Menander

Menander, the founder of the New Athenian Comedy, was born in 342 B.C., and died at the age of fifty-two. Instead of satirising real personages (as Aristophanes had done) he created types of character illustrating broadly the virtues and vices of mankind. Of his hundred plays only a few scattered lines exist, but we get some idea of his style and method from Terence, who closely imitated him. Plautus, too, adopted his general scheme of dramatic construction. He was accidentally drowned whilst swimming at the Pirasus.