The lively action and well-constructed plot of the "Phormio" make it an ideal introduction to Terence and to the Roman comic genre. It well illustrates Terence's subtle handling of plot and character - two fathers, two wayward sons in love, the latter abetted by the scheming slave and by the parasite who gives his name to the play. This edition, recognising that the simplicity of Terence's Latin can be obscured by initial unfamiliarity with his colloquial (and early) poetic idiom, includes a great deal of linguistic help in the annotation. There is a full vocabulary and the introduction deals with genre and plot, as well as prosody and metre.

R.H. Martin is a graduate of Leeds and Cambridge, and Professor Emeritus of Classics in the University of Leeds. His works include the monograph Tacitus (BCPaperback, 1994).