Cornelius Nepos[22] asserts, that he has it from the very first authority, that Caius Lælius being at his country-house at [23]Puteoli, on the first of March[24], and being called to supper by his wife at an earlier hour than usual, requested that he might not be interrupted; and afterwards coming to table very late, he declared that he had scarcely ever succeeded better in composition than at that time; and, being asked to repeat the verses, he read the following from the Self-tormentor, Act IV, Scene III. Satis pol proterve me Syri promissa huc induxerunt Decem minas quas mihi dare pollicitus est, quod si is nunc me Deceperit, sæpe obsecrans me, ut veniam, frustra veniet: Aut, cum venturam dixero, et constituero, cum is certe Renunciârit; Clitiphon cum in spe pendebit animi Decipiam, ac non veniam; Syrus mihi tergo pænas pendet. “Truly this Syrus has coaxed me hither, impertinently enough, with his fine promises that I should receive ten minæ; but, if he deceives me this time, ’twill be to no purpose to ask me to come again; or, if I promise, and appoint to come, I’ll take good care to disappoint him. Clitipho, who will be full of eager hope to see me, will I deceive, and will not come; and Syrus’ back shall pay the penalty.” Santra[25] thinks, that if Terence had required any assistance in his comedies; he would not have requested it from Scipio and Lælius, who were then extremely young[26]; but from [27]Caius Sulpicius Gallus, a man of great learning, who also was the first person who procured[28] the representation of comedies at the consular games or from [29]Quintus Fabius Labeo; or from[30] Marcus Popilius Lænas, two eminent poets, and persons[31] of consular dignity: and Terence himself, speaking of those who were reported to have assisted him, does not mention them as young men, but as persons of weight and experience, who had served the Romans in peace, in war, and in private business. After the publication of his six comedies, he quitted Rome, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and returned no more. Some suppose that he undertook this journey with a view to silence the reports of his receiving assistance from others in the composition of his plays: others, that he went with a design to inform himself more perfectly of the manners and customs of Greece. Volcatius speaks of his death as follows: Sed ut Afer sex populo edidit comœdias Iter hinc in Asiam fecit: navim cum semel Conscendit, visus nunquam est. Sic vita vacat. “Terence, after having written six comedies, embarked for Asia, and was seen no more. He perished at sea.”