SOURCE: "The Originality of Terence and His Greek Models," in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1968, pp. 169-82.

In the following essay, Ludwig attempts a balanced assessment of the effects of Terence's adaptations and translations of Greek sources. He finds both dramatic gains and losses.

It is remarkable what different judgements about the poetical achievement of Terence can be found in modern scholarship. One finds him represented sometimes as a mere translator and adapter, sometimes as an original poet worthy to stand beside Menander himself. The best representative of the first view is Jachmann, who saw Terence's independence at work only in contaminatio, [See G. Jachmann, RE 5A, 1934]. But the main tendency in Terentian scholarship of the last few decades has been to go in the other direction, to emphasize the originality of Terence as a poet and to discover that in remodeling the Greek comedies he...