladies with the physical condition of the nurse: εἴωτε δὲ τὰ παιδία τὰ πλεῖστα σπασμὸς ἐπιλαμβάνειν καὶ μᾶλλον τὰ εὐτραφέστερα καὶ γάλακτι χρώμενα πλείονα ἢ παχυτέρῳ καὶ τίτθαις εὐσάρκοις,[87] and φύει δὲ πρῶτον τοὺς προσθίους, καὶ τὰ μὲν τοὺς ἄνωθεν πρότερον, τὰ δὲ τοὺς κάτωθεν. πάντα δὲ θᾶττον φύουσιν, ὅσων αἱ τίτθαι θερμότερον ἔχουσι τὸ γάλα.[88] He objects to the use of wine for young children,[89] and deems it unsuitable for the nurses as well: διὸ τοῖς παιδίοις οὐ συμφέρουσιν οἱ οἶνοι, οὐδὲ ταῖς τίτθαις.[90] Dion Chrysostom speaks of its use: ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τίτθης γάλακτι καὶ οἴνῳ καὶ σιτίοις,[91] but Hippocrates says: ἀμεῖνον εἶναι τοῖς παιδίοισιν τὸν οἶνον ὡς ὑδαρέστατον διδόναι.[92] After being weaned,[93] children were fed on milk,[94] and honey.[95] According to Athenaeus, young children thrive well on the juice of figs.[96] They were also fed on morsels: “αἱ τὰ παιδία ψωμίζουσι τροφοί.”[97] The practice of first chewing the food before giving it to the child seems to have been usual, for we have several allusions to it. Democrates likens the orators to nurses αἱ τὸ ψώμισμα καταπίνουσαι, τῷ σιάλῳ τὰ παιδία παραλείφουσι,[98] and Sextus Empiricus has a similar statement: εἰκότως ταῖς τίτθαις, αἱ μικρὸν τοῦ ψωμίσματος τοῖς παιδίοις διδοῦσαι τὸ ὅλον καταπίνουσι.[99] Nor did it escape the ridicule of Aristophanes who says: καθ’ ὥσπερ αἱ τίτθαι γε σιτίζεις κακῶς μασώμενος γὰρ τῷ μὲν ὀλίγον ἐντίθης αὐτὸς δ’ ἐκεῖνον τριπλάσιον κατέσπακας.[100]