Editing Terence (section)

== Life and career ==
The manuscripts of Terence's plays contain ''[[didascaliae]],'' or production notices, recording the dates, occasions, and personnel of early productions of the plays, and identifying the author of the Greek original. Other traditional information about the life of Terence derives from the ''Vita Terenti,'' a biography preserved in [[Aelius Donatus]]' commentary, and attributed by him to [[Suetonius]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carney|1963|pp=1–19}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wessner|1902|pages=[https://archive.org/details/quodferturcommen01donauoft/page/n54/mode/2up 1–10]}}</ref><ref name="Suetonius">{{Cite web|title=Suetonius • Life of Terence|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/de_Poetis/Terence*.html|access-date=2020-11-10|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> However, it is not likely that Terence's contemporaries would have considered a dramatist important enough to write down his biography for posterity, and the narrative given by Suetonius' sources is often construed as conjecture based on the play texts and ''didascaliae.''<ref name="Beare1942">{{cite journal |last=Beare |first=William |title=The Life of Terence |journal=Hermathena |issue=59 |date=May 1942 |pages=20–9}}</ref>

===Conditions of performance===

In the 2nd Century BC, plays were regular features of four annual Roman festivals: the [[Ludi Romani]] (September), the [[Ludi Plebeii]] (November), the [[Ludi Apollinares]] (July), and the [[Megalesia|Ludi Megalenses]] (April); plays would also be staged at votive games, [[Roman triumph|triumphs]], and the more elaborate aristocratic funerals.<ref>{{harvnb|Carney|1963|p=20}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|p=1}}</ref> Because the Roman calendar ran some two and a half months ahead of the Sun in the 160s, Terence's plays that premiered at the Megalensia, though officially scheduled in April, would actually have premiered in late January.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1998|p=15}}</ref>

There was no permanent theatre in Rome until the construction of the [[Theatre of Pompey]] in 55 BC, and Terence's plays would have been performed on temporary wooden stages constructed for the occasion. The limited space available would probably have accommodated an audience of less than 2,000 persons at a given performance.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1998|p=14}}</ref> Admission was free to the entire population, seemingly on a first-come-first-served basis, except for the reservation of seats for members of the Senate after 194 BC; descriptions of 2nd Century theatre audiences refer to the presence of women, children, slaves, and the urban poor.<ref>{{harvnb|Beare|1951|pages=165–6}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Manuwald|2011|p=98}}</ref>

[[File:MAN mosaici da Pompei attori 1040619.JPG|thumb|Mosaic from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]] depicting preparations for a Greek play]]

In Greek New Comedy, from which the Roman comic tradition derived, actors wore masks which were conventionally associated with stock character types. Ancient authors make conflicting statements on whether Roman actors also wore masks in the time of Terence. For a time, Christian Hoffer's 1877 dissertation ''On the Use of Masks in Publius Terentius' Comedies'' won universal acceptance for the view that masks were not worn at the original performances of the plays of Terence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoffer |first=Christian |title=De personarum usu in P. Terentii comoediis |location=[[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] |year=1877 |language=la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Z8FdupA7-0C}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gow |first=A. S. F. |author-link=A. S. F. Gow |title=On the Use of Masks in Roman Comedy |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=2 |year=1912 |pages=65–77 |doi=10.2307/295942 |jstor=295942}}</ref> However, most more recent authorities consider it highly likely that Roman actors of Terence's time did wear masks when performing this kind of play,<ref>{{harvnb|Beare|1951|pp=184–6}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Duckworth|1952|pp=92–4}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barsby|2001|loc=vol. I, p. 9}}</ref> and "hard to believe"<ref>{{harvnb|Gratwick|1982|p=83}}</ref> or even "inconceivable"<ref>{{harvnb|Marshall|2006|p=126}}</ref> that they did not. Donatus states that the actors wore masks in the original productions of the ''Eunuchus''<ref name="DonatusEuPraefI6" /> and the ''Adelphoe.''<ref>{{harvnb|Wessner|1905|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=T85XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4 4]}}</ref>

===The ''didascaliae''===

According to the ''didascaliae,'' each of Terence's plays was originally produced by the acting company of [[Lucius Ambivius Turpio]], and musical accompaniment for each of the plays was provided by a [[aulos|tibicen]] named Flaccus, a slave in the service of a certain Claudius. The traditional and generally accepted chronology of the plays established according to the ''didascaliae'' is as follows:<ref>{{harvnb|Beare|1951|p=86}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Martin|1959|p=23}}</ref><ref name="Prete_p114">{{harvnb|Prete|1961|p=114}}</ref><ref name="Brothers_p10">{{harvnb|Brothers|1988|p=10}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|p=11}}</ref>

