Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence’s plays, and seems to have been a manager of the theatre.  Cicero, in the treatise De Senectute, says:  He, who sat near him in the first rows, received the greatest pleasure; but still, those, who were at the further end of the theatre, were delighted with him. Turpione Ambivio magis delectatur, qui in prima cavea spectat; delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultima.

[e] ACCIUS and PACUVIUS flourished at Rome about the middle of the sixth century from the foundation of the city.  Accius, according to Horace, was held to be a poet of a sublime genius, and Pacuvius (who lived to be ninety years old) was respected for his age and profound learning.

Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert
PACUVIUS docti famam senis, ACCIUS alti. 
EPIST. AD AUG. ver. 56.

Velleius Paterculus says, that ACCIUS was thought equal to the best writers of the Greek tragedy.  He had not, indeed, the diligent touches of the polishing hand, which we see in the poets of Athens, but he had more spirit and vigour. Accius usque in Graecorum comparationem erectus.  In illis limae in hoc pene plus videri fuisse sanguinis. He is often quoted by Cicero in his book De Natura Deorum.  But after all, it is from the great critic, who gives the best account of the Roman poets, orators, and historians, that we are to take the genuine character of ACCIUS and PACUVIUS, since their works are lost in the general mass of ancient literature.  They were both excellent tragic poets:  elevation of sentiment, grandeur of expression, and dignity of character, stamped a value on their productions; and yet, we must not expect to find the grace and elegance of genuine composition.  To give the finishing hand to their works was not their practice:  the defect, however, is not to be imputed to them; it was the vice of the age.  Force and dignity are the characteristics of ACCIUS; while the critics, who wish to be thought deep and profound, admire PACUVIUS for his extensive learning. Tragoediae scriptores Accius atque Pacuvius, clarissimi sententiarum verborumque pondere, et auctoritate personarum.  Caeterum nitor, et summa in excolendis operibus manus, magis videri potest temporibus, quam ipsis defuisse.  Virium tamen Accio plus tribuitur; Pacuvium videri doctiorem, qui esse docti affectant, volunt. Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1.  It was the fashion in Horace’s time to prefer the writers of the old school to the new race that gave so much lustre to the Augustan age.  In opposition to such erroneous criticism, the poet pronounces a decided judgement, which seems to be confirmed by the opinion of Quintilian.

Si quaedam nimis antique, si pleraque dure
Dicere credit eos, ignave multa fatetur,
Et sapit, et mecum facit, et Jove judicat aequo. 

                                          EPIST. AD AUGUST. ver. 66.

But that sometimes their style uncouth appears,
And their harsh numbers rudely hurt our ears;
Or that full flatly flows the languid line,
He, who owns this, has Jove’s assent and mine. 

                                                            FRANCIS’S HORACE.