Publius Terentius, a Latin poet, was born in the province of Narbonne in the year 82 before the Christian era. According to Jerome, he derived his cognomen from a village named Atace; but as we discover no other trace of such a village, the account of Porphyryon, that he derived it from the river Atace, appears more probable. His name indicates a Roman origin. Jerome likewise informs us that, at the age of thirty-five, he applied himself with great ardour to the study of Greek literature. Horace, Sat. i. 10, 46, alludes to him as an unsuccessful writer of satires:

Hoc erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino Atque quidemdam aliis, melius quod scribere possim, Inventore minor.

Wüllner concludes, that of a living poet Horace would not have spoken in such terms. Adopting Bentley's chronology, according to which the satire that contains this passage was written in the year 37 B.C., he infers that Varro did not exceed the age of forty-five. The conjecture is not devoid of plausibility, but cannot be admitted as certain.

Varro Atacinus is extolled by several of the ancient writers. Velleius Paterculus classes him with Lucretius and Catullus. Quintilian mentions him as a poet who had acquired a name. He is likewise mentioned by Ovid, Propertius, and Statius. Virgil adopted several of his verses with little or no alteration. It is, however, to be regretted that, with the exception of a few fragments, all his works have perished. These fragments are to be found in various collections, and, among the rest, in Wernsdorf's Poetae Latini Minores, Altenburgi, 1788-90, 6 tom. Svo. They are incorporated in Wüllner's learned dissertation on the life and writings of the author. One of his works was a version of the Argyreomantia of Apollonius Rhodius; but from the fragments which remain, it does not appear to have been a close version. Another of his works, Bellum Scipionis, was an epic or historical poem in celebration of Caesar's recent victories. A third was a metrical Chronographia, of which Rubenkenius supposes his Europa, quoted by Festus, to have formed a part. The rest of his works, so far as they are enumerated, consisted of elegies, satires, and epigrams.