* 166 BC: ''Andria'' at the Ludi Megalenses
* 165 BC: abortive production of ''Hecyra'' at the Ludi Megalenses
* 163 BC: ''Heauton timorumenos'' at the Ludi Megalenses
* 161 BC: ''Eunuchus'' at the Ludi Megalenses; ''Phormio'' at the Ludi Romani
* 160 BC: ''Adelphoe,'' and second abortive production of ''Hecyra,'' at the funeral games of [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus|Aemilius Paullus]]; third (and successful) production of ''Hecyra'' at the Ludi Romani

The ''didascalia'' for each play also identifies its position in the corpus by chronological order. The ''didascaliae'' state that ''Eunuchus'' was the second play (''facta II''), and ''Heauton timorumenos'' was the third (''facta III''), testimony seemingly contradicted by the dates of production, as well as by Donatus' statement that the ''Eunuchus'' was "published third" (''edita tertium'').<ref>{{harvnb|Wessner|1902|p=[https://archive.org/details/quodferturcommen01donauoft/page/267/mode/1up 267]}}</ref> Some scholars have explained the discrepancy by positing an unsuccessful production of ''Eunuchus'' in 165 or 164 BC, or by interpreting the numbering in reference to the order of composition rather than the order of production.<ref name="Brothers_p10"/><ref>{{harvnb|Barsby|1999|p=79}}</ref> The didascalic numbering, seemingly discounting the unsuccessful productions of ''Hecyra,'' reckons it the fifth play.

The ''didascaliae'' also appear to record some information about revival performances at least as late as the 140s. Patrick Tansey has argued that the ''didascalia'' to ''Phormio'' in the codex Bembinus contains garbled names of the consuls in 106 BC, which would be the last attested production of Terence before the Renaissance, though the consuls of 141 BC had similar names.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tansey |first=Patrick |title=New Light on the Roman Stage: A revival of Terence's ''Phormio'' rediscovered |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |volume=144 |issue=1 |year=2001 |pages=22–43 |url=http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/144/Tansey.pdf |jstor=41234475}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|p=14}}</ref>

===The prologues===

The Greek plays which provided the Roman comedians with their material typically had a prologue which either preceded the play, or interrupted the first act after one or two scenes. In the plays of Plautus, the prologue usually, but not invariably, provides exposition of the plot; Terence abandons the traditional expository function of the prologue entirely and uses it to provide a different kind of entertainment centring on replies to criticism of his work.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1986|p=31}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Brothers|1988|p=11}}</ref>

Terence particularly refers the "slanders" he has suffered to a certain "old" and "spiteful" poet. Because Terence says this man was the translator of Menander's ''Phasma'' and ''Thesaurus'' (''Eu.'' 9–10), Donatus (or an earlier commentator from whom Donatus gleaned this information) was able to identify him as Luscius Lanuvinus, although no names are used in the prologues.<ref>{{harvnb|Wessner|1902|pp=[https://archive.org/details/quodferturcommen01donauoft/page/41/mode/1up 41], [https://archive.org/details/quodferturcommen01donauoft/page/270/mode/1up 270–4]}}</ref> Nothing survives of Luscius' work save two lines of the ''Thesaurus'' quoted by Donatus,<ref>{{cite book |last=Ribbeck |first=Otto |author-link=Otto Ribbeck |title=Scaenicae Romanorum poesis fragmenta |edition=3rd |volume=II |location=Leipzig |publisher=Teubner |year=1898 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/scaenicaeromanor02ribbuoft/page/96/mode/2up 96–8]}}</ref> nor is anything known about Luscius independently of Terence's prologues except that [[Volcacius Sedigitus]] rated Luscius the ninth-best Latin comic poet (and Terence the sixth-best).<ref>{{harvnb|Brothers|1988|p=12}}</ref> Terence's description of Luscius as "old" may refer to a style of play-writing that Terence considered old-fashioned rather than to advanced age.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2022|p=115}}</ref> Terence's judgement of Luscius' work is that "by translating them well and writing them badly, he has made good Greek plays into Latin ones that aren't good" (''Eu.'' 7–8), and that Luscius' theatrical successes were due more to the efforts of the actors than of the author. (''Ph.'' 9–11)

