n.
orig. Publius Terentius Afer
born 0441; 195, Carthage, North Africa
died 159? BC, in Greece or at sea
Roman comic dramatist.
Born as a slave, he was taken to Rome, where he was educated and later freed. His six extant verse plays are The Woman of Andros , The Mother-in-Law , The Self-Tormentor , The Eunuch , Phormio , and The Brothers . Produced between 166 and 160 BC, they were based on Greek originals (including four by Menander ); Terence eliminated their original prologues, used contemporary colloquial Latin, and introduced a measure of realism. He influenced later dramatists such as Molière and William Shakespeare .