Note 180 — Chapter VIII · SERFS OF SPARTA, CRETE, THESSALY, ETC.
Reading edition
Their personal attendants for instance were called μοθῶνες , Suid. in v. ii. 175, and even born in the house like the Oikotribes of the other Greeks. Etym. Mag. 590. 14. According to Harpocration, (in v. p. 128,) they were slaves educated with the free boys at Sparta. The conjecture of Maussac, however, is, that they were male nurses like Phœnix in the Iliad. Similes forte hi fuerint Pappatibus, de quibus Juvenalis, aut gerulis, quos scholiastes Sophocles in Ajace Flagellifero βαϊούλους dictos refert id est baiulos: ut hodie Itali dicunt balio et balia. Not. p. 218.