===Suetonian biography===

According to Suetonius, Terence was born in [[Carthage]]. He came to Rome as a slave in the household of an otherwise unknown [[Roman Senate|senator]] named P. Terentius Lucanus,<ref>[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]] (editor); ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110420033107/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2574.html "Lucanus, Terentius"]}}, [[Boston]], 1870.</ref> who educated him and [[ancient Roman freedmen|freed]] him because of his talent and good looks. Terence then took the [[Roman naming conventions|''nomen'']] "Terentius" from his patron. Possibly winning noblemen's favour by his youthful beauty, Terence became a member of the so-called [[Scipionic Circle]].<ref name="Suetonius"/>

[[File:Comic_History_of_Rome_p_210_Terence_reading_his_Play_to_Caecilius.jpg|thumb|Humorous engraving by [[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]] of Terence reading the ''Andria'' to Caecilius]]

When Terence offered his first play, ''Andria,'' to the [[aedile]]s, they bade him first read it to [[Caecilius Statius|Caecilius]]. Terence, shabbily dressed, went to the older poet's house when he was dining, and when Caecilius had heard only a few lines, he invited the young man to join him for the meal. The historicity of this meeting has been doubted on the grounds that it is improbable Terence, with his aristocratic patrons, would have been unable to dress himself decently for such an important interview; a suspiciously similar story is told about the tragedians [[Lucius Accius|Accius]] and [[Pacuvius]]; and [[Jerome]]'s statement that Caecilius died the year after [[Ennius]] implies that Caecilius died two years before ''Andria'' was produced.<ref name="Beare1942" /><ref>{{harvnb|Beare|1951|pp=83–4}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Brothers|1988|p=9}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|p=90}}</ref> However, Thomas Carney argues that Jerome's dating of Caecilius' death is not above suspicion, and besides, a delay of several years between this meeting and production is entirely plausible, as Caecilius may have been impressed by the novice playwright's work even while the discussion showed Terence the need for revision.<ref>{{harvnb|Carney|1963|p=8}}</ref> R. C. Flickinger argues that the reported state of Terence's clothing shows that he had not yet become acquainted with his rich and influential patrons at the time of this meeting, and it was precisely Caecilius' death shortly thereafter, and the consequent loss of his support, which caused a two-year delay in production.<ref>{{harvnb|Flickinger|1927|p=237}}</ref>

All six of Terence's plays pleased the people; the ''Eunuchus'' earned 8,000 ''nummi,'' the highest price that had ever been paid for a comedy at Rome, and was acted twice in the same day.<ref name="Suetonius"/> Donatus, who appears to understand that Terence himself received this entire amount, interprets the price that Suetonius says was paid for the ''Eunuchus'' as 8,000 [[sesterce]]s.<ref name="DonatusEuPraefI6">{{harvnb|Wessner|1902|p=[https://archive.org/details/quodferturcommen01donauoft/page/266/mode/1up 266]}}</ref> However, Dwora Gilula argues that the term ''nummus,'' inscribed on the title page in 161 BC, would refer to a [[denarius]], a coin containing a much larger quantity of silver, so that the price paid for the ''Eunuchus'' was really 32,000 sesterces.<ref>{{harvnb|Gilula|1989}}</ref>

[[File:Bardo_mahdia_galere.jpg|thumb|Model of a Greek ship of the 1st Century BC, reconstructed from the [[Mahdia shipwreck]]]]

When he was about the age of 25 (or, according to some manuscripts, 35), Terence travelled to [[Hellenistic Greece|Greece]] or [[Anatolia|Asia]] and never returned. Suetonius' sources disagree about the motive and destination of Terence's voyage, as well as about whether he died of illness in Greece, or died by shipwreck on the return voyage. Suetonius places Terence's death "in the consulship of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior," i.e., in 159 BC.<ref name="Suetonius"/> It is possible that the fateful voyage to Greece was a speculative explanation of why he wrote so few plays inferred from Terence's complaint in ''Eunuchus'' 41–3 about the limited materials at his disposal.<ref name="goldberg2013" />

As transmitted in the manuscript tradition, the ''Vita'' attributes the claim to Q. Cosconius that Terence died by shipwreck while returning from Greece ''"cum C et VIII fabulis conversis a Menandro,"'' an expression interpreted by some to refer to 108 new plays that Terence had adapted from Menander, but by Carney as "108 stories dramatised by Menander," who is credited with having written exactly this number of plays.<ref>{{harvnb|Carney|1963|pp=13–4}}</ref> If this number refers to new Terentian plays, it is improbable that Terence worked at such a rate after having previously finished less than one play a year, and some editors delete the number, supposing that the numeral ''CVIII'' is simply a double copying of the preposition ''CVM,'' subsequently rationalised as a number.<ref>{{harvnb|Prete|1961|p=112}}</ref>

