miles gloriosus

A bragging and often cowardly soldier, especially as a stock character in comedy.

[Latin mīles glōriōsus, after Mīles Glōriōsus, a comedy by Plautus.]

Mīlēs glōriōsus (‘the boastful soldier’), Roman comedy by Plautus; there is reason for thinking it was produced c.204 BC and is therefore an early work. It is uncertain from what Greek comedy it was adapted; Menander's Ephesios (‘the Ephesian’) has been suggested, this title being in that case a variant for Alazon (‘boaster’) which Plautus gives as the name of his original.

The boastful captain Pyrgopolynicēs (a name recalling Polyneicēs from the Greek myth of the Seven against Thebes, with the addition of pyrgos, ‘tower’) carries off the girl Philocōmasium from Athens to Ephesus while her lover Pleusiclēs is absent at Naupactus. Pleusicles' slave sets off to inform his master but is captured by pirates and given as a present to Pyrgopolynices at Ephesus. The slave then writes a letter to Pleusicles, who comes to Ephesus and takes up residence with an old family friend next door to the soldier. By the ingenuity of the slave and the kindness of Pleusicles' host, Pleusicles and Philocomasium meet by passing through a hole in the party wall between the two houses. It is given out that the girl's twin sister has arrived, and this explains Philocomasium's appearance now in one house, now in the other. Pyrgopolynices is fooled into believing that Pleusicles' host has a young wife who is dying for love of him; he is therefore induced to dismiss Philocomasium in order to pursue this new love, and is lured into the neighbouring house, where he is well beaten as an adulterer, while Pleusicles and his mistress sail off to Athens.

The miles gloriosus was a stock character in Roman comedy (see the prologue to Plautus' Captivi); he is the prototype of Ralph Roister Doister and Bobadill and other swaggering soldiers of the English Elizabethan stage.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a braggart soldier (a stock figure in comedy)

Miles Gloriosus
Plautus
Written by	Plautus
Characters	Pyrgopolynices - The "Braggart Soldier". Artrotrogus – Pyrgopolynices' parasite. Palaestrio - Pyrgopolynices' slave. Periplectomenus - helpful old neighbor. Philocomasium - slavegirl. Sceledrus – another of Pyrgopolynices's slaves. Pleusicles - Philocomasium's young lover. Cario – another of Pyrgopolynices' slaves. Milphidippa – attendant of Philocomasium. Acroteleutium – courtesan.
Setting	a street before the houses of Pyrgopolynices and Periplectomenus

This article is about the stock character. For the Plautus play, see Miles Gloriosus (play).

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). The term "Miles Gloriosus" is occasionally applied in a contemporary context to refer to a posturing and self-deceiving boaster or bully.

Literary instances

In the play Miles Gloriosus by Plautus, the term applies to the main character Pyrgopolynices. This foolish Miles Gloriosus brags openly and often about his supposed greatness, while the rest of the characters feign their admiration and secretly plot against him. Heavily borrowing from Plautus, the Stephen Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, contains a character by the name of Miles Gloriosus.

In Commedia dell'arte, the figure of Il Capitano is a miles gloriosus.^[2]

References

1. ^ Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, p 172, ISBN 0-691-01298-9
2. ^ John Rudlin, Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook, p 120, ISBN 0415-047706

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