Terence

Playwright, Author

– 2024

49

Who was Terence?

Publius Terentius Afer, better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence apparently died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. 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 human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me." This appeared in his play Heauton Timorumenos.

Famous Quotes:

  • Many a time from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.
  • We are all of us the worse for too much liberty.
  • I do not give money for just mere hopes.
  • Riches get their value from the mind of the possessor; they are blessings to those who know how to use them, and curses to those who do not.
  • To touch a sore is to renew one's grief.
  • While the mind is in doubt it is driven this way and that by a slight impulse.
  • They are so knowing, that they know nothing.
  • How unfair the fate which ordains that those who have the least should be always adding to the treasury of the wealthy.
  • What harsh judges fathers are to all young men!
  • Nothing is said which has not been said before.

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Also known as
  • Publius Terentius Afer
Profession
Died
Mar 18, 2024

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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"Terence." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/terence>.

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