T E R 



229 



T E R 



Be the parties charged to have lent their aid to the poet 

 who they may, it is clear that the poet gives no denial to 

 the accusation, either in the words just alluded to, or in the 

 prologue to the ' Hautontimorumenos.' Even Cicero (Aa 

 Attitum,\\'\. 3; mentions the report that Laelius was the real 

 author : and Cornelius Nepos, who by the way makes the 

 three parties, Scipio, Laelius, and Terence, of the same age 

 (aequales), tells us an anecdote which confirms the report. 

 C. Laelius, says he, happening to pass the Matronalia (a 

 festival on the first of March, when the husband for once in 

 the year was hound to obey the lady) in his villa near Pu- 

 teoh, was told that dinner was waiting, but still neglected 

 the summons. At last, when he made his appearance, he 

 excused himself by saying that he had been in a peculiar 

 vein of composition, and quoted certain verses which occur 

 in the ' Hautontimorumeros.'viz. those beginning Satis pot 

 prrjtrrvf me Syri promissa hue induxerunt. 



The fact of the poet being called Terentius is perfectly 

 in harmony with the circumstance of his alleged master 

 having that name, as it was the ordinary practice of the 

 manumitted slave to take the nomeu and praenomen of his 

 late master. On the other hand, it is altogether an error 

 on the part of Orosius to confound the poet with the Q. 

 Terentius Culleo, who, in the garb of a manumitted slave, 

 accompanied the triumphal procession of Scipio after his 

 destruction of Carthage m the year 146 B.C. Ihe name of 

 Afer seems to confirm his Carthaginian birth, unless indeed 

 that assertion be only an inference from the name itself. 



Terence acknowledges in the titles to his plays his obli- 

 gations to the Greek comedians Menander and Apollo- 

 dorus ; but he was not a mere translator, for one of the 

 charges brought against him was that he drew the mate- 

 rials of a single play from two or more of the Greek plays. 

 He was much and deservedly admired by his countrymen, 

 even by Caesar himself, notwithstanding the phrase in 

 which he speaks of him, as a ' dwarfed Menander ' (dimi- 

 diate Menander). From Plautus, with whom alone we can 

 now make any satisfactory comparison, he differs most 

 widely. Though Plautus excelled in powerful but ludi- 

 crous expressions, he was altogether deficient in the for- 

 mation and development of a plot. Terence, on the other 

 hand, though even he occasionally introduces the buffoonery 

 of the ' miles gloriosus,' the ' parasitus,' and the ' currens 

 servus,' to gratify the prejudices of his more unpolished 

 hearers, who were better able to appreciate the merits of a 

 boxer or a rope-dancer, still deserves our admiration for 

 his efforts to place before his countrymen the comedy of 

 manners. If he was not always successful, the failure was 

 due to the rude minds of his spectators and the magni- 

 tude of a Roman theatre, and perhaps also to the use of 

 masks, which, if always used, must have been a serious 

 obstacle to the best efforts of the comic actor. The best 

 edition of Terence is that of Bentley, Amsterdam, 1727. 

 The modern imitations of Terence maybe seen in Dunlop's 

 ' Roman Literature.' George Colman has translated tin- 

 comedies of Terence into English. There are French 

 translations by Madame Dacier and Le Monnier. 

 TEREZ. [MEXICAN STATES.] 



K'RGIPES. [Nl-DIBRAXCHIATA, vol. XvL, p. 361.] 



TERM (Algebra). A simple term in an algebraical ex- 

 pression means all that involves multiplication, division, 

 and extraction of roots without addition or subtraction. 

 Thus in the expression 



Jab . x 4 , 



the terms are aWx*, 2abx>, and Jab . x 4 . But compound 

 quantities are also called terms when they are put in such 

 a form that additions and subtractions are subordinate to 

 subsequent multiplication, division, or extraction. Thus, 



(a+b) x^* + V(a-6*) .a-y 



has two terms, (a+b) x e+d and J(a l -b").xy. If the 

 form be altered into 



ax** 4 + bx e+d + */('- A*) . xy, 



the expression then has three terms. Most frequently 

 however there is one letter in powers of which the whole 

 expression is ananged, and then all that involves any one 

 power of this principal letter is a term. Thus a+bx+cx 

 + '' has three terms, namely, a, (b+c~)x, and ex". 



