When was the play, The Swaggering Soldier, written (around what time period)?

Question:It was a Greek play that Plautus borrowed and translated.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It was a Greek play that Plautus borrowed and translated.

Know more famously as 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.

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.