Miles Gloriosus (play)
The action takes place in Ephesus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, famous for its Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Pleusicles has come to Ephesus and is staying with Periplectomenus, who lives next door to the soldier, and the cunning Palaestrio has cut a hole in the wall so the two lovers can meet one another.
Periplectomenus, an older man of Ephesus, then enters, worried because he has caught Sceledrus, one of Pyrgopolynices' slaves, on the roof, looking in through the skylight.
Palaestrio comes up with a plan to tell Pyrgopolynices that Philocomasium has a twin sister visiting Ephesus with her lover and mother and staying with Periplectomenus.
She says her name is Dicea and that she has arrived the previous night from Athens and wants to try to find her twin sister Philocomasium.
As he is entering, he is ambushed by Periplectomenus and some slaves including his cook, Cario, who threatens to castrate the adulterer with his knife and hang his testicles round his neck.
William S. Anderson suggests that the quality of "heroic badness" has transformed the main character from a conventional hero to a clever slave who outwits his master.
The Italian Commedia character, Il Capitano is an adaptation of the Braggart Soldier, as is Shakespeare's Ancient Pistol.
Because there are two separate intrigues (the hole in the wall and the fake wife), and some puzzling details such as the lack of coherence between the end of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3, it has been argued by some scholars that to make the plot Plautus may have joined together two separate Greek plays; however, other scholars have argued that there is insufficient evidence for this assumption.
It is also thought that the scene with the drunken slave Lurcio or Lucrio (Act 3.2) is a Plautine addition, not part of the original Greek play.
[19] The story itself contains elements which are familiar from a number of folk-tales recounted in later centuries in oriental countries: the hole in the wall through which the lovers meet, their escape by ship, assistance by the dupe himself, the dupe's surrender of the faithful slave and gift of valuables to the departing heroine are found in tales from Albania, Syria, Iraq, and Central Asia.
He tells many lies about himself: he crushes an elephant's hind leg with his fist, his children live a thousand years, and his would be a kingship were he alive at a different time.
He thinks women only talk about frivolous matters and that they spend too much money; he does not want to be financially responsible for a wife or for children.
In sum his views on marriage and wives seem out of place in a play that otherwise offers kindness, generosity, and sacrifice as the antidote to ego, greed, and rapacity.
Though not a major part of the play or plot Plautus does explore the theme of drinking and drunkenness through the characters of Lurcio and Sceledrus.
Both Lurcio and Sceledra know full well that they will face severe punishment if they are caught stealing their master's wine, but their addiction is sufficiently deep for them to disregard the potential consequences of their actions.
After drinking heavily Sceledrus, who is supposed to be watching over Philocomasium, abandons his duties and responsibilities and instead falls asleep.
Though he does not make it a major part of the play, Plautus does offer a nuanced look into the highs and lows of drinking and drunkenness.
Pyrgopolynices exhibits characteristics of the stock character, miles gloriosus, who boasts in an arrogant and self-righteous manner.
His relationship with his hanger-on, Artotrogus, the stock character of the parasitus, reveals that he relies on others to glorify his deluded sense of self.
At first glance a character used solely to boost his master's ego, Artotrogus is primarily driven by his incessant need for food.
His overdeveloped pride stands in stark contrast to a severely underdeveloped intellect that leaves him easy prey to his slave Palaestrio's machinations.
Plautus's work shows that in creating characters who appear masculine and macho but lack basic intelligence he is commenting on the Rome of his time and suggesting that true virtue and character lie within the hearts and minds of Romans with the ability to self-reflect and see the world through another's eyes.
In reality, his achievements are insignificant, his actual military prowess is inept, and his looks rendered repulsive by his character.
For conquest he steals from Athens a defenseless woman by tricking with gifts her mother into thinking he is a nice guy.
In presenting an authority figure as so inept and devoid of any sense of self or decency, Plautus comments on the Rome of his time and presages the generals to come who will wreak havoc on the common folk of the dying Republic.
Later, by succeeding in tricking Pyrgopolynices (vanity and ego) and reuniting the lovers, Palaestrio and his allies show the superiority of virtue over vice.
This is reinforced in the end as Pyrgopolynices, recognizing his defeat, remarks to the audience that they should 'serve all lechers so, and lechery will grow less rife'.
He masterminds a plan to trick his fellow slave Sceledrus and his master Pyrgopolynices so that Philocomasium and Pleusicles can live happily ever after.
The character "Miles Gloriosus" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum takes his name from this play.
