SOURCE: "Plots Are Not Stories: The So-Called 'Duality Method' of Terence," in Reading Plays: Interpretation and Reception, edited by Hanna Scolnicov and Peter Holland, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 81-93.

In the essay below, Gilula examines Terence's use of dual plots and characters in the context of his The Girl from Andros.

Terence was praised in antiquity for the excellence of his plot construction. Donatus deemed as praiseworthy the existence of two love affairs (bini amores) in all Terence's plays but the Hecyra, and Evanthius commended the richness of Terence's plots (locupletiora argumenta) constructed of double affairs (ex duplicibus negotiis), likewise observing that all the plays except the Hecyrs feature two young men in love. Terence's plays continued to be read, admired and even sometimes imitated in the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance comedy was modelled principally on his comedies. Herrick, who examined the leading commentaries on Terence from...