Cicero himself never alludes to her--as neither, if I remember rightly, did Horace to his mother, though he speaks so frequently of his father.

Helvia's younger son, Quintus, tells a story of his mother in a letter, which has been, by chance, preserved among those written by our Cicero.

She was in the habit of sealing up the empty wine-jars, as well as those which were full, so that a jar emptied on the sly by a guzzling slave might be at once known.

This is told in a letter to Tiro, a favorite slave belonging to Marcus, of whom we shall hear often in the course of our work.

As the old lady sealed up the jars, though they contained no wine, so must Tiro write letters, though he has nothing to say in them.