Publii Terentii Comoediae Sex With A Commentary (1857) By Rev. Edward St. John Parry
 
Publius Terentius Afer (195/185–159 BCE), "Terence," was a Roman comedic writer. The limited information known about his life comes from a biography by Suetonius and commentary by Donatus, but neither source can be confirmed as entirely accurate.
 
Terence was born in Carthage and went to Rome as a slave in a senator’s household. He was soon freed and eventually patronized by prominent Romans. Terence himself speaks in his works with pride about his support by Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the great Roman general from the Second Punic War.
 
Like Plautus, Terence used original Greek comedy as inspiration for his works, but he followed them more closely and kept the settings and topics Greek rather than changing them to fit a Roman theme. Terence attempted to create more natural and realistic Latin plays with more dialogue and no prologues, instead putting key background information into the actions and dialogue itself. He consequently was a key developer of literary Latin with a more every-day, conversational tone. Though Terence was not widely appreciated by the Roman public, his works were admired by critics such as Cicero and Horace. All six of Terence's plays are extant: Andria (‘Girl from Andros’), Hecyra (‘Mother-in-law’), Heauton timorumenos (‘Self-tormentor’), Eunuchus (‘Eunuch’), Phormio, and Adelphoe (‘Brothers’). [Ibid.] This work, which includes all six plays, was published by the well-known and highly regarded Scottish publishers Robert and Andrew Foulis.
 
In Latin Text
 
Hard Cover
642 Pages
In Fair Condition