TEREN'TIUS A'FER, PuEtrus, the comic poet, was born at Carthage, 195 E.c. By birth or purchase, he became the slave of the Roman senator Publius Terentius Lucanus, who, out of regard to his handsome person and unusual talents, educated him highly, and finally manumitted him. On his manumission, he assumed, of course, his patron's nornen, Terentius. His first play was the AndTia, written in his 27th year, but not acted till 166 B.C. Its success was immediate, and introduced its author to the most refined society of Rome, where his engaging address and accomplishments made him a particular favorite. His chief patrons were Laelius and the younger Scipio, after living with whom in great intimacy for some years in Rome, he went to Greece, where he translated 108 of 3Ienander's comedies. He never returned; and the accounts of how he came by his death are conflicting. He is supposed to have died in his 36th or 37th year,
leaving one daughter: Six comedies are extant under the name of Terentius, which are, perhaps, all he Andria, Ilecyra, Eunuchus, Phor mio, and Adelphi. In conjunction with Plautus, Terentius, on the revival of letters, was studied as a model by the most accomplished play-writers. His language is pure almost to being immaculate, and though inferior to Plautus in comic power, he is more than his match in consistency of plot and character, in tenderness, in wit, and in metrical skill. His plays have an educational value, as dividing, with the works of Cicero and Omni., the honor of being written in the purest Latin. They have been translated into most of the European languages. The best editions of his works are those of Bentley Cambridge, 1726), and of Parry (1857).