Miles Gloriosus
Plautus
Written by	Plautus
Characters	Pyrgopolynices Artotrogus Palaestrio Periplectomenus Sceledrus Pleusicles Lurcio Philocomasium Acroteleutium Milphidippa a slave boy Cario
Setting	a street in Ephesus, before the houses of Pyrgopolynices and Periplectomenus

Miles Gloriosus was a comedic play written by Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.). His source for Miles Gloriosus was a Greek play, now lost, called Alazon or The Braggart. Although the characters in Miles Gloriosus speak Latin, they are meant to be Greeks, with Greek names, clothing, and customs. 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.

[edit] Plot summary

The play begins with Pyrgopolynices (Major Blowhard, Fighter of Many Fortresses), a braggart soldier (or Miles Gloriosus from which the play gets its name). He is escorted by three dependents and a parasite, Artotrogus (Ingestio, Bread Gobbler), who earns his meals by flattering the soldier excessively. Then a crafty slave named Palaestrio (Dexter, Wrestler) arrives and explains in a delayed prologue how he has come to be the soldier's slave. Formerly he served a young Athenian, Pleusicles (Nautikles, Sailor). His former master had a girlfriend Philocomasium (Convivia), who was kidnapped from Athens and taken by Pyrgopolynices. When Palaestrio tried to reach his master with this bad news, the slave was seized by pirates and sold, by chance, to the same soldier. Both he and the girl have been living in the soldier's house in Ephesus, but Palaestrio has sent a letter secretly to his former master telling him where they are. Now Pleusicles has come to Ephesus and is staying with Periplectomenus (Hospitalidades, Entangler), a helpful old man who lives right next door to the soldier. The crafty slave has cut a hole in the wall between the two houses, enabling Philocomasium to visit her boyfriend without the soldier's knowledge.

The next-door neighbor becomes frantic when some unknown slave from the soldier's house, who was chasing a monkey on his roof, observed Philocomasium and her lover kissing in Periplectomenus' house. With Palaestrio's help he chastises his slaves for not having caught the man. Then he and Palaestrio dream up a plan to fool the soldier's slave into believing that the girl he saw kissing was actually Philocomasium's twin sister, recently arrived from Athens with her boyfriend. At that moment the slave himself, Sceledrus (Haplus, Criminal), conveniently turns up. Palaestrio, Philocomasium, and Periplectomenus succeed in confusing him so much that he despairs and runs away.

Palaestrio enlists the aid of the next-door neighbor and Pleusicles to pull off another scheme that he has cooked up: Periplectomenus will ask a lady friend of his to pretend to be his wife. Palaestrio will convince the soldier that this woman hates her elderly husband and is madly in love with the soldier, hoping this will prompt him to lose interest in Philocomasium and seduce another man's wife. Palaestrio will tell the soldier that Philocomasium's mother and sister from Athens happen to be visiting Ephesus that very day and could take her home with them. Pleusicles will dress up like a ship captain and bring some sailors with him to escort her to the harbor. While Periplectomenus goes off to find his lady friend and Pleusicles goes off to find a disguise, Palaestrio has a brief encounter with Artotrogus in the soldier's kitchen.

The old man returns with his lady friend, Acroteleutium (Climax, Highest Point), and her maid Milphidippa (Milly). They go inside his house to prepare to fool the soldier. Pyrgopolynices comes back home and runs into Palaestrio, who gives him a ring supposedly from Acroteleutium, and tells him how much the woman loves him. Milphidippa emerges from the neighbor's house and confirms Palaestrio's story. The soldier rushes into his own house to tell Philocomasium that he is sending her home. As soon as he reappears, Acroteleutium and Milphidippa complete their trickery.

Pleusicles, wearing his disguise, arrives to escort Philocomasium to the ship where she pretends to be reluctant to leave the soldier, but the sailors' music hastens her departure. The soldier agrees to let her take Palaestrio with her as a consolation present. Two slave-boys invite the soldier to come into the neighbor's house and meet Acroteleutium. He enters, only to find the old man and the cook waiting to give him the punishment he deserves. In consequence, Pyrgopolynices learns more about himself and the world around him—a happy ending for all, with a moral to go with it.

[edit] Translations

• Henry Thomas Riley, 1912: Miles Gloriosus full text
• Paul Nixon, 1916-38
• George Duckworth, 1942
• E. F. Watling, 1965
• Paul Roche, 1968
• Erich Segal, 1969
• Peter L. Smith, 1991
• Robert Wind, 1995
• Deena Berg and Douglass Parker, 1999

[edit] External links

• St Olaf’s Classics Department.

v • d • e Surviving plays by Plautus Amphitryon · Asinaria · Aulularia · Bacchides · Captivi · Casina · Curculio · Epidicus · Menaechmi · Mercator · Miles Gloriosus · Mostellaria · Persa · Poenulus · Pseudolus · Rudens · Stichus · Trinummus · Truculentus · Vidularia (fragmentary)