ABSTRACT
The importance of Terence in shaping neo-classic dramatic theory and sensibility needs no emphasis. Terence is a sentimentalist of classic theatre. Tears are the mark of his men of good feeling. In Andria when Simo first sees his son Pamphilus and his son’s mistress Glycerium, both are weeping as she casts herself into her lover’s arms: Reiecit se in eum flens quam familiariter. The just discrimination of right from wrong in Terence’s plays is outside the scope of this discussion. But humanity without justice is mere flabby carelessness, and tolerant in the extreme though these comedies are, permissive in that sense they are not. If one turns specifically to Andria, the union of humanity with justice and responsibility is clearly apparent. In Terentian comedy there are keepers of women in plenty–Pamphilus himself in Andria–but a sense of shame, deeply grounded in what is best in human nature, is a powerful source of moral good.
