Terence achieved in his brief twenty-six years a standard of
stylistic perfection and artistic restraint that ranked him, along
with Plautus, as the greatest of the Roman comic playwrights. He
was, at the very least, a gifted translator and adaptor, having
used Greek New Comedies as the basis for all six of his extant
plays. How far his own contribution exceeded that of simple
translation is difficult to say, but we know that the Latin,
undeniably his, was so faultlessly styled that his work served as a
textbook for scholars and grammarians for hundreds of years.
Terence had a considerable impact on the Revival of Letters; his
comedies were studied and were frequently adapted into new works by
such men as Steele, Chapman, and, most famously, Molire. Indeed,
had there been no Terence, it is doubtful that the Comedy of
Manners could have arisen when it did, and all comic writing for
the stage, from Moilre through the Restoration drama to the present
day, would be diminished for lack of him. Appropriately, the
language of this translation is from the Restoration. Graves has
based his version on the one made in 1689 by Laurence Echard; he
has corrected inaccuracies, eliminated defects and obscurities, but
retained the period tone.
Including in this book are the major comedies: "The Fair
Andrian," "The Mother-In-Law," "The Self-Tormentor," "The Eunuch,"
"The Tricks of Phormio" and "The Brothers." A close reading of
Terence is a fine corrective to any idea that may still be current,
about the glory that was Greece and grandeur that was Rome during
the Hellenistic period. It is an assurance that in some respects at
least, this age is not depraved at all.
"Robert Graves" (1895-1985) was a distinguished poet, novelist,
essayist, critic, classicist and historian and produced over 140
different works. Although briefly, he also served as professor of
poetry at the University of Oxford. Some of his most famous works
include "I, Claudius," "Claudius the God," "The White Goddess,"
"Lawrence and the Arabs," and "The Greek Myths."
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