was Luscius Lanuvinus (see under his name), who attacked
Terence for 'contaminatio' and for want of spirit in his plays. Cf.
_H.T._ prol. 17,

'Multas contaminasse Graecas, dum facit
paucas Latinas';

_Phorm._ prol. 5,

'tenui esse oratione et scriptura levi.'

Terence justifies repeatedly his use of 'contaminatio.' _H.T._ prol.
16,

'Nam quod rumores distulerunt malivoli,
multas contaminasse Graecas, dum facit
paucas Latinas: id esse factum hic non negat,
neque se pigere et deinde facturum autumat.
Habet bonorum exemplum, quo exemplo sibi
licere id facere quod illi fecerunt putat.'

Cf. _Andria_, prol. 15-21; _Adelph._ prol. 1-14; _Eun._ prol. 31-3.
Luscius also attacked him for not adhering more closely to his Greek
originals, in spite of the fact that, generally speaking, Terence
translated closely from these. Cf. _Adelph._ prol. 10-11, quoted
above. A piece was considered to be new if it had not previously been
presented to a Roman audience. So Terence justifies his originality in
_Adelph._ prol. 6-14, or excuses himself on the ground that he did not
know that a piece had been previously used: _Eun._ prol. 19-34.

_Representation of the plays._--Ambivius was the chief actor in all
the plays. He is the speaker of the prologue of _H.T._ and of the
second prologue of _Hec._ He calls himself _senex_, cf. _H.T._ prol.
1. For his popularity cf. _Hec._ prol. ii. 55,

'Mea causa causam accipite et date silentium.'

The music was provided by Flaccus, slave of Claudius. The composer
himself was probably the instrumentalist. Four kinds of flutes are
mentioned as used by him: _tibiae pares_, _impares_, _sarranae_, and _duae
dextrae_ (see note p. 45). The scene of all the plays is at Athens.
There is no chorus. The form of the plays is modelled closely on
Greek. More than half of the verses are iambic senarii, the next
commonest being troch. septen. and iamb. octon. These are used in
dialogue. Trochaic octonarii are used in lyrical parts, other lyrical
metres being rare, and the anapaestic metre not being used. Short
lines are also found in the middle of lyrical pieces, or at the end of
pieces of dialogue. _Andr._ 605,

'Sed eccum video ipsum: occidi.'

Single words sometimes stand at the head of a lyrical piece, as
_Phorm._ 485 'Dorio,' which makes a line.

The different kinds of scenes are under the same conditions as in
Plautus. We have (1) scenes provided with music, probably represent