Miles Gloriosus
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Miles Gloriosus (literally, "famous or boastful soldier", in Latin) is a stock character from the drama, specifically comedy, of classical Rome, and variations on this character have appeared in drama and fiction ever since.[1] The character derives from the alazon or "braggart" of the Greek Old Comedy (e.g Aristophanes). Miles Gloriosus is also the name of a play by Plautus.
In Commedia dell'arte, the figure of Il Capitano is a miles gloriosus.[2]
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[edit] Plautus
The play Miles Gloriosus was written by Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.), who composed over 100 comedies in Latin, adapting them from Greek originals. 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. Plautus wrote his plays entirely in verse with certain sections designed to be sung. Accompaniment was provided by an instrument similar to an oboe. Only male actors were used, and all of them wore masks.
[edit] Plot summary
The play begins with Pyrgopolynices (Fighter of Many Fortresses), a braggart soldier, entering, escorted by three dependents and a parasite, Artotrogus (Bread Gobbler), who earns his meals by flattering the soldier excessively. Then we meet a crafty slave named Palaestrio (Wrestler), who explains, in a delayed prologue, how he has come to be the soldier's slave. Formerly he served a young Athenian, Pleusicles (Sailor), whose girlfriend, Philocomasium, was kidnapped from Athens and taken by our braggart soldier. 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, so 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 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.
Unfortunately, the next-door neighbor, Periplectomenus (Entangler), is frantic because some unknown slave from the soldier's house, while chasing a monkey on the roof, has 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 (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, who has been enjoying himself in the soldier's kitchen.
The old man returns with his lady friend, Acroteleutium (Highest Point), and her maid Milphidippa; 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] A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
In the Stephen Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Miles Gloriosus is the main antagonist. True to the character's roots in the productions of Plautus, Miles is a rude, crude, self centered, barbaric, and adored military captain. In this play, he has come to claim his bride, Philia, purchased from the procuror, Marcus Lycus. The protagonist of the play, the slave named Pseudolus, has promised the girl to his master, Hero. When Miles appears, and no bride is present, Pseudolus must keep him happy while 'searching' for the bride. Pseudolus tricks Hysterium, a fellow slave, into posing as the bride, apparently dead. The play climaxes when, after much trickery and a thrilling chase around the theater, it is discovered that Philia is Miles' sister, and that another character, Erronius, is Miles' father. Miles, not given to incest, orders Lycus arrested (though he is forgiven for the sake of keeping the show a comedy) and takes for his harem a pair of twins (The Geminae) instead of Philia.
[edit] Other uses
The term "Miles Gloriosus" is occasionally applied in a contemporary context to refer to a posturing and self-deceiving boaster or bully.
[edit] References
- ^ Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, p 172, ISBN 0-691-01298-9
- ^ John Rudlin, Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook, p 120, ISBN 0415-047706
