P. Terentius Afer (Terence), Heautontimorumenos: The Self-Tormenter
Henry Thomas Riley, Ed.

1 Assigned to an old man: He refers to the fact that the Prologue was in general spoken by young men, whereas it is here spoken by L. Ambivius Turpio, the leader of the Company, a man stricken in years. The Prologue was generally not recited by a person who performed a character in the opening Scene.

2 That I will first explain to you: His meaning seems to be, that he will first tell them the reason why he, who is to take a part in the opening Scene, speaks the Prologue, which is usually spoken by a young man who does not take part in that Scene; and that he will then proceed to speak in character (eloquor), as Chremes, in the first Scene. His reason for being chosen to speak the Prologue, is that he may be a pleader (orator) for the Poet, a task which would be likely to be better performed by him than by a younger man.

3 From an entire Greek one: In contradistinction to such Plays as the Andria, as to which it was a subject of complaint that it had been formed out of a mixture contaminantus) of the Andrian and Perinthian of Menander.

4 Which from a two-fold plot: Vollbehr suggests that the meaning of this line is, that though it is but one Play, it has a two-fold plot--the intrigues of two young men with two mistresses, and the follies of two old men. As this Play is supposed to represent the events of two successive days, the night intervening, it has been suggested that the reading is "duplex--ex argumento--simplici;" the Play is "two-fold, with but one plot," as extending to two successive days. The Play derives its name from the Greek words, ἑαυτὸν, "himself," and τιμωρουμενὸς, "tormenting."

5 To be a Pleader: He is to be the pleader and advocate of the Poet, to influence the Audience in his favor, and against his adversaries; and not to explain the plot of the Play. Colman has the following observation: "It is impossible not to regret that there are not above ten lines of the Self-Tormentor preserved among the Fragments of Menander. We are so deeply interested by what we see of that character in Terence, that one can not but be curious to inquire in what manner the Greek Poet sustained it through five Acts. The Roman author, though he has adopted the title of the Greek Play, has so altered the fable, that Menedemus is soon thrown into the background, and Chremes is brought forward as the principal object; or, to vary: the allusion a little, the Menedemus of Terence seems to be a drawing in miniature copied from a full length, as large as the life, by Menander."

6 A malevolent old Poet: He alludes to his old enemy, Luscus Lavinius, referred to in the preceding Prologue.

7 The genius of his friends: He alludes to a report which had been spread, that his friends Laelius and Scipio had published their own compositions under his name. Servilius is also mentioned by Eugraphius as another of his patrons respecting whom similar stories were circulated.

8 As he ran along in the street: He probably does not intend to censure this practice entirely in Comedy, but to remind the Audience that in some recent Play of Luscus Lavinius this had been the sole stirring incident introduced. Plautus introduces Mercury running in the guise of Sosia, in the fourth Scene of the Amphitryon, 1. 987, and exclaiming, "For surely, why, faith, should I, a God, be any less allowed to threaten the public, if it doesn't get out of my way, than a slave in the Comedies?" This practice can not, however, be intended to be here censured by Plautus, as he is guilty of it in three other instances. In the Mercator, Acanthio runs to his master Charinus, to tell him that his mistress Pasicompsa has been seen in the ship by his father Demipho; in the Stichus, Pinacium, a slave, runs to inform his mistress Philumena that her husband has arrived in port, on his return from Asia; and in the Mostellaria, Tranio, in haste, brings information of the unexpected arrival of Theuropides. The "currens servus" is also mentioned in the Prologue to the Andria, 1. 36. See the soliloquy of Stasimus, in the Trinummus of Plautus, 1. 1007.

9 A quiet Play: "Statariam." See thie spurious Prologue to the Bacchides of Plautus, l. 10, and the Note to the passage in Bohn's Translation. The Comedy of the Romans was either "stataria," "motoria," or "mixta." "Stataria" was a Comedy which was calm and peaceable, such as the Cistellaria of Plautus; "motoria" was one full of action and disturbance, like his Amphitryon; while the "Comoedia mixta" was a mixture of both, such as the Eunuchus of Terence.

10 What in each character: "In utramque partem ingenium quid possit meum." This line is entirely omitted in Vollbehr's edition; but it appears to be merely a typographical error.