Terence, properly Publius Terentius Afer c.195-159BC
Roman comic dramatist

Born in Carthage, he became the slave of the Roman senator P Terentius Lucanus, who brought him to Rome, educated him, and freed him. His first play was the Andria (166BC, 'The Girl from Andros'). Its success introduced Terence to the most refined society of Rome, and gained him the patronage of Laelius and Scipio Aemilianus, the Younger. After spending some years in Rome he went to Greece. Six of his comedies are still extant: Andria (166BC), Hecyra (165BC, 'Mother-in-Law'), Heauton Timoroumenos (163BC, 'Self-Tormentor'), Eunuchus (161BC), Phormio (161BC), and Adelphi (160BC, 'Brothers'). They are Greek in origin and scene, and four of them are directly based on Menander. Many of his conventions and plot constructions were later used by Moli�re, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and other European dramatists.

Bibliography: J Strauss, Terence and Menander (1955)