 | The Andrian |  |
PROLOGUE.
Thought it his only business, that his Plays
Shou'd please the people: But it now falls out,
He finds, much otherwise, and wastes, perforce,
His time in writing Prologues; not to tell
The argument, but to refute the slanders
Broach'd by the malice of an older Bard.
Menander wrote the Andrian and Perinthian:
Know one, and you know both; in argument
Less diff'rent than in sentiment and stile.
What suited with the Andrian he confesses
From the Perinthian he transferr'd, and us'd
For his: and this it is these sland'rers blame,
That Fables shou'd not be contaminated.
Troth! all their knowledge is they nothing know:
Who, blaming him, blame Nævius, Plautus, Ennius,
Whose great example is his precedent;
Whose negligence he'd wish to emulate
Rather than their dark diligence. Henceforth,
Let them, I give them warning, be at peace,
And cease to rail, lest they be made to know
Their own misdeeds. Be favourable! sit
With equal mind, and hear our play; that hence
Ye may conclude, what hope to entertain,
The comedies he may hereafter write
Shall merit approbation or contempt.
This old Arch-adversary of Terence was, according to Donatus, Lucius Lavinius; but, according to Madam Dacier, Luscius Lanuvinus.
From this account it is plain, that Terence did not in this play weave two different stories of Menander together in that vicious manner which is generally imputed to him: but that the argument of these two plays being nearly the same, Terence having pitched upon the Andrian for the Groundwork of his Fable, enriched it with such parts of the Perinthian, as naturally fell in with that plan. We are told by Donatus, that the first scene of our Author's Andrian, is almost a literal translation of the first scene of the Perinthian of Menander, in which the Old Man discoursed with his wife, just as Simo does with Sosia. In the Andrian of Menander the Old Man opened with a soliloquy.
The Perinthian, as well as the Andrian, took its name from the place the woman came from; viz. Perinthus, a town of Thrace.
These poets are not mentioned here in exact chronological order, Ennius being elder than Plautus. The first authors, who brought a regular play on the Roman stage, is said to have been Livius Andronicus, about the year of Rome 510, and one year before the birth of Ennius. Five years after the representation of the first play of Andronicus, or as some say nine, Nævius wrote for the stage. Then followed Ennius, Plautus, Pacuvius, Cæcilius, Porcius Licinius, Terence, and his cotemporary and adversary Lucius Lavinius, Accius, Afranius, &c. Of all these, many of whom were very eminent writers, we have scarce any remains, except of Plautus and Terence: and what is still more to be lamented, the inestimable Greek Authors, whose writings were the rich source, whence they drew their fable, characters, &c. are also irrecoverably lost.
| The Andrian | |