This companion offers a comprehensive survey of Terence's plays and place in the comic tradition. The 25 essays, which comprise an impressive array of historical, literary and dramaturgical studies, provide a valuable overview of the Roman playwright and his work, as well as a rich sample of the diverse directions of Terentian scholarship.

The companion is cogently organised in four parts: ‘Terence and Ancient Comedy’, ‘Contexts and Themes’, ‘The Plays’ and ‘Reception’. Part 1 begins with Brown's chapter on Terence's use of Greek models. Focusing on the surviving texts of Menander, he discusses how a comparative study of the Greek and Roman plays can reveal some of the technical ways in which Terence might have deviated from his archetypes.

In Chapter 2, Franko examines Terence's relationship to the Roman New Comic tradition. He considers what Terence says about the subject in his prologues and compares the salient features of Terentian comedy with analogous elements in the plays of Plautus and Caecilius Statius.

In Chapter 3, Sharrock explores some of Terence's non-comic influences, ranging from Callimachus' poetics to Cato's judicial oratory. The chapter identifies some of the intertextual lenses through which it is possible to read these plays, and opens up discussion about Terence's wider literary and cultural context.

In Chapter 4, Vincent examines Terence's style of humour. Concentrating on the intersection of language and performance, she investigates sound and sense, bilingual humour, register and humour, metatheatre, and reported speech and parody.

In Chapter 5, Moore provides a helpful summary of Terence's metres: how they work, what the most important ones are, and in what ways they can affect a performance. Using Eunuchus as a case study, he describes how metre and music (or lack thereof) can contribute to characterisation, set emotional tone, cue physical movement or movement of the plot, and establish structure in a play.

Part 2 opens with Hanchey's discussion – and rejection – of the notion of a narrowly defined philhellenic ‘Scipionic circle’. He examines the ancient sources, the evolution of the idea in the scholarship and the implications for our understanding of Terence.

In Chapter 7, Starks discusses the distinctive Roman elements in Terence's plays, nominally set in the Greek world. He examines the contemporary theatre history and criticism recorded in Terence's prologues and didascaliae, as well as allusions to Roman practices, values, institutions, etc. in the plays themselves.

In Chapter 8, Gellar-Goad investigates the striking absence of ritual sacrifice in Terence's comedies. He surveys religion in Rome, the relationship between Greek and Roman sacrifice, and how Menander and Plautus both handle the topic. He posits that Terence's omission of sacrifice directly correlates to the ‘unhealthy’ family relationships depicted in his plays.

In Chapter 9, James discusses how gender and sexuality are generally portrayed in Terence's comedies. Drawing on Roman social realities, as well as the plays of Menander and Plautus, she investigates gender and sexuality among senior citizens, the younger generation and on the margins. James further explores the prevalence and treatment of rape in these plays.

In Chapter 10, Packman examines the typical propertied citizen-class family represented in Terence's comedies. She offers a helpful survey of the social roles they represent, the typical status dynamics that exist between them, and their primary concerns and activities onstage, especially those related to the maintenance and renewal of the family over time.

In Chapter 11, Karakasis explores the extent to which Terence's trickster slaves resemble those of Plautus. He examines the functions of these figures, as well as Terence's use of Plautine farce, language and dramatic techniques to characterise them.

Part 3 opens with Germany's literary analysis of Andria. The chapter presents a close reading of the prologue and discusses its programmatic implications for the rest of the play.

In Chapter 13, Lefèvre explores the ways in which Terence's Heauton Timorumenos likely diverged from the Menandrian original, with regard to ethics, characterisation, theme and structure. He further identifies aspects of the play likely influenced by Plautus and the Roman improvisational genres of Atellan farce, mime and Fescennine verse.

In Chapter 14, Christenson investigates the bases of Eunuchus' popularity. He posits that, in addition to the ‘alluring spectacle of “eunuch theater”’, audiences were likely intrigued by: the unusual circumstances of the rape, Terence's rare use of metatheatre, his complex characterisation of Thais, and his memorable portraits of Thraso and Gnatho. The chapter offers an excellent introduction to the play and discussion of the qualities that make it unique.

In Chapter 15, Frangoulidis analyses the medical language and imagery that recur throughout Phormio. He demonstrates how they underscore the title character's role as a kind of doctor whose duty it is ‘to cure the distinct morbus amoris of each [adulescens] and to punish the [senex] for his promiscuity’.

In Chapter 16, Knorr discusses Hecyra's notoriety and revisits the evidence attesting to its failure. He highlights the farce, spectacle, plot twists and dramatic irony, which likely made for an entertaining performance. The chapter provides a useful introduction to the play and serves as a compelling advocate for its virtues.

In Chapter 17, T. discusses the ambivalent ending of Adelphoe. After neatly laying out several interpretations, she develops the one in which Demea ‘wins’ in the final scene. Comparing Demea with Knemon (Dyskolos) and Demeas (Samia), she posits that his story follows a master ‘recognition narrative’ dramatised in nearly all Menander's surviving plays.

Part 4 begins with Victor's excellent overview of the history of Terence's texts and scholia, from antiquity to the earlier Middle Ages. The chapter traces the manuscript tradition, discusses relations among families of manuscripts and examines the evidence of the scholiasts and grammarians.

In Chapter 19, Müller discusses Terence's reception in Latin literature from the second century b.c.e. to the second century c.e. He underscores how the playwright was widely admired for the purity of his speech, for his rhetorical praxis and for creating characters that served as moral exempla.

In Chapter 20, Cain discusses Terence's extensive influence on Roman culture and literature during the fourth and fifth centuries c.e. He examines the lasting impact of Terence's language, his educational utility and the frequency with which he was freely referenced, (mis)quoted and taken out of context by pagan and Christian authors alike.

In Chapter 21, A. examines the work of Hrotsvit, a tenth-century German nun, who refashioned Terence's comedies into Christian didactic plays. Contrasting Dulcitius with Eunuchus, he points out the ways in which Hrotsvit adapted the original story to tell a new one about ‘the power of virginity, monasticism/asceticism, and the church’.

In Chapter 22, van Elk discusses Terence's influence on early modern English culture and theatre. She observes that as a school text, Terence shaped the way scholars and playwrights understood drama. The chapter explores Terence's impact on the earliest known English playwrights up to the early modern dramatists.

In Chapter 23, Hanses delves into the intertextual connections between Terence's Andria and Thornton Wilder's The Woman of Andros. The chapter presents a detailed analysis Wilder's adaptation of Terence's comedy.

In Chapter 24, Barsby neatly traces the history of English translations of Terence from sixteenth-century England to twentieth-century America. He discusses the different forms they took, as well as their aims, and identifies the most significant translators of each century.

In the final chapter, Gamel champions the importance of focusing on the performance dimension of a script, in addition to the literary and historical. She analyses the lessons she learned from staging Terence's Eunuch alongside Hrostvit's The Conversion of Thais in 2003. She discusses the challenges involved in presenting these problematic pieces to a modern audience and how the parallel performances provoked meaningful questions about both plays.

On the whole, the individual chapters successfully weave together to form a coherent and compelling sense of the playwright's style, subjects, early influences and enduring influence.