Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/202

Rh as they are in Plautus. Delicate irony and pointed epigram take the place of broad humour. Love, in the form of pathetic sentiment rather than of irregular passion, is the chief motive of his pieces. His great characteristics are humanity and urbanity, and to this may be attributed the attraction which he had for the two chief representatives of these qualities in Roman literature,—Cicero and Horace. It was through the comedies of Terence that the finer influences of the Epicurean philosophy—the friendliness, the tolerance, the consideration for the feelings of others, inferiors as well as equals, inculcated by that philosophy—entered into Roman life and literature. The dissolving influence of that school on the severer personal morality of the older Roman republic also entered into Roman life through the same medium. But it was a great gain to the strong but rude Roman character to learn, as it could from every line of Terence, lessons not only of courtesy and social amenity but of genuine sympathy and consideration.

Terence's pre-eminence in art was recognized by the critics of the Augustan age:

The art of his comedies consists in the clearness and simplicity with which the situation is presented and developed, and in the consistency and moderation with which his various characters play their part. But his great attraction to both ancient and modern writers has been the purity and charm of his style, whether employed in narrative or dialogue. This charm he derived from his familiarity with the purest Latin idiom, as it was habitually used in the intimate intercourse of the best Roman families, and also with the purest Attic idiom, as it had been written and spoken a century before his own time. The fine Attic flavour is more perceptible iu his Latin than in the Greek of his contemporaries. He makes no claim to the creative exuberance of Plautus, but he is entirely free from his extravagance and mannerisms. The superiority of his style over that of Lucilius, who wrote his satires a generation later, is almost immeasurable. The best judges and the greatest masters of style in the best period of Roman literature were his chief admirers in ancient times. Cicero frequently reproduces his expressions, applies passages in his plays to his own circumstances, and refers to his personages as typical representations of character. Julius Cæsar characterizes him as "puri sermonis amator." Horace, so depreciatory in general of the older literature, shows his appreciation of Terence by the frequent reproduction in his Satires and in his Odes of his language and his philosophy of life. Quintilian applies to his writings the epithet "elegantissima," and in that connexion refers to the belief that they were the work of Scipio Africanus. His works were studied and learned by heart by the great Latin writers of the Renaissance, such as Erasmus and Melanchthon; and Casaubon, in his anxiety that his son should write a pure Latin style, inculcates on him the constant study of Terence. Montaigne applies to him the phrase of Horace:

He speaks of "his fine expression, elegancy, and quaintness," and adds, " he does so possess the soul with his graces that we forget those of his fable." It is among the French, the great masters of the prose of refined conversation, that his merits have been most appreciated in modern times. Sainte-Beuve, in his Nouveaux Lundis, devotes to him two papers of delicate and admiring criticism. He quotes Fenélon and Addison, "deux esprits polis et doux, de la meme famille litteraire," as expressing their admiration for the inimitable beauty and naturalness of one of his scenes. Fenélon is said to have preferred him even to Molière. Sainte-Beuve calls Terence the bond of union between Roman urbanity and the Atticism of the Greeks, and adds that it was in the 17th century, when French literature was most truly Attic, that he was most appreciated. M. Joubert is quoted as applying to him the words "Le miel attique est sur ses levies; on croirait aisement qu il naquit sur le mont Hymette."

The most famous edition of Terence is that of Bentley, published in 1726. More recent editions are those of Parry, in the Bibliotheca Classica, and of W. Wagner. The text has been edited by A. Flickeisen in the Teubner series of classics. A number of editions of the separate plays have been published recently both in England and in Germany. (W. Y. S.)

 TERESA, St.See.  TERLIZZI, a town of Italy, in the province of Bari, and 20 miles west from that town, stands in the midst of a fertile plain. It has a castle which at one time was very strong and occasionally resorted to by the emperor Frederick II. and afterwards by the Aragonese sovereigns. The walls and towers of the town still remain, but the fosse has been turned into boulevards. Terlizzi has a considerable trade, chiefly in the wine and fruit of the district. The population of the town in 1881 was 20,442 (commune, 20,592).}}  TERM (from the Latin terminus) in English law is used in two senses, the idea common to both being that of a limited and certain period of time.

(1) It denotes (or rather did denote) a fixed time during which the courts are open for legal proceedings. Terms in this sense affected only what used to be called the superior courts,—that is, the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. They were originally the leisure seasons of the year which were not occupied by great feasts or fasts of the church or by agriculture. Their origin is no doubt to be traced back to the legislation of the early Christian emperors, the principle being adopted in England through the influence of ecclesiastical judges, and still surviving in the universities and Inns of Court. Terms were regulated by many Acts of parliament, the effect of which was to confine to a comparatively short period the time during which the courts could sit in banco,—that is, for the decision of questions of law as distinguished from the decision of questions of fact. There were four terms, Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michælmas, the average duration of each being about three weeks. All legislation on the subject previous to 1873 is now merely of historical interest, for by the Judicature Act of that year the division of the year into terms was abolished so far as related to the administration of justice.

(2) It denotes the time during which an interest in an estate for life or for years is enjoyed, also the interest it self, because such an interest must determine at a definite time. If the interest be for life, it is an estate of freehold; if for years, only a personal interest in real estate, and so personalty, even though the length of the term—for instance, 1000 years—may far exceed in duration any possible life estate. A term of years is of two kinds,—the first that created by an ordinary lease reserving a rent, as of a house or a building lease; the second that created by a settlement or a will, usually without rent reserved, for the purpose of securing payment of money, such as portions to younger children, by the owner of the land. Both kinds have been considerably affected by recent legislation. For instance, the Conveyancing Act, 1881, enables a mortgagor or mortgagee in possession to make certain leases. Before 1845 provision was always made in conveyances for keeping on foot a term to attend the inheritance, as it was called,—that is, for assigning the remainder of a term to trustees for the protection of the owner of the property against rent-charges or other incumbrances created subsequently to the term, although the term had been satisfied,—that is, the purpose for which the term had been created had been fulfilled. By 8 and 9 Vict. c. 112 the assignment of satisfied terms was rendered unnecessary. The Conveyancing Acts, 1881 and 1882, give power to enlarge the unexpired residue of a long term in certain cases into the fee simple.

In Scotland terms are the days at which rent or interest is payable. They are either legal or conventional: the legal are Whit-sunday and Martinmas; the conventional are fixed by agreement between the parties. A recent Act (44 and 45 Vict. c. 39) makes uniform the law as to removal terms in burghs. Terms as times of court sittings were defined by 6 Anne c. 53, which fixed four terms—Martinmas, Candlemas, Whitsuntide, and Lammas—for the now obsolete Court of Exchequer. By 19 and 20 Vict. c. 56, s. 26, the winter and summer sittings of the Court of Session are to be held to correspond with the Exchequer terms.

 TERMINI, or (Thermæ Himerenses), a town on the north coast of Sicily, at the mouth of a river of the same name, in the province of Palermo, and