judgment of modern critics, and by the fact that several of his plays have been imitated by many of the best modern poets. Twenty of his comedies are extant. P. TERENTIUS AFER, usually called TERENCE, was born at Carthage, B.C. 195. By birth or purchase he became the slave of P. Terentius, a Roman senator, who afforded him the best education of the age, and finally gave him his freedom. The _Andria_, which was the first play of Terence acted (B.C. 166), was the means of introducing him to the most refined and intellectual circles of Rome. His chief patrons were Laelius and the younger Scipio, both of whom treated him as an equal, and are said even to have assisted him in the composition of his plays. He died in the 36th year of his age, in B.C. 159. Six comedies are all that remain to us. The ancient critics are unanimous in ascribing to Terence immaculate purity and elegance of language. Although a foreigner and a freedman, he divides with Cicero and Caesar the palm of pure Latinity. There were two other comic poets, whose works are lost, but who enjoyed a great reputation among the Romans. Q. CAECILIUS was a native of Milan, and, like Terence, came to Rome as a slave. He was the immediate predecessor of Terence, and died B.C. 108, two years before the representation of the _Andria_. L. AFRANIUS flourished B.C. 100, and wrote comedies describing Roman scenes and manners, called _Comoediae Togatae_, to distinguish them from those depicting Grecian life, which were termed _Palliatae_, from _pallium_, the national dress of the Greeks. There were two tragic poets contemporary with Terence, who also enjoyed great celebrity, though their works have likewise perished. M. PACUVIUS, son of the sister of Ennius, was born about B.C. 220, and died in the 90th year of his age. He is praised by the Latin writers for the loftiness of his thoughts, the vigor of his language, and the extent of his knowledge. Hence we find the epithet _doctus_ frequently applied to him. Most of his tragedies were taken from the Greek writers; but some belonged to the class called _Praetextatae_, in which the subjects were taken from Roman story. One of these, entitled _Paullus_, had as its hero L. AEmilius Paullus, the conqueror of Perseus, king of Macedonia. L. ACCIUS, a younger contemporary of Pacuvius, was born B.C. 170, and lived to a great age. Cicero, when a young man, frequently conversed with him. His tragedies, like those of Pacuvius, were chiefly imitations of the Greek; but he also wrote some on Roman subjects, one of which was entitled _Brutus_.