He was brought from northern Africa to Rome as a slave, by Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator. He was then freed, and named 'Terence' after his patron, and 'Afer' after his place of birth. Terence, who was a member of the Scipionic circle (the literary group that formed around Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus), became a Latin playwright basing his comedy on the Greek New Comedy of Menander.


