Not simply a maidservant nor even the pretty maidservant is called [favorite], but a daughter of one of the house slaves and an honored one, whether born in the house or not. Menander in False Heracles [writes]: "the mother of these two sisters is dead. A concubine of their father's, who used to be their mother's favorite slave, is bringing them up."[1] In Sikyonian: "he bought a beloved slave instead and did not hand the slave over to his wife, but kept her apart, as is appropriate for a free woman."[2] In Faithless One: "I thought if the old man got the gold, he'd get himself a favorite slave right away."[3]
Iamblichus [writes]: "since this was difficult and something of a rarity, with the [woman] housekeeper on guard and another favorite slave-woman also present, he persuades the daughter to run away without her parents' knowledge."[4]