Publius Terentius After (Terence)
Publius Terentius After (Terence)
Circa 185-159 b.c.e.
Freed slave, playwright
Good Fortune. Born 185 B.C.E. or earlier in Carthage, brought to Rome as a slave, educated and set free by Titus Terentius Lucanus, Terence was befriended by Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus. Scipio championed Greek literature at Rome and included a number of authors among his group of friends, which came to be known as the “Scipionic circle.” Terence wrote six comedies between 166 and 160 B.C.E., which met with less success than Plautus’s. His Hecyra failed twice before its final production in 160 B.C.E. He died in 159 B.C.E. on a study tour of Greece and Asia Minor, allegedly in a shipwreck. Although he is the first Roman author of whom there is an ancient biography, wild anecdotes about him abound: Terence is said to have translated 108 Greek comedies on his final voyage; another story tells of his bequeathing a property to his daughter so that she could marry a Roman knight. It is even claimed that his friend Scipio wrote all his comedies.
Sources
Walter E. Forehand, Terence (Boston: Twayne, 1985).
Sander M. Goldberg, Understanding Terence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).