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Biography of Terence
Name: Terence
Birth Date: 195 B.C.
Death Date: 159 B.C.
Place of Birth: Carthage
Nationality: Roman
Gender: Male
Occupations: playwright
Terence
Terence (195-159 BC), or Publius Terentius Afer, was a Roman comic playwright. As a translator and adapter of the Greek New Comedy, produced about 336-250 BC, he gave near-perfect form and expression in Latin to the comedy of manners.Information about the life of Terence is based mainly on two sources: the prologues of Terence's plays, in which he defends himself against hostile criticism, and a life of Terence written by Suetonius (ca. A.D. 70-ca. 135) and preserved in Donatus's commentary on the plays of Terence.The prologues provide few facts, and the brief biography is filled with contradictions. Suetonius, like other ancient biographers, gathered his information from earlier sources and undoubtedly filled out the account with inferences from Terence's plays, conventional themes, and anecdotes.Basically accepted by most scholars is that Terence was born in Carthage and brought to Rome as a slave while quite young. Since Carthage and Rome were …showed first 150 words…
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…showed last 150 words…plot, and characterization. Finally, English comedy began under the influence of Plautus and Terence from the classical revival and the composition of Neo-Latin dramas. Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister, the first real English comedy, draws upon the Eunuchus, and Terentian influence is discernible in both William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Further Reading Terence's work in translation is available in a number of editions. One with commentary is that of Sidney G. Ashmore, The Comedies of Terence (1908). John Sargeaunt's edition, Terence (2 vols., 1912), also includes the Latin text. Two more recent collections are George E. Duckworth, The Complete Roman Drama (2 vols., 1942), and Frank O. Copley, The Comedies of Terence (1967). Gilbert Norwood, The Art of Terence (1923), offers sensitive but occasionally overly enthusiastic criticism. For traditional and original interpretation see William Beare, The Roman Stage (1951), and for excellent consideration of almost every aspect of Terence see George E. Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy (1952).
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