[[File:Portret_van_schrijver_Publius_Terentius_Afer_Terentius_in_antiquo_libro_Vaticanae_bibliothecae_(titel_op_object),_RP-P-BI-6666.jpg|thumb|1726 portrait of Terence, created by Dutch artist Pieter van Cuyck]]

Terence was said to have been of "moderate height, slender, and of dark complexion." Suetonius' description of Terence's complexion is likely an inference from his supposed African origin,<ref name="Carney_p1">{{harvnb|Carney|1963|p=1}}</ref> and his description of the poet's physique may have originated as a metaphor for the "lightness" of his verse style, just as the poet [[Philitas of Cos]] was said to have weighted his shoes with lead lest he blow away in the wind.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|p=31}}</ref> Likenesses of Terence found in medieval manuscripts have no authenticity.<ref name="Prete_p114" /> Suetonius says that Terence was survived by a daughter who later married a Roman knight, and was said to have left 20 acres of gardens on the Appian Way, a report contradicted by another of Suetonius' sources who says that Terence died poor.<ref name="Suetonius"/>

===Name and ethnicity===
Ancient biographers' reports that Terence was born in Africa may be an inference from his name and not independent biographical information.<ref name="OCD">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Brown|first=Peter G. M.|title=Terence|encyclopedia=Oxford Classical Dictionary|edition=4|pages=1440–1|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012}}</ref><ref name="goldberg2013">{{harvnb|Goldberg|2013|pp=10–11}}</ref> His [[cognomen]] ''Afer'' ("the [North] African") may indicate that Terence hailed from [[ancient Libya]].<ref>{{harvnb|Albrecht|1997|p=214}}</ref> However, such names did not necessarily denote origin, and there were Romans who had this cognomen who were not Africans, such as [[Domitius Afer]].<ref name="Sandbach_p135">{{harvnb|Sandbach|1977|p=135}}</ref>

It has often been asserted on the basis of the name that Terence was of [[Berber people|Berber]] descent,<ref>"...the playwright Terence, who reached Rome as the slave of a senator in the second century BC, was a Berber", Suzan Raven, ''Rome in Africa'', Routledge, 1993, p. 122; {{ISBN|0-415-08150-5}}.</ref> as the Romans distinguished between Berbers, called ''Afri'' in Latin, and Carthaginians, called ''Poeni.''<ref>H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'', 1954.</ref> However, lexicographic evidence does not support the validity of this distinction during Terence's lifetime.<ref name="Frank1933">{{cite journal |last=Frank |first=Tenney |title=On Suetonius' Life of Terence |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=54 |issue=3 |year=1933 |pages=269–73|doi=10.2307/290611 |jstor=290611 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Prete|1961|pp=112–3}}</ref> If Terence was born as a slave in Carthage, it is possible his mother was an ethnic Italian brought there as a war captive by [[Hannibal]].<ref name="Frank1933"/> Carney argues that Terence must have been born from the Italiote Greek population enslaved by Hannibal, as this would explain his proficiency in Latin and Greek.<ref name="Carney_p1" /> F. H. Sandbach notes that in the modern world, it is rare, but not entirely unknown, for an author to achieve literary distinction in a second language.<ref name="Sandbach_p135"/>

===Dates===
Terence's date of birth is uncertain, though Sesto Prete infers from Terence's characterisation of himself as a "new" writer (''Eu.'' 43), and of a rival poet as "old" (''Hau.'' 23), that Terence was young when he wrote his plays in the 160s.<ref>{{harvnb|Prete|1961|p=112}}</ref> Suetonius' statement that Terence died at about the age of 25 in 159 BC would imply that he was born in 184 BC, the same year as the death of [[Plautus]], and was only 18 years old when he produced his first play. The variant reading that Terence was in his 30s when he died suggests instead that he was born ten years earlier in 194, which would appear to be supported by the statement attributed to [[Fenestella]] that Terence was older than Scipio and Laelius.<ref>G. D' Anna, ''Sulla vita suetoniana di Terenzio'', RIL, 1956, pp. 31–46, 89–90.</ref> [[Jerome]]'s [[Chronicon (Jerome)|''Chronicon'']] places Terence's death in 158 BC.