Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit.
Translation: Obsequiousness begets friends, truth hatred.
Hinc illae lacrimae.
Translation: Hence these tears.
Amantium irae amoris integratio est.
Translation: Lovers' quarrels are the renewal of love.
Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.
Translation: I am human, I consider nothing human is alien to me.
Periclum ex aliis facito tibi quod ex usu siet.
Translation: Draw from others the lesson that may profit yourself.
Diem adimere aegritudinem hominibus.
Translation: Time removes distress. (Also known as: Time heals all wounds.)
Nil tam difficile est quin quaerendo investigari possiet.
Translation: Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.
There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.
Line 805
Modo liceat vivere, est spes.
Translation: While there's life, there's hope.
Publius Terentius Afer (195/185–159 BC), better known in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as
Terence, was a
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
of the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman
senatorThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities,
freedManumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
him. Terence apparently died young, probably in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
or on his way back to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. All of the six plays Terence wrote have survived.
One famous quotation by Terence reads: "
Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am a man, I consider nothing that is human alien to me." This appeared in his play
Heauton TimorumenosHeauton Timorumenos is a play written by Publius Terentius Afer, known in English as Terence, a dramatist of the Roman Republic. The play has presented academics with some problems. Firstly it is not entirely clear whether Heauton Timorumenos is Terence's second or third play...
.
Biography
Terence's date of birth is disputed;
Aelius DonatusAelius Donatus was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. The only fact known regarding his life is that he was the tutor of St...
, in his incomplete
Commentum Terenti, considers the year 185 BC to be the year Terentius was born;
FenestellaFenestella, , Roman historian and encyclopaedic writer, flourished in the reign of Tiberius. If the notice in Jerome is correct, he lived from 52 BC to AD 19 ....
, on the other hand, states that he was born ten years earlier, in 195 BC.
He may have been born in or near
CarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
or in Greek Italy to a woman taken to Carthage as a slave. Terence's
ethnonymAn ethnonym is the name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms and autonyms or endonyms .As an example, the ethnonym for...
Afer suggests he lived in the territory of the Libyan tribe called by the Romans
AfriAfri was a Latin name for the Carthaginians. It was received by the Romans from the Carthaginians, as a native term for their country....
near Carthage prior to being brought to Rome as a slave. This inference is based on the fact that the term was used in two different ways during the republican era: during Terence's lifetime, it was used to refer to non-Carthaginian Libyco-Berbers, with the term
Punicus reserved for the Carthaginians. Later, after the
destruction of CarthageThe Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic...
in 146, it was used to refer to anyone from the land of the Afri (Tunisia and its surroundings). It is therefore most likely that Terence was of
LibyanThe Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements....
descent, considered ancestors to the modern-day
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
peoples.
In any case, he was sold to P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman
senatorThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, who educated him and later on, impressed by Terence's abilities,
freedManumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
him. Terence then took the
nomenBy the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen...
"Terentius," which is the origin of the present form.
When he was 25, Terence left Rome and he never returned, after having exhibited the six comedies which are still in existence. According to some ancient writers, he died at sea.
Terence's plays
Like
PlautusTitus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, Terence adapted Greek plays from the late phases of Attic comedy. He was more than a translator, as modern discoveries of ancient Greek plays have confirmed. By borrowing from earlier Greek works, Terence provided in his plays what is considered to be an authentic view of Greek society in the 3rd century BC.
Terence wrote in a simple conversational
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and most students who persevere long enough to be able to read him in the vernacular find his style particularly pleasant and direct.
Aelius DonatusAelius Donatus was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. The only fact known regarding his life is that he was the tutor of St...
,
JeromeSaint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
's teacher, is the earliest surviving commentator on Terence's work. Terence's popularity throughout the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
is attested to by the numerous manuscripts containing part or all of his plays; the scholar Claudia Villa has estimated that 650
manuscriptA manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s containing Terence's work date from after AD 800. The mediaeval playwright Hroswitha of Gandersheim claims to have written her plays so that learned men had a Christian alternative to reading the pagan plays of Terence, while the reformer
Martin LutherMartin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
not only quoted Terence frequently to tap into his insights into all things human but also recommended his comedies for the instruction of children in school.
Terence's six plays are:
- Andria (The Girl from Andros)
Andria is a comedy by Terence, a Roman playwright. It was Terence's first play, and he wrote it when he was approximately 19 years old. Terence adapted through translation from Menander's play, although as he is at pains to point out in his prologue he goes beyond mere translation. It was first...
(166 BC)
- Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)
Hecyra is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Terence.The Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted, when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was...
(165 BC)
- Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)
Heauton Timorumenos is a play written by Publius Terentius Afer, known in English as Terence, a dramatist of the Roman Republic. The play has presented academics with some problems. Firstly it is not entirely clear whether Heauton Timorumenos is Terence's second or third play...
(163 BC)
- Phormio
Phormio is a Latin comic play by the early Roman playwright Terence. It was first performed at the Ludi Romani of 161 BC.Phormio is based on a play by Apollodorus of Carystus.-Text:* Latin text edited by Edward St. John Parry at Perseus:...
