c. 195/185 – c. 159 BC · Roman comic playwright, born in Carthage
Publius Terentius Afer was brought to Rome as a slave from Carthage, educated in his master’s household, and freed. Between 166 and 160 BC he wrote six comedies, all of which survive complete, most of them adapted from Greek originals by Menander — including Heauton Timorumenos, staged in 163 BC. His plain, conversational Latin made him a school text for centuries, which is precisely why his lines travelled so far from their contexts and were so easily reshelved under grander Roman names. He did not invent the idea that time heals: he set down a saying he already found commonplace, and handed it to a character who insists it is untrue.