Mothers and Daughters. Both mothers and fathers were involved in their children's lives to varying degrees, but mothers were expected to have more direct contact with their children in the early years. They supervised their children's upbringing, either by taking care of the children themselves or by supervising the slaves who were assigned to take care of them. As daughters grew, mothers took more responsibility for teaching them what they needed to know to prepare them for marriage. In a poem by Propertius, Cornelia expressed special affection for her mother and for her daughter. Scribonia, the mother of Cornelia and of Augustus's daughter Julia, went of her own free will into exile with her daughter in 8 C.E. Julia Maesa looked to her daughters Julia Mamaea and Julia Soaemias in order to maintain control of the empire after the death of...