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 TEREK, a river of Russian Caucasia. It rises in the Caucasus, on the slopes of Mount Kasbek, in several head-streams, and flows north as far as Vladikavkaz, just above which it emerges from the mountains, Then it flows N.W. and N. as far as approximately 43° 45' N., whereupon it swings round to the E. and pursues that direction as far as 46° 30' E. Finally, after a comparatively short run towards the N.N.E., it branches out into a large delta on the west side of the Caspian Sea. This river, the ancient Alutas, is at first an impetuous mountain torrent, as are also all its chief tributaries—the Zunzha on the right, and the Ardon, Urukh, Cherek, Urvan, Chegem, Baksan and Malka on the left. All these streams, except the first-named, rise at altitudes of 8000 to 9000 ft. between Mount Kasbek and Mount Elbruz. In its lower course the Terek becomes very sinuous and sluggish, and frequently overflows its banks with disastrous results. Opposite its mouth it forms large sand-banks in the Caspian, and is nowhere navigable. Its length is 300 m., and the area of its drainage basin extends to 22,800 sq. m.

 TEREK, a province of Russian Caucasia, situated N. of the Caucasus chain. It is bounded by the government of Stavropol on the N., by the Caspian Sea and Daghestan on the E., by Tiflis and Kutais on the S., and by the Black Sea district and the province of Kuban on the W., and has an area of 23,531 sq. m. From Mount Elbruz to Kasbek the southern boundary coincides with the main range of the Caucasus, and thus includes some of its highest peaks; further east it follows a sinuous line so as to enclose the secondary chains and their ramifications. Nearly one-third of the area is occupied by hilly tracts, the remainder being undulating and flat land belonging to the depression of the Terek; one-half of this last, on the left bank of the river, is occupied by sandy deserts, salt clay steppes, and arid stretches unsuited for cultivation. The Caucasus Mountains are described under that heading. Tertiary formations, overlain by Quaternary deposits, cover a wide area in the prairies and steppes. Mineral springs occur near Pyatigorsk.

 TERENCE. Our knowledge of the life of the celebrated Latin playwright, Publius Terentius Afer, is derived chiefly from a fragment of the lost work of Suetonius, De viris illustribus, preserved in the commentary of Donatus, who adds a few words of his own. The prologues to the comedies were among the original sources of Suetonius; but he quotes or refers to the works of various grammarians and antiquaries—Porcius Licinus, Volcacius Sedigitus, Q. Cosconius, Nepos, Santra, Fenestella. There is uncertainty as to both the date of the poet's birth and the manner of his death. His last play was exhibited in 160, and shortly after its production he went abroad, "when he had not yet completed his twenty-fifth year." Cornelius Nepos is quoted for the statement that he was about the same age as Scipio Africanus the younger (born in 185 or 184 ) and Laelius; while Fenestella, an antiquary of the later Augustan period, represented him as older than either. If Terence was born in 185, he published his six plays between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Even in an imitative artist such precocity of talent is remarkable, and the date is therefore open to legitimate doubt.

He is said to have been born in Carthage, and brought to Rome as a slave. At Rome he was educated like a free man in the house of Terentius Lucanus, a senator, by whom he was soon emancipated; whereupon he took his master's nomen Terentius, and thenceforward his name was Publius Terentius Afer, of which the last member seems to imply that he was not a Phoenician (Poenus) by blood. He was admitted into the intimacy of young men of the best families, such as Scipio, Laelius and Furius Philus; and he enjoyed the favour of older men of literary distinction and official position. In the circle of Scipio he doubtless met the historian Polybius, who was brought to Italy in 167. He is said to have owed the favour of the great as much to his personal gifts and graces as to his literary eminence; and in one of his prologues he declares it to be his ambition, while not offending the many, to please the "boni."

Terence's earliest play was the Andria, exhibited in 166 A pretty, but perhaps apocryphal, story is told of his having read the play, before its exhibition, to Caecilius (who, after the death of Plautus, ranked as the foremost comic poet), and of 