Terence

We know for certain that Ariosto translated some of Terence’s plays, which have since been lost, even though there are contrasting points of view on when he did so. Considering the theatrical dynamism of Ercole I, some have hypothesised that he did so early on, by way of a sort of training for his own future playwriting; others, more credibly, set the date at the late 1520s, when Ludovico returned from Garfagnana and launched theatre at the Este court anew in grand style. For sure Ariosto translated Andria and the Eunuch by Terence (as is, even if indirectly, stated in Pigna’s biography) for Duke Alfonso I d’Este of Ferrara and it is indeed probable that he translated other works, all since lost. We can instead date the translation into the vernacular and adaptation for the theatre of the Phormio requested by Ippolito d’Este, these too lost, at February 1509. Terence’s influence can be easily detected in the Cassaria, together with the link to Plautus’ ‘cassa’ there are elements borrowed from Terence, and in the Suppositi, where we find explicit and declared references to Terence’s Eunuch, mediated on the model of the Captivi by Plautus. The influence of Terence is also quite visible in the Negromante where we find elements from the Phormio, Andria and Hecyra. Unlike Plautus though, Terence has a more general impact on Ludovico’s lyrical and literary evolution, beyond the theatrical dimension. We can for example find in Carmina XLVI, 3: ‘nil alienum a me mulier muliebre putavi’, an adaptation of Heautontimorumenos, 77: ‘Humani nihil a me alienum puto’. Reflections of this Terencian source can also be found in the Furioso, IV, 66.