40 pages • 1 hour read
PlautusThe Braggart Soldier
Fiction | Play | Adult | BCEA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Valorization of the Military
While soldiers in ancient Roman society were valorized, Plautus turns the social structure on its head by framing Pyrgopolynices as a figure who is laughable because he valorizes himself. Of course, in The Braggart Soldier, the soldier in question isn’t simply mocked for bragging— – he’s mocked for being a braggart who lies about his conquests. Pyrgopolynices is a false soldier, who takes on the title and the glory without risking his life. When the king asks him to round up soldiers to fight, Pyrgopolynices pays mercenaries and then commissions his parasite, Artotrogus, to deliver them. He has no credibility to attract non-mercenary soldiers. Artotrogus’s tales of the soldier’s valor are not only false, they’re impossible. The parasite claims that Pyrgopolynices “puffed away […] legions with a single breath” and punching an elephant in India, breaking his “arm to smithereens” (3) with his fist. Artotrogus claims that the soldier once killed seven thousand in a single day, and Pyrgopolynices seems to believe him.
Through the character of Pyrgopolynices, Plautus is not necessarily critiquing the military per se or soldiers who have fought. During Plautus’s lifetime, the Roman empire was growing through conquest and empiricism as Rome fought Carthage in the three Punic Wars to conquer the Mediterranean. In fact, it was the conquest of Sicily that brought theatre to Rome during Plautus’s lifetime, in 240 BCE, a year after the First Punic War ended. MCertainly many members of Plautus’s audiences would have been soldiers who had actually participated in conquering lands and growing the Roman empire. There are no figures in the play who resemble the real-life warriors in the audience. The play mocks the soldier who claims to be preternaturally brave, strong, and fierce— – even godlike— – but really lives a comfortable life amassing wealth and harassing women.
Whereas the soldier character is often depicted in Greek and Roman theatre as an honorable, appropriate match for the play’s young leading lady, Pyrgopolynices is a menace to women. Although he seems to sincerely believe that, in the words of Artotrogus, “all the women love [him],” and constantly pester the parasite “with asking— – ‘Isn’t that Achilles?’” and begging him to “parade [the soldier] by today so they could see [him]” (5), none of it is true. Pyrgopolynices kidnaps Philocomasium while maintaining the delusion that she adores him. At the end of the play, the soldier reveals himself to be a coward when he faces a woman— – Caria, the cook— – who threatens him rather than offering false flattery. She threatens to literally emasculate him, and he gives in, showing that his warrior hyper-masculinity is also a performance.
Social Hierarchy
A slave was the lowest being in the ancient Roman social hierarchy. Often acquired as prisoners of war or as a repayment of debt, slaves were not citizens and were considered to be property. Although ancient Roman slaves might have been brought to the empire with any number of occupations— – some were skilled or educated and even had the opportunity to save money and buy their freedom— – they were subject to the whims of their masters, to the point of corporal and capital punishment. Among the 55 different recorded jobs that were held by slaves were doctors, teachers, and farm workers. In fact, the Roman comic playwright Terence, who wrote after Plautus’s death, was brought to Rome as a slave. The Braggart Soldier turns social hierarchy on its head by placing a slave in the role of the hero. Although Plautus did not invent the trope of the clever slave, he used it over and over in his comedies, and The Braggart Soldier was the first in which the clever slave trope was the central character. The upended, topsy-turvy version of social hierarchy that allows Palaestrio to take the lead and serve as the hero is a hallmark of Plautine comedy.
Beyond the mechanics of a group of citizens following a slave’s orders, the character of Palaestrio demonstrates especially noble character traits. He is bold and selfless, risking his life for his master and his lover. Palaestrio is more than a loyal slave. He offers loyalty to Pleusicles because Pleusicles is a kind and honorable person. When Pyrgopolynices is Palaestrio’s master, Palaestrio works against him because the soldier is not a good person. Palaestrio shows strong moral character and wisdom. Although Pleusicles says that he will free Palaestrio as soon as they return to Ephesus, Palaestrio fights for Philocomasium’s return well before there is a promise of reward. Palaestrio possesses the qualities of the typical hero, but from a low stature in society.
The Cleverness of Women
Plautus’s women in The Braggart Soldier are cleverer than his men. In ancient Rome, women were citizens, but they could not vote or hold public office. They were relegated largely to the domestic sphere. However, But the women in The Braggart Soldier are creative, logical, and talented at handling and controlling men. Of course, Acroteleutium provides the image of a woman who enjoys, as she calls itsays, “the art of being wicked” (28) toward men, and while Plautus’s representation certainly depicts women as potentially dangerous manipulators, but they are also strong, funny, and likeable. Palaestrio meets his match in Milphidippa, as the pair stifles laughter while acting out their ruse for the soldier. Periplectomenus keeps reminding Acroteleutium to rehearse her part, and she reminds him that he is the one who is slow. Pleusicles’s lackluster wit cannot hope to keep up with Philocomasium, who not only remembers the plan but improvises when necessary. The ingenuity and acting skills of the women are what allows Palaestrio’s plan to succeed.
