Publius Terentius Afer (Terence) Hecyra prologue.pr2

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator)

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Hecyra. Publius Terentius Afer (Terence). Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator). Ney York. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Hecyra; The Mother-in-Law (English) (Terence. The Comedies of Terence. Riley, Henry Thomas; Colman, George, translators. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1872.)

Editions (1)
Hecyra Perseus (Terence. Publii Terentii Comoediae Sex. Parry, Edward St. John, editor. London: Whittaker and Co.; George Bell, 1857.) — prologue.pr1 focus

Notes on the current edition

Hecyra; The Mother-In-Law

1. Second Prologue: Eugraphius informs us that this Prologue was spoken by Ambivius Turpio, the head of the company of Actors.
2. Caecilius: Colman has the following Note:
A famous Comic Poet among the Romans. His chief excellences are said to have been, the gravity of his style and the choice of his subjects. The first quality was attributed to him by Horace, Tully, etc., and the last by Varro.
In argumentis Caecilius poscit palmam, in ethesi Terentius
. In the choice of subjects, Caecilius demands the preference; in the manners, Terence.
Madame Dacier, indeed, renders in argumentis, in the disposition of his subjects. But the words will not bear that construction. Argumentum, I believe, is uniformly used for the argument itself, and never implies the conduct of it; as in the Prologue to the Andrian,
non tam dissimili argumento.
Besides, the disposition of the subject was the very art attributed by the critics of those days to Terence, and which Horace mentions in the very same line with the gravity of Caecilius, distinguishing them as the several characteristics of each writer,
Vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte.
3. Vauntings of boxers: Horace probably had this passage in his mind when he penned the First Epistle in his Second Book, 1. 185 ; where he mentions the populace leaving a Play in the midst for the sight of a bear, or an exhibition of boxers.
4. Of a rope-dancer: The art of dancing on the tight rope was carried to great perfection among the ancients. Many paintings have been discovered, which show the numerous attitudes which the performers assumed. The figures have their heads enveloped in skins or caps, probably intended as a protection in case of falling. At the conclusion of the performance the dancer ran down the rope. Germanicus and Galba are said to have exhibited elephants dancing on the tight rope.
5. The old custom of mine: He says that on the second representation he followed the plan which he had formerly adopted in the Plays of Caecilius, of bringing those forward again which had not given satisfaction at first.
6. Fight for their places: This was in consequence of their sitting indiscriminately at the Amphitheatre, where the gladiators were exhibited; whereas at the Theatres there were distinct places appropriated to each ordo or class.
7. Gracing the scenic festival: Madame Dacier remarks that there is great force and eloquence in the Actor’s affecting a concern for the sacred festivals, which were in danger of being deprived of their chief ornaments, if by too great a severity they discouraged the Poets who undertook to furnish the Plays during the solemnity.
8. At my own expense: It is generally supposed that meo pretio means a price named as my estimate; and that it was the custom for the Aediles to purchase a Play of a Poet at a price fixed by the head of the company of actors. It is also thought that the money was paid to the actor, who handed over the whole, or a certain part, to the Poet, and if the Play was not received with favor, the Aediles had the right to ask back the money from the actor, who consequently became a loser by the transaction. Pareus and Meric Casaubon think, however, that in case of this Play, the Aediles had purchased it from the Poet, and the performers had bought it of the Aediles as a speculation. What he means at the end of the First Prologue by selling the Play over again, is not exactly known. Perhaps if the Play had been then performed throughout and received with no favor, he would have had to forfeit the money, and lose all right to any future pecuniary interest in it; but he preferred to cancel the whole transaction, and to reserve the Play for purchase and representation at a more favorable period.