Andria. With Notes and Introductions Intended for the Higher Forms of Public Schools

by Terence (Creator), Charles Earle D 1921 Freeman (Creator), A (Arthur) 1851-1919 Sloman (Creator)

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Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, School, Comedy, Theatre, Classical Studies

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 167

About the author

Publius Terentius Afer (c. 195/185–159 BC), better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and, later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence, apparently, died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. His six verse comedies, that were long regarded as models of pure Latin, form the basis of the modern comedy of manners.

One famous quotation by Terence reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am a human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me." This appeared in his play, Heauton Timorumenos.

Reviews

[Czarny Pies]

I read this play on the heels of Menander's "Epitrepontes" (a.k.a. the "Arbitration") upon which it was based. The game was interesting but Terence's play was not.

"Andria" is about the struggles of a couple (Glycerium and Pamphilus) living in Athens who are very obviously meant for each other to get married. The young lovers must over overcome the two objections of the father of Pamphilus which are: (1) the girl, Glycerium, is of low birth; and (2) is not an Athenian history being a foundling discovered on the island of Andros after a shipwreck. Revelations reveal that Glycerium was in fact the daughter of an Athenian nobleman. The father of Pamphilius allows the marriage to procede.

The plot is improbable and the characters are superficial. It is a play that dishonestly allows everyone to win. The young lovers get their wish to marry each other. The parent get his wish that his son marry a woman from an appropriate classe. Unfortunately the legacy of "Andria" has been considerable. We continue to this day to be afflicted by trite comedies of this ilk.

[Manuel Alfonseca]

ENGLISH: The first comedy by Terence is an unpretentious work, with an argument copied from Menandro. The young man Pamphilus is involved with a foreign girl, while his father wants him to marry the daughter of a friend, who is loved by Pamphilus's best friend. It is curious that, to denigrate Terence, his competitors accused him, not of having plagiarized Menandro, but of having plagiarized him little, as he introduced a few changes that his opponents considered contaminations.

SPANISH: La primera comedia de Terencio es una obra sin pretensiones, con un argumento copiado de Menandro en el que el joven Pánfilo se ha liado con una joven extranjera, mientras su padre quiere casarle con la hija de un amigo, a la que corteja el mejor amigo de Pánfilo. Es curioso que, para denigrar a Terencio, sus competidores le acusaran, no de haber plagiado a Menandro, sino de haber plagiado poco, pues introdujo algunos cambios que sus oponentes consideraban contaminaciones.

[Illiterate]

Ah, the way of love. First everyone tricks one another. Then they all end up happy.

[Mrs Kenobi✨]

Davo è un rincoglionito 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

[Noura]

Read for school.

[Vicki Cline]

This is the first comedy written by the Roman playwright Terence, supposedly when he was 19, in 166 BC. He took many of the elements of the story from an earlier Greek play by Menander. It's fairly standard, with a love-sick son, a stern father, wily slaves and a girl the father doesn't approve of - in this case she's pregnant. All's well in the end, of course.

[wreowr]

no me gusta la comedia

[álex ⁉️]

semejante mierda. la odio

[Silvio Curtis]

School-related reading. An ancient comedy set in Athens. A young man is having an affair with the stepsister of a foreign prostitute (they're from the island of Andros, hence the title) and they want to marry, but the man's father is intent on marrying him to someone else. Meanwhile that girl's father, who had originally promised her, has had second thoughts, and another young man is desperately in love with her. What she wants I don't think we ever find out. The first father has plans to bluff his son into seeing things his way, but the son's clever slave has plans to counter-bluff the father into giving in. But his plan is a little too clever for its own good, and with so many characters involved it risks misfiring spectacularly. The Andrian woman's frightening situation, with basically no rights except to the extent a male Athenian will speak for her, isn't the point of the play but is visible in passing.

[Maya Joelle]

As always with works in translation: I don't know, I didn't actually read it. As always with Roman comedy: haha (rather uncomfortably with a hint of confusion). As always with drama: I didn't see it performed, so I can't really say I experienced the work properly.

Do I *get* it? No. Did I laugh? Yes. Was it saying something deep about duty and relationship and identity and love? ...Maybe. Probably. Was the ending incredibly and uncomfortably contrived and YAY they're all married? I can't believe Shakespeare didn't rewrite this one!

[LaCitty]

Deliziosa commedia degli inganni che non risente minimamente del passare del tempo. Due amori contrastati, un matrimonio forzato e il solito servo furbacchione che leva il suo padrone dagli impicci. Un canovaccio fin troppo conosciuto eppure Terenzio riesce a gestire questi elementi con grazia e maestria fino all'inevitabile lieto fine!

[es.jay]

Honestly, I enjoyed reading it like an over-the-top telenovella. There are long lost relatives, love triangles, forced marriages, love declarations, a hidden pregnancy, and everyone ends up happy. Enjoyable, but don't read it for a balanced bittersweet drama! Read it like candy.

[Aaron White]

A fun play of that era. Here is the Librivox dramatic reading - I play Simo! https://librivox.org/andria-or-the-fa...

[Luke Schiefelbein]

Clunky story, not that funny.

[Kevin Yee]

(tr. George Colman).

[plutonium]

it's giving Shakespeare's comedy but not funny

[Daniel Callister]

Pretty funny premise, but something more could have been made of this.

[Fátima]

Un bolonqui de gente

[Santiago González (puntoartica)]

La primera comedia de Terencio y mi primera comedia de Terencio. Se nota que le falta por pulir varios aspectos, la contaminatio deja que desear pues es un enredo algo raro.

[virginia]

“l’ossequio ti genera amici, la verità odio”

[Irina Elena]

Un'altra commediola romana incentrata sui soliti temi del servo scaltro e del matrimonio contrastato - molto più piacevole però di quelle di Plauto.
C'è nell'Andria qualcosa di più umano e vivace, a partire dall'idea del servo scaltro che nonostante la sua arguzia si impasta nei suoi stessi piani, fa casino e poi sistema tutto. Come ogni servo scaltro, Davo è il vero protagonista di questa storiella, ed è un protagonista simpatico e relativamente divertente.

Insomma, tra tutti i libri che mi sono stati assegnati da leggere quest'anno, direi che questo è il meno peggio.

[Teodoro]

gossip girl 169dc

[Rambling Raconteur]

https://youtu.be/PHxIudVZ51Y

[noah]

ojalá entender de qué va

[Eric Hutchinson]

I read this in Peter Brown's translation (Oxford World's Classics), which I did not find terribly smooth or natural.

[Paz Castro]

OTRA lectura de la faci, igual muy buena