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 Ancie...
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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.
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...
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