Publius Terentius Afer is better known to us as the Roman playwright, Terence. Much of his life, especially the early part, is either unknown or has conflicting sources and accounts. His birth date is said to be either 185 BC or a decade earlier: 195 BC. His place of birth is variously listed as in, or, near Carthage, or, in Greek Italy to a woman taken to Carthage as a slave. It is suggested that he lived in the territory of the Libyan tribe that the Romans called Afri, near Carthage, before being brought to Rome as a slave. Probability suggests that it was there, in North Africa, several decades after the destruction of Carthage by the Romans in 146 BC, at the end of the Punic Wars, that Terence spent his early years. One reliable fact is that he was sold to P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, who had him educated and, impressed by his literary talents, freed him. These writing talents were to ensure his legacy as a playwright down through the millennia. His comedies, partially adapted from Greek plays of the late phases of Attic Comedy, were performed for the first time around 170-160 BC. All six of the plays he has known to have written have survived. Indeed, thanks to his simple conversational Latin, which was both entertaining and direct, Terence's works were heavily used by monasteries and convents during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance. Scribes often learned Latin through the copious copying of Terence's texts. Priests and nuns often learned to speak Latin through re-enactment of Terence's plays. Although his plays often dealt with pagan material, the quality and distinction of his language promoted the copying and preserving of his text by the church. This preservation enabled his work to influence a wide spectrum of later Western drama. When he was 25 (or 35 depending on which year of birth you ascribe too), Terence travelled to Greece but never returned. It has long been assumed that he died at some point during the journey. Of his own family nothing is known, except that he fathered a daughter and left a small but valuable estate just outside Rome. His most famous quotation reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me."

A severe father compels his son Clinia, in love with Antiphila, to go abroad to the wars; and repenting of what has been done, torments himself in mind.

Publius Terentius Afer is better known to us as the Roman playwright, Terence. Much of his life, especially the early part, is either unknown or has conflicting sources and accounts. His birth date is said to be either 185 BC or a decade earlier: 195 BC. His place of birth is variously listed as in, or, near Carthage, or, in Greek Italy to a woman taken to Carthage as a slave. It is suggested that he lived in the territory of the Libyan tribe that the Romans called Afri, near Carthage, before being brought to Rome as a slave. Probability suggests that it was there, in North Africa, several decades after the destruction of Carthage by the Romans in 146 BC, at the end of the Punic Wars, that Terence spent his early years. One reliable fact is that he was sold to P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, who had him educated and, impressed by his literary talents, freed him. These writing talents were to ensure his legacy as a playwright down through the millennia. His comedies, partially adapted from Greek plays of the late phases of Attic Comedy, were performed for the first time around 170-160 BC. All six of the plays he has known to have written have survived. Indeed, thanks to his simple conversational Latin, which was both entertaining and direct, Terence's works were heavily used by monasteries and convents during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance. Scribes often learned Latin through the copious copying of Terence's texts. Priests and nuns often learned to speak Latin through re-enactment of Terence's plays. Although his plays often dealt with pagan material, the quality and distinction of his language promoted the copying and preserving of his text by the church. This preservation enabled his work to influence a wide spectrum of later Western drama. When he was 25 (or 35 depending on which year of birth you ascribe too), Terence travelled to Greece but never returned. It has long been assumed that he died at some point during the journey. Of his own family nothing is known, except that he fathered a daughter and left a small but valuable estate just outside Rome. His most famous quotation reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me."

The six plays by Terence (d. 159 BC), all extant, imaginatively reformulate Greek New Comedy in realistic scenes and refined Latin. They include Phormio, a comedy of intrigue and trickery; The Brothers, which explores parental education of sons; and The Eunuch, which presents the most sympathetically drawn courtesan in Roman comedy.

(Aris and Phillips 1988)

"Terence (?184-159 B.C.) was the outstanding comic playwright of his generation at Rome and one of the founding fathers of European comic drama. All six of his plays survive. This new translation with introduction and explanatory notes aims to be both accurate and idiomatic, and to convey the liveliness of the plays as pieces written for the theatre."--BOOK JACKET.

A comprehensive collection of essays by leading scholars in the field that address, in a single volume, several key issues in interpreting Terence offering a detailed study of Terence’s plays and situating them in their socio-historical context, as well as documenting their reception through to present day • The first comprehensive collection of essays on Terence in English, by leading scholars in the field • Covers a range of topics, including both traditional and modern concerns of gender, race, and reception • Features a wide-ranging but interconnected series of essays that offer new perspectives in interpreting Terence • Includes an introduction discussing the life of Terence, its impact on subsequent studies of the poet, and the question of his ethnicity

Terence (?184-159 BC) was the outstanding comic playwright of his generation at Rome and one of the founding fathers of European comic drama. His plays have been imitated by authors as diverse as the nun Hrothswitha in the tenth century and P. G. Wodehouse in the twentieth. They deal with the love-life of adolescent boys and with associated tensions in their relations with their fathers. They show love triumphing over obstacles of various kinds, and they also portray the problems that arise from ignorance, misunderstanding, and prejudice. They are true to universal elements of human experience, and audiences today can readily engage with the issues they raise. This new translation with introduction and explanatory notes aims to convey the liveliness of the plays as pieces written for the theatre.