SOURCE: "Literature and Art" in The History of Rome, Vol. IV, translated by William Purdie Dickson, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908, pp. 219-60.

A German historian, writer, and politician, Mommsen is known for his authoritative work in several areas of Roman studies, particularly Roman law. His Römische Geschichte (1856; The History of Rome), acclaimed as a masterful synthesis, reflects Mommsen's conviction that history should be made intelligible and relevant to the reader. Mommsen received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1902. In the following excerpt, he presents a brief overview of Terence's contribution to Roman literature, emphasizing his elegant language and refined sense of style.

[Terence] is one of the most interesting phenomena, in a historical point of view, in Roman literature. Born in Phoenician Africa, brought in early youth as a slave to Rome and there introduced to the Greek culture of the day, he seemed from the very first...