A l’école des Anciens : le cas de Térence le Carthaginois

Abstract

In this article, we aim to explore the role of Antiquity in the construction of the Enlightenment and in the process of reconstructing the Western world. However, rather than addressing all the sources that fueled debates, provoked controversies, and sharpened minds during the Enlightenment, we will focus our attention on a hybrid author who left a lasting impact on writers of the 17th and 18th centuries: Terence, the Carthaginian-born comic poet. A devoted reader, translator, and ardent admirer of the one whose noble comedy foreshadows the “serious genre,” Diderot speaks highly of him. What particularly distinguishes this Carthaginian is the message of tolerance conveyed through his plays, and, more specifically, the central role he places on education as the essential means to instill the values of civility and humanitas in younger generations.