Book IX, 254

I, Pumaents, who bore children but to feed the funeral pyre, the mother weighed down by grief, who had seen the burial of three, sought refuge in the fruit of another womb; for, indeed, was confident that the son I had not borne myself would live. So, though I had given birth to so many, I brought up an adopted son. But Fate would not allow me to possess even the gift of another mother; for no sooner was he called mine than he died, and now I have become a cause of mourning even to other mothers.