Meta Description: Join Ad Navseam Ep. 220 as Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle conclude their discussion of Plautus’s Miles Gloriosus, explore metatheatrical tricks, and discuss Dire Straits!
Welcome back, classical gourmands, to episode 220 of the Ad Navseam podcast! Prepare to get your fill with another delectable discussion of Greco-Roman civilization, stretching from the ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans through the Renaissance and right down to the present.
Broadcasting directly from Parnassus Vomitorium Central—set among the grassy slopes of Mount Parnassus with beautiful olive trees swaying in the wind—your devoted hosts return to the microphones. Jeff is feeling great, enjoying the “liminal space” between the end of a semester’s “blue bookery” and the start of summer.
Meanwhile, Dave is bringing a bit of deliberate bad-cop grumpiness to balance out Jeff’s morning enthusiasm!
Addenda, Named Cars, and Dire Straits
Before diving into the scriptores antiqui (classical authors), the hosts address some listener correspondence. First comes an email from “Local Will” Fitzgerald, who sent an “Addenda to episode 225”. Since episode 225 is five episodes in the future, the hosts wonder if Will is either completely deranged or planting a deliberate error to see if they are paying attention! Will notes that the online Oxford English Dictionary can actually be licensed by individuals for $100 a year, though he adds a used two-volume compact edition with a built-in magnifying glass can be bought for under $100. He signs off with a “great episode,” putting himself back in Dave’s good graces.
On a brighter note, listener Roxanne wrote in to share her love for the show’s jokes, puns, and side trips. She proudly displays her Ad Navseam sticker on her 2008 VW Jetta, which she has named “Gerta”. This prompts Jeff to reveal that he also names his vehicles: his van is “Lois,” and his beat-up Honda Civic (which has 191,000 miles) is named “Gertie” after a beloved deceased neighbor. Dave admits the only car he ever named was “Old Jalopy”.
Jeff also shares a story about summer jobs. While he has been taking custom kitchen delivery jobs installing microwave ovens, his wife found an online gig getting paid per click to direct traffic to websites, which also offered free tickets to a downtown impressionist exhibit. Confronting her, Jeff declared that their whole life had simply become “Monet for nothing and clicks for fees”. A Mark Knopfler classic!
Plautus in the Renaissance
Turning to today’s topic, Dave reads an opening passage from Gian Biagio Conte’s literary history regarding the reception of Plautus. While Plautus’s popularity surged during the Renaissance starting with Petrarch, he was almost always ranked behind Terence. In fact, despite recommendations from humanists like Erasmus and Melanchthon, Plautus was frequently banned from the classroom because his difficult meter, vulgar language, and “exuberant immorality” were feared to corrupt the young!
The Two-Trick Structure of Miles Gloriosus
The centerpiece of the episode is the continuation of Plautus’s Miles Gloriosus (“Major Blowhard”). Jeff introduces a 2007 scholarly article by Lisa Maurice, Structure and Stagecraft in Plautus’ Miles Gloriosus.
Maurice addresses a long-standing academic debate: is the play a cohesive unit, or is it two separate Greek plays awkwardly mashed together? She argues that the play holds together through a deliberate structural symmetry built around two distinct tricks:
- Trick One (The Twin Sister Hoax): Targeted at the soldier’s slave, Sceledrus (called “Hapless” in the translation).
- Trick Two (The Courtesan Trap): Targeted at the braggart soldier himself, Pyrgopolynices (“Major Blowhard”).
Maurice notes that the first and last scenes form a framing device. In the opening scene, Major Blowhard depicts himself as an invincible warrior and the ultimate lover. In the final scene, his illusions are shattered when he is beaten by cooks and slaves and threatened with castration!
While Dave playfully suggests that academic scholars often read more elevated literary symbolism into a play than a populist playwright like Plautus ever intended, both hosts agree that the plot’s theatricality is remarkably effective.
The Inciting Incident: A Loose Monkey on the Roof
The action of the play turns on a wonderfully absurd inciting incident. Major Blowhard’s slave, Hapless, loses the household’s pet monkey. While chasing the monkey across the roof, Hapless looks down through a skylight in the neighboring house (owned by Periplectomenus, named “Hospitalides”) and catches the Major’s concubine, Philocomasium (“Convivia”), kissing her Athenian lover, Pleusicles (“Nautocles”).
Terrified that he will be executed for letting the girl escape, Hapless panics. To save the day, the clever slave Palaestrio (“Dexter”) digs a secret tunnel between the two houses. Dexter convinces the dim-witted Hapless that he didn’t see Convivia at all, but rather her imaginary twin sister who just arrived in town! By running back and forth through the tunnel, Convivia manages to appear in two places at once, utterly baffling her guard.
The Final Downfall of Major Blowhard
In Act Four, Dexter launches the second trick to rescue Convivia and gain his own freedom. Playing directly to Major Blowhard’s massive, fragile ego, Dexter tells the soldier that Hospitalides’ young wife is madly in love with him and itching to leave her old husband.
Eager to pursue this new conquest, Major Blowhard easily agrees to give Convivia her “boot”. To ensure she leaves happily, Dexter convinces the Major to let her keep all her gold, jewels, and clothes—and even to “gift” Dexter to her as an escort!
The play ends with the ultimate comeuppance. Nautocles dresses up as a ship captain with a woolen eye patch to spirit Convivia away. By the time Major Blowhard realizes he has been completely duped, it is too late. Dragged out of the neighbor’s house and beaten, the Major breaks the fourth wall, turns to the audience, and delivers a mock-tragic moral:
“A lesson to would-be lechers whose numbers throughout this land would lessen if they only found that fulfillment were always this awful.”
Sponsors and Support
Before fleeing the vomitorium to escape solicitors who want to trademark the term “libaby” (little free libraries), the hosts thank their sponsors:
- Hackett Publishing: Explore their new Hackett Signature Editions Collection featuring premium hardcovers with Smith sewn bindings, linen-like embossing, and ribbon markers. Titles include Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (tr. C.D.C. Reeve), Augustine’s Confessions (tr. Thomas Williams), and Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality. Visit hackettpublishing.com and use code AN2026 for 20% off and free shipping.
- Plautus & Terence Giveaway: Win a copy of the Five Comedies of Plautus and Terence (tr. Dina Berg and Douglas Parker)! Email Dave at dave@adnavseam.com with the subject line Braggart to enter.
- Della Chelpka Art: Last chance for original oil paintings! Visit dellachelpka.art and use the code FINAL20 for 20% off your entire order.
- Ratio Coffee: Upgrade your morning brew with the Ratio 8, Ratio 6, or the single-serve Ratio 4 (recently praised by Bon Appétit). Use code ANRATIO2026 at ratiocoffee.com/adnavseam for $20 off.
Want to learn lingua Latina aut Graeca? Head to latinperdiem.com to check out Dr. Noe’s MossMethod for Greek or his Latin masterclasses. Don’t forget to download the Calvin’s Latin Bible app for free macronized text!
Credits & Gustatory Parting Shot
A huge thank you to sound engineer Mishka for polishing the audio, and to Jeff Scheetz for his guitar tracks Thrill Seeker and Rush Hour.
Next week in episode 221, the hosts return to H.I. Marrou for more on Roman education!
We leave you today with a Gustatory Parting Shot from the band They Might Be Giants and their absurd song, I Am a Grocery Bag:
“Juices, muffins, pasta and cheese, milk and biscuits and cocktail sauce. I am a grocery bag. Salsa and pickles in organic grain. I am a grocery bag. Fresh coffee and bagels, pudding and soap, baby formula and ham. I am a grocery bag.”
Thanks for listening, and we will catch you next week!
