Editing Terence (section)

===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)