When one quantity is said to be expressed in terms of 

 another, it generally means merely that the first is to be 

 an explicit FUNCTION of the second. Thus, in x-\-y=a, 

 we have expressed x-\-y in terms of a : deduce y=a 37, 



and we have y expressed in terms of a and x. This is the 

 distinction between y being expressed in terms of x, and y 

 being a function of x: if for instance y=az, z=x*-\-x, 

 y is a function of x, but it is not expressed in terms of x, 

 but of z substitute for z its value, and y is then expressed 

 in terms of x. It is to be remembered that by saying that 

 a quantity is expressed in terms of x, it is not meant that 

 x is the only letter which enters, but that no other letter, 

 if there be any, is a function of x. Thus, in the preceding, 

 where we obtain y=axx' t , y is expressed in terms of x 

 if a be no function of x. But if a be a function of x, say 

 3?+x, then y is not expressed in terms of x, until the 

 value of a has been substituted, giving y a; 3 or*. 



TERM. The law Terms are those portions of the year 

 during which the courts of common law sit for the dis- 

 patch of business. They are four in number, and are called 

 Hilary Term, Easter Term, Trinity Term, and Michaelmas 

 Term : they take their names from those festivals of the 

 Church which immediately preceded the commence- 

 ment of each. After the institution of Christianity, all 

 days in the year, Sundays included, were among Christians 

 for some time open for the purposes of litigation. This 

 practice continued even after Christianity became the reli- 

 gion of the Roman empire. Eventually however the 

 courts of law were closed during Sundays, and also during 

 the times of the solemn fasts and festivals of the Church. 

 This regulation was made by a canon of the Church, 

 in the year A.D. 517, and also by a constitution of the 

 ounger Theodosius which appears in the Theodosian Code. 



y these means one vacation was created in the winter 

 during the time of Advent and Christmas, another in the 

 spring during Lent and Easter, and a third during Pente- 

 cost. The long vacation in the summer and autumn was 

 also found necessary, and therefore appointed during the 

 time required for collecting the harvest and vintage. The 

 same arrangements were introduced with Christianity into 

 this island. The laws of Edward the Confessor contain 

 the same provisions as to the observance of a vacation 

 from legal business during the fasts and festivals before 

 mentioned. The necessities of a people at that time so 

 universally agricultural seem to have compelled the ob- 

 servance of the long vacation. The Terms therefore con- 

 sist of what remains of the whole year after the ecclesias- 

 tical and agricultural vacations had been taken out of it. 

 It was the commencement of the Terms which was 

 ascertained by the dates of the festivals from which they 

 take their names. Various acts of parliament have been 

 passed relative to the regulation of the Terms. The statute 

 which now determines them is the 11 Geo. IV. and 1 

 Wm. IV., c. 70, amended by 1 Wm. IV., c. 3, which 

 enacts that Hilary Term shall begin on the llth and 

 end on the 31st of January ; Easter begin on the 15th of 

 April and end on the 8th of May ; Trinity begin on the 

 22nd of May and end on the 12th of June ; Michaelmas 

 Jegin on the 2nd and end on the 25th of November. The 

 Monday being in all eases substituted for the Sunday when 

 .he first day of Term falls on the latter day. During Term 

 'our judges sit in each court, and are occupied in deciding 

 sure matters of law only, without the intervention of a 

 ury. The fifth judge in each court sometimes sits 

 ilone to determine matters of smaller importance or to 

 :ry causes at Nisi Prius. By the statute 1 and 2 Vic., 

 c. 32, the courts of common law are empowered, upon 

 giving notice, to hold sittings out of Term for the purpose 

 of disposing of the business then pending and undecided 

 )efore them. These sittings are conducted in the same 

 manner as those during the Term, except that no new 

 jusiness is introduced. The period during which they 

 lave the power to do this is restricted to ' such times as 

 are now by law appointed for holding sittings at Nisi Prius 

 n London and Westminster.' These times are appointed 

 )y 1 Wm. IV., c. 70, s. 7, and consist of ' not more than 

 .wenty-four days, exclusive of Sundays, after any Hilary, 

 Trinity, and Michaelmas Term, nor more than six days, 

 exclusive of Sundays, after any Easter Term, to be reckoned 

 consecutively after such Terms.' The judges are also em- 

 powered by the same section to appoint such day or days 

 is they shall think fit for any trial at bar (that is, a trial 

 Before four judges of the court) and the time so appointed, 

 f in vacation, is for the purposes of the trial to be deemed 

 a part of the preceding Term. 



There is also a provision which enables the judges, with 

 the consent of the parties, to appoint any time not within 



