13 Facts About Terence

Terence was supposedly on his way to explore and find inspiration for his comedies.

Terence's plays were heavily used to learn to speak and write in Latin during the Middle Ages and Renaissance Period, and in some instances were imitated by William Shakespeare.

However, it is possible that ancient biographers' reports that Terence was born in Africa are an inference from his name and not independent biographical information.

Consequently, it is not known with certainty whether Terence was given the cognomen Afer as denoting his origin, or if it was solely based on later bibliographers' reports based on the terminology of their day.

Terence then took the nomen "Terentius", which is the origin of the present form.

Additionally, Terence was a member of the so-called Scipionic Circle.

When he was about the age of 25, Terence travelled to Greece to gather materials for his plays and never returned.

Five of Terence's plays are about a pair of young men in love.

The first printed edition of Terence appeared in Strasbourg in 1470, while the first certain post-antique performance of one of Terence's plays, Andria, took place in Florence in 1476.

The manuscripts of Terence can be divided into two main groups.

Pietro Alighieri states that his father Dante took the title of his famous "Divine Comedy" from Terence's plays and in the 14th century Giovanni Boccaccio copied out in his own hand all of Terence's Comedies in manuscripts that are now in the Laurentian Library.

Terence's plays were a standard part of the Latin curriculum of the neoclassical period.

Terence's language has simplicity and an elegance that make him proper to be accurately studied as a model.