P. Terentius Afer was born at Carthage B. C. 195, since he was in his 35th year at the performance of his last play, the Adelphi, B. C. 160. By birth or purchase, he became the slave of P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator. But if he were "civis Carthaginiensis," as the didascalia of Donatas and the biographers style him, his servile condition is difficult to understand. Fenestella remarked that Terence could not have been a prisoner of war, since Carthage was at peace with Rome from B. C. 201 to 149. But in that interim the Carthaginians were involved in wars with their own mercenaries, with the Numidians, and with the southern Iberians, and at least two Roman embassies visited Carthage. So that, although the truce with Rome was unbroken, Terence or his parents may have been exposed in the Punic slave-markets, and transported to Italy. His cognomen Afer rests on as good authority as any other circumstance related of him. Yet it is not conclusive. It may have been merely an inference from a popular rumour of his Punic origin; and it was a cognomen of the Gens Domitia at Rome, where it certainly does not imply African descent. Terence is said to have been of an olive complexion, thin person, and middle height. (Donat.) These are not the physical characteristics of the Punic race, but they accord with those of the Liby-phoenician or Celtiberian perioeci, who were planted as colonists in various parts of the Carthaginian territory; and it is more likely that a perioecus, or the son of a perioecus, should have been enslaved, than that a native Carthaginian should have become the property of a Roman senator, so long as their respective commonwealths were at peace. It is remarkable also that Plautus, an Umbrian, in his comedy of the "Poenulus" should have introduced a Carthaginian among his dramatis personae, and an entire scene in the Punic language, while neither Carthaginian words, names, or allusions, are to be met with in Terence.
We know not at what time Terence came to Rome; but from his proficiency in the language of his masters we infer that he fell early into the hands of Terentius Lucanus, even if he were not a verna, or slave born in the house. A handsome person and promising talents recommended Terence to his patron, who afforded him the best education of the age and finally manumitted him. The condition of slaves was not always unfavourable to intellectual development. More than one eminent writer was born in a servile station[1], and Tiro, Cicero's freedman, was the associate of his patron's literary labours, and his amanuensis. On his manumission, according to the usual practice, Terence assumed his patron's nomen, Terentius, having been previously called Publius or Publipor. From his cognomen, Lucanus, the patron may have been a native or landholder of southern Italy, and the protege, like Livius Andronicus, have acquired in one of the cities of Magna Graecia his taste for the Attic drama. The "Andrian" was the first play offered by Terence for representation. The curule aediles, who conducted the theatrical exhibitions, referred the piece to Caecilius, then one of the most popular play-writers at Rome. [Caecilius Statius.] Unknown and meanly clad, Terence began to read from a low stool his opening scene, so often cited by Cicero as a model of narration. (Invent i. 23, de Orat. ii. 40, &c., &c.) A few verses showed the elder poet that no ordinary writer was before him, and the young aspirant, then in his 27th year, was invited to share the couch and supper of his judge. This reading of the Andrian, however, must have preceded its performance nearly two years, for Caecilius died in B. C. 168, and it was not acted till 166. Meanwhile copies were in circulation, envy was awakened, and Luscius Lavinius [Vol. II. p. 842] a veteran, and not very successful play-writer (comp. Prol. in Terent. Com.; Gell. xv. 24; Hieron. in Genes.), began his unwearied and unrelenting attacks on the dramatic and personal character of the author. The "Andrian" was successful, and, aided by the accomplishments and good address of Terence himself, was the means of introducing him to the most refined and intellectual circles of Rome. In the interval between Plautus and Terence, the great Roman families had more and more assumed the state and character of princely houses. In their town and country seats, the Scipios, the Laelii, the Metelli and the Mucii, formed each a petty court around themselves. Among the patrons or associates of Terence we find the names of L. Furius Philus, of C. Sulpicius Gallus, of Q. Fabius Labeo, and M. Popilius Laenas. But from the comparative youth of the parties, his intercourse with Laelius and the younger Scipio had in it less of dependence on the one side, and more of friendship on the other. Nepos, indeed (Fr. Chron. i. 6), calls them aequales. Both Scipio and Laelius, however, were probably about nine years younger than their protégé. Both treated him as an equal, and this intimacy would open to him, as it formerly opened to Ennius, and subsequently to Lucilius, the houses of the Aemilii, Metelli, and Scaevolae. (Cic. Arch. 7; Vet. Schol. in Hor. Serm. ii. 1. 71.) Nor is it rash to conjecture that Terence may have conversed with Polybius at Alba or Liternum, or made one of the group immortalised by Horace. (Serm. ii. 1. 71, foll.; vet. Schol.)
Calumny did not fail to misrepresent their intercourse. His patrons, it was said, assisted Terence in the composition, nay, were the real authors of his plays, made him their playmate and butt, and let him starve. (Porcius, ap. Donat.) C. Memmius [No. 5] mentioned the rumour as notorious, in his speech "Pro Se;" Valgius wrote in his Actaeon (Bothe, Poet. Lat. Scen. v. p. 201), probably in the Prologue,
"Hae quae vocantur fabulae cujae sunt?
Non has, qui jura populis end'ibus (endo-tribus?) dabat
Honore summo affectus, fecit fabulas;"
Cicero gave it credence (ad Att. vii. 3), and Nepos (Fr. Incert. 6), in the following story, ascribes at least one comedy to Laelius. It was, he says, the 1st of March, the festival of the Matronalia, on which, if on no other day of the year, the Roman ladies were absolute in their households. Laelius was spending the holiday at Puteoli; supper was announced, but he begged not to be interrupted, as
- ↑ Bentley (Praef. in Terent. Cantabr. 1726) remarks "Hi tres (Terentius, P. Syrus, Phaedrus) pari conditione liberti et peregrini, in non ita dissimili argumento, comoediis mimis et apologis, omnia Italorum ingenia facile superaverunt." For the intellectual opportunities of slaves, see also Nepos (Att. 13, 14). Before his manumission, Terence was probably anagnostes and librarius to Lucanus.
