Note 12 — Chapter IV · TERENCE AND HIS SUCCESSORS

The Hecyra according to Donatus was modeled upon a play of Apollodorus, but it is now clear that that play was in turn modeled upon Menander’s Arbitrants. That Terence suppressed the prologue of Apollodorus is apparent from the comment of Donatus (who had a copy of the Greek play at hand) on 1.58: Hoc (the use of protatica prosopa) maluit Terentius quam per prologum narraret argumentum aut θεὸν ἀπὸ μηχανῆς induceret loqui. Since the list of characters and the beginning of Menander’s Arbitrants are lost, there may be some doubt regarding his use of preparation in this play, but since the whole play operates with “dramatic irony” and since Apollodorus had a prologue, it is more than likely that he “prepared” his audience here as elsewhere. At any rate Menander’s audience discover the owner of the finger ring in the second act.