Publius Terentius Afer (195/185–159 BC), better known as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic. His comeies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC, and he died young probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. All of the six plays Terence wrote have survived (by comparison, his predecessor Plautus wrote twenty-one extant plays).