In Roman plays, loyalty is often incorrectly assumed to be a freely-given gift that masters expect of their servants regardless of their circumstances. The Braggart Soldier is no different. Pyrgopolynices feels his servants owe him loyalty and honor for the great deeds he alleges he has accomplished, so he surrounds himself with a collection of slaves and servants willing to fill his ears with half-truths and hollow praise. He demands loyalty and admiration from all those he encounters, even Philocomasium, the woman he kidnapped, and Palaestrio, a slave he received from pirates. In these cases, especially, his expectations are incredibly misguided. The woman he captured against her will is unlikely to love him, and the slave he happened across is probably not going to respect him. To expect otherwise is pure folly, a mistake that he will indeed suffer for by the play’s end. 

Pleusicles acts as a foil to the vain, misguided Pyrgopolynices. Modest and uninclined to bragging, the young Athenian inspires true loyalty in those around him. His servants, such as Palaestrio, are loyal to him because they feel he deserves and appreciates their earnest, heartfelt service. Indeed, his servants feel so strongly about him that one, Palaestrio, is willing to brave a dangerous journey just to retrieve his master’s lover and ease his sorrows. Through it all, Pleusicles's servants and lover stand by him, inspired by an authentic loyalty that, unlike the farce Pyrgopolynices demands, stands the trials of time. 

The plot of The Braggart Soldier is propelled by the titular soldier, Pyrgopolynices, and his lack of accurate self-knowledge. Blinded by his desires for fame and adoration, Pyrgopolynices views the world through a distorted lens, seeing himself at the center. He imagines that his lackeys speak truthfully when they praise him. Indeed, he fails to realize that Artotrogus subtly undermines him by following his inaccurate praise with sly asides to the audience to show that he is aware that Pyrgopolynices is not as great as he believes.

At every turn, Pyrgopolynices indicates the ease with which he can be manipulated. His lackeys have so effectively warped his sense of self that he cannot imagine his servant betraying him nor his woman rejecting him. Moreover, he believes the rumor of his neighbor’s wife’s interest in him immediately, buoyed by the certainty of his perfection and desirability. This foolish blindness to the reality of the world and his place in it is his downfall, indicating the dangers of arrogance and a poor grasp of one’s true self. As a result of his limited awareness of who he truly is, Pyrgopolynices lacks real relationships and happiness, living in a fantasy world that can only last for so long. Eventually, this false self-image is shattered, and he is left with nothing.

Manipulation and disguised truth are key themes that propel the plot of the play. The braggart soldier, blinded by his inaccurate assumptions about the world and himself, fails to uncover the plot against him before it is too late. Pyrgopolynices is especially susceptible to appeals to his ego and pride, so it becomes incredibly easy to manipulate him into acting in certain ways. The Athenians and their allies in Ephesus secure the freedom of Philocomasium and Palaestrio by playing Pyrgopolynices’s own beliefs about himself against him

For example, when he is made to think another woman is interested in him, he does not question her intentions. Instead, he sends away his captive with the gifts he had given her, alongside his newly acquired slave, Palaestrio, as the slave convinced him to do so to limit the damage his rejection will do to Philocomasium. These assumptions are ridiculous, yet they indicate the power that careful manipulation can have on a susceptible person. Pyrgopolynices’s prideful assumptions allow the Athenians to take the truth into their own hands and make reality appear exactly as they wish. From pretending that Philocomasium has a twin sister to plying the soldier’s arrogance to their advance, the play is rooted in this sense of warped reality and distorted truth.