TERENCE
Publius Terentius Afer (c. 195-159 BC)

Born in Carthage, Terence was brought to Rome at an early age as a slave where he was educated and eventually freed by his master, the Senator Terentius Lucanus.

Terence gained the friendship of Scipio (Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus) and his circle of friends, one of the best known of the Roman literary and pholosophical clubs--the Scipionic Circle. It was dedicated to the improvement and refinement of the Latin language. A modern parallel would be the French Academy and its current attempts to purify the French tongue by expunging all foreign (especially American--le Big Mac--quel horreur!) influences which are viewed as intolerable corruptions.

One legend has it that members of the Scipionic Circle--the Greek philosopher Panaetius, the Roman satirist Lucilius, and the Greek historian Polybius--goaded Terence into writing his first comedy the Andria. Terence was supposed to have submitted his play to the elderly playwright Caecilius Statius (c219-168BC) whose palliatae (about 42 titles and 300 lines are extant) were rated above those of Plautus and Terence by ancient scholars. Since Caecilius died two years before Terence's first known production, this legend may well be false, but the Roman custom among the literati was to read plays, so given the makeup of the Scipionic Circle, this may indeed be how Terence started his playwrighting career. In any case, he was writing for a rarified, well-educated audience who could not only read but read Greek, etc.

The six extant comedies are probably Terence's total output, which suggests that Terence didn't need to write for money. The benevolent Senator had probably provided for his favorite. Theplays are:

All six were produced by Lucius Ambivius Turpio, an accomplished comedian/producer who presented the plays of Caecilius as well. [Turpio and Pellio--a buffoon, who first produced the played the title roles in Plautus' Stichus and Epidicus--were prominent Roman actors of the period--"stars."]

Terence's plays are imitations of Greek New Comedy (especially Menander) and he frequently combined plots and characters taken from several Greek originals. All his plays were successful in production though Hecyra had two unsuccessful performances in 165 and 160 BC because in 165, the audience was distracted by "Boxing matches and the expectation of rope-dancing" and in 160 by rumors of a gladiatorial bout nearby which drew the audience away. On the third try, the play was a success.

Terence's plays are very different from Plautus'. Terence's plays are refined, subtle, cultured, and moral. His slaves are not the sly tricksters making fools of their masters. They are either comic bunlgers or faithful servants trying to prevent their rash young masters from making dreadful mistakes. The plays are not at all farcical, but rather contemplative. Some have suggested that for Terence, laughter is secondary to philosophical points he wanted to make. His prologues plead for a hearing, begging the audience to be polite. what must have necessitated this pitiful practice? His prologues also counterattack the charges of plagiarism (another sore point) or justify his contaminatio, the practice, which he invented, of borrowing and combining plots.) For example, Adelphi borrows from a play by Menander and from another, Synapothrecontes (Linked by Death) by Diphilus. In Adelphi, the parallel plots trace the opposing theories of child rearing--one stern, the other indulgent--which are the theses of the play.

Terence was greatly admired in the Middle Ages in monasteries, etc. His plays were read as models of style, though their content was disapproved. Hrotswitha von Gandersheim wrote her six plays in direct imitation of his plays, "Christianizing" them to make them acceptable for her charges at Gandersheim. They were often performed in academic settings.

He is credited with at least two major innovations: