Terence

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Alleged representation of Terence in the manuscript Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana , Vat. Lat. 3868.

Publius Terentius Afer , in German Terenz (* between 195 and 184 BC in Carthage ; † 159 or 158 BC in Greece ), was one of the most famous comedy poets of Roman antiquity . Along with Plautus, he was the most important Roman poet of the Archaic era and was close to the aristocratic Scipion circle. A total of six comedies by Terence have survived, dating from 166 to 160 BC. Were listed.

Life

Statue of Terenz on the Hanover Opera House

Nothing is known precisely about Terence's birth. According to Aelius Donatus , he was born in 195 BC. Born in Carthage in BC, the Roman historian Fenestella, however, dates the birth to the year 184 BC. Chr.

Terence came to Rome as a slave . His master, the Senator Terentius Lucanus, recognized his talents , ensured a good education and released him (hence the name part Publius ). Accordingly, Terence took the name of his master (Terentius) . The nickname Afer (the African) indicates belonging to a Libyan tribe . Its original name is unknown.

Terence is said to have been friends with Scipio and Laelius , who, however, were both significantly younger than him. An " intimate intercourse" with them, as Porcius Licinus (in the 2nd century) claims, is considered unproven.

Shortly after one of the last performances of his pieces in 160 BC. He traveled to Greece for educational purposes and died there in 159 BC. Chr., The cause of death is unclear: Suetonius According he suffered on the way home shipwreck and died there; other versions report that he died of grief over the loss of his works made in Greece.

A page from an antique parchment manuscript of the comedy Phormio des Terence. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vaticanus lat. 3226, fol. 72r (so-called "Terentius Bembinus", 4th / 5th century)

Works

year Original title German title occasion
166 Andria The girl from Andros Ludi Megalenses
165, 160 Hecyra The mother in law Funeral games for
Aemilius Paulus and
for the Ludi Romani
163 Heautontimoroumenos The self-tormentor Ludi Megalenses
161 Eunuchus The cut one Ludi Megalenses
161 Phormio - Ludi Romani
160 Adelphoe The brothers Funeral games for
Aemilius Paulus

Later works, which are said to have been created from 160 onwards, have not survived.

meaning

The Hecyra des Terence in the Paris manuscript, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal , 664, fol. 210v (early 15th century)

Terence was modeled on the comedies of the new Attic comedy , especially the only partially preserved ones by Menander and Apollodor von Karystos, whereby he sometimes worked two pieces together, for example Menander's Andria and Perinthia in his Andria . In the prologues of his comedies, Terence often defended himself against accusations of plagiarism and justified the collaboration of noble friends (e.g. on the play Adelphoe ).

In his comedies, staged by the actor Ambivius Turpio , Terenz shaped everyday bourgeois life in a careful, lifelike characterization of the people. Upbringing problems, marriage issues and love entanglements are the themes of his pieces, which are borne by great humanity : " Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto - I am human, nothing human is alien to me." (Heaut., 77).

The renunciation of drastic comedy, coarse, popular jokes and vulgarity distinguishes Terence from Plautus, who is about 50 years older . With their planned, artistically designed plot and their cultivated conversational language, Terence's comedies quickly found acceptance, especially among the educated classes. The wider public, on the other hand, only gradually found access to his pieces. So the first performances of the Hecyra had to be canceled, as the Roman audience preferred boxing matches or gladiator games . It wasn't until 160 that it was fully presented.

Although Caesar denied Terence the "vis comica" (merriment) and called him a "halved menander " ( dimidiatus Menander ), Terence had a strong impact on world literature . Roswitha von Gandersheim rejected his comedies because of their (relative) freedom of movement , but stylistically followed him closely. The theater practice of humanism was based on the Terenz stage . The modern drama ( Molière , Lessing ) also received significant impulses from him. Quotations from the works of Terence been since the Middle Ages to proverbs or winged words, and with the end of the 16th century on the emblematic to the subject of the painting of the Baroque , such as " SINE CERERE ET BACCHO FRIGET VENUS ".

At the beginning of the seventeenth century he was the most important poet whose works were on the curriculum for learning the Latin language in high schools . After Methodus nova by Wolfgang Ratke he should be taken four times in succession. Ratke himself made a translation of all six works together with Johannes Kromayer , which was published in 1626 with the title Six Pleasures Game .

expenditure

literature

Overview representations

  • Eckard Lefèvre : P. Terentius Afer ; in: Werner Suerbaum (Ed.): The archaic literature. From the beginnings to Sulla's death (= Handbook of Latin Literature in Antiquity , Volume 1), Munich 2002, pp. 232-254. ( CH Beck )
  • Michael von Albrecht : History of Roman literature from Andronicus to Boethius and its continued effect . Volume 1, 3., verb. and exp. Edition, Berlin 2012, pp. 184–206. ( Walter De Gruyter )

Overall representations

reception

  • Barbara R. Kes: The reception of the comedies of Plautus and Terenz in the 19th century. Theory - Processing - Stage , Amsterdam 1988. (Grüner)

Web links

Commons : Publius Terentius Afer  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Publius Terentius Afer  - Sources and full texts (Latin)
Wikiquote: Terentius  - Quotes

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ludwig Bieler : History of Roman Literature. 4th, revised edition, Berlin a. a. 1980, p. 60.
  2. ↑ Ludwig Bieler: History of Roman Literature. 4th, revised edition, Berlin a. a. 1980, p. 60.
  3. ↑ Ludwig Bieler: History of Roman Literature. 4th, revised edition, Berlin a. a. 1980, p. 63.
  4. ↑ Ludwig Bieler: History of Roman Literature. 4th, revised edition, Berlin a. a. 1980, p. 62.
  5. ^ Karl Adolf Schmid: History of education from the beginning up to our time , Vol. 3, Department 2, Stuttgart 1892 (reprint Aalen 1970), p. 84.
personal data
SURNAME Terence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Terentius Afer, Publius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman poet
DATE OF BIRTH around 190 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Carthage
DATE OF DEATH 159 BC BC or 158 BC Chr.