(161 BC)
- Eunuchus
Eunuchus is a comedy written by the Roman playwright Terence featuring a complex plot of familial misunderstanding.-Prologue:...
(161 BC)
- Adelphoe (The Brothers)
Adelphoe is a play by Roman playwright Terence, adopted partly from plays by Menander and Diphilus. It explores the best form of child-rearing...
(160 BC)
The first printed edition of Terence appeared in
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
in 1470, while the first certain post-antiquity performance of one of Terence's plays,
AndriaAndria is a comedy by Terence, a Roman playwright. It was Terence's first play, and he wrote it when he was approximately 19 years old. Terence adapted through translation from Menander's play, although as he is at pains to point out in his prologue he goes beyond mere translation. It was first...
, took place in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in 1476. There is evidence, however, that Terence was performed much earlier. The short dialogue
Terentius et delusorTerentius et delusor is an anonymous poetical treatise, variously described as a dialogue or spoken play, preserved only in fragments in a twelfth-century manuscript. It is the earliest example of the author or presenter of a play appearing as persons in the work, and in this case both appear:...
was probably written to be performed as an introduction to a Terentian performance in the 9th century (possibly earlier).
A phrase by his
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al
collaboratorA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
FlaccusFlaccus is a composer from the 2nd century BC, of whom little is known. He was either a freedman or a slave of one of Terence's patrons and wrote musical scores for Terence's comedies...
for Terence's comedy
HecyraHecyra is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Terence.The Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted, when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was...
is all that remains of the entire body of
ancient RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
music. This has recently been shown to be inauthentic.
Cultural legacy
Terence's plays were a standard part of the Latin curriculum of the
neo-classicalNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
period. US President
John AdamsJohn Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
once wrote to
his sonJohn Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, "Terence is remarkable, for good morals, good taste, and good Latin...His language has simplicity and an elegance that make him proper to be accurately studied as a model."
Two of the earliest English comedies,
Ralph Roister DoisterRalph Roister Doister is a comic play by Nicholas Udall, generally regarded as the first comedy to be written in the English language.The date of its composition is disputed, but the balance of opinion suggests that it was written in about 1553, when Udall was a teacher in London, and was intended...
and
Gammer Gurton's Needle are thought to parody Terence's plays.
Due to his cognomen Afer Terence has long been identified with Africa and heralded as the first poet of the African diaspora by generations of black writers, including
Juan LatinoJuan Latino, born Juan de Sessa, , was a Spanish black professor at Granada during the sixteenth century.-Life:Son of black slaves of the second Duke consort of Sessa since 1520, Luis Fernández de Córdoba, deceased Rome, Italy, 1526, he went to Granada where he was educated together with his...
, Phyllis Wheatley, Alexandre Dumas,
Langston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
and
Maya AngelouMaya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
.
American playwright
Thornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
based his novel
The Woman of Andros on Terence's
AndriaAndria is a comedy by Terence, a Roman playwright. It was Terence's first play, and he wrote it when he was approximately 19 years old. Terence adapted through translation from Menander's play, although as he is at pains to point out in his prologue he goes beyond mere translation. It was first...
.
Questions as to whether Terence received assistance in writing or was not the actual author have been debated over the ages, as described in the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica:
[In a prologue to one of his plays, Terence] meets the charge of receiving assistance in the composition of his plays by claiming as a great honour the favour which he enjoyed with those who were the favorites of the Roman people. But the gossip, not discouraged by Terence, lived and throve; it crops up in Cicero and Quintilian, and the ascription of the plays to Scipio had the honour to be accepted by Montaigne and rejected by Diderot.
See also
- Translation
- Prosody (Latin)
Latin prosody deals with the science of Latin versification and its laws of meter. This article provides an overview of those laws as practised by Latin poets in the late Roman republic and early Roman empire, with verses by Catullus, Horace and Virgil as models...
External references
- The six plays of Terence at The Latin Library
The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain. Others have been downloaded from various sites on the Internet . Most of the recent texts have been...
- Andria at The Perseus Digital Library
- Hecyra at The Perseus Digital Library
- Heautontimorumenos at The Perseus Digital Library
- The Eunuch at The Perseus Digital Library
- Phormio at The Perseus Digital Library
- The Brothers at The Perseus Digital Library
- 15th century scripts from Hecyra and Eunuchus, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
- Terence's works: text, concordances and frequency list
- The Life of Terence, part of Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
's De Viris Illustribus, Translated by J. C. RolfeJohn Carew Rolfe, Ph.D. was an American classical scholar, the son of William J. Rolfe.He graduated from Harvard University in 1881 and from Cornell University in 1885....
.
- Commentum Terenti by Aelius Donatus
Aelius Donatus was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. The only fact known regarding his life is that he was the tutor of St...
, at the Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
; 1902 Teubner edition.
- SORGLL: Terence, Eunuch 232-264, read by Matthew Dillon
- Latin with Laughter: Terence through Time