§100. Nurses.--The mother was the child's nurse (§90) not only in the days of the Republic but even into the Empire, the Romans having heeded the teachings of nature in this respect longer than any other civilized nation of the old world. Of course it was not always possible then, as it is not always possible now, for the mother to nurse her children, and then her place was taken by a slave (_nūtrīx_), to whom the name _māter_ seems to have been given out of affection. In the ordinary care of the children, too, the mother was assisted, but only assisted, by slaves. Under the eye of the mother, slaves washed and dressed the child, told it stories, sang it lullabies, and rocked it to sleep on the arm or in a cradle. None of these nursery stories have come down to us, but Quintilian tells us that Aesop's fables resembled them. For a picture of a cradle see Smith under the words _cūnae_ and _cūnābula_; in Rich under _cūnāria_ is a picture of a nurse giving a baby its bath. The place of the modern baby carriage was taken by a litter (_lectīca_), and a terra cotta figure has come down to us (Fig. 20) representing a child carried in such a litter by two men. §101. After the Punic wars (§5) it became customary for the well-to-do to select for the child's nurse a Greek slave, that the child might acquire the Greek language as naturally as its own. In Latin literature are many passages that testify to the affection felt for each other by nurse and child, an affection that lasted on into manhood and womanhood. It was a common thing for the young wife to take with her into her new home, as her adviser and confidant, the nurse who had watched over her in infancy. Faithfulness on the part of such slaves was also frequently repaid by manumission. [Illustration: FIGURE 21. JOINTED DOLL] [Illustration: FIGURE 22. CHILDREN PLAYING BALL]