- Psychomachia
The "Psychomachia" ("Battle of Souls") by the Late Antique
Latin poet Prudentius is probably the first and most influential "pure"medieval allegory , the first in a long tradition of works as diverse as the "Romance of the Rose," "Everyman," and "Piers Plowman ."In slightly less than a thousand lines, the poem describes the conflict of
vice s andvirtue s as a battle in the style ofVirgil 's "Aeneid ." Christianfaith is attacked by and defeats paganidolatry to be cheered by a thousand Christianmartyr s.Chastity is assaulted bylust , but cuts down her enemy with a sword.Anger attackspatience , is unable to defeat her and destroys herself instead. In a similar manner, various vices fight corresponding virtues and are always defeated. Biblical figures that exemplify these virtues also appear (e.g. Job as an example ofpatience ).Despite the fact that seven virtues defeat seven vices, these are not the canonical
seven deadly sins , nor the three theological and four cardinal virtues.External links
* [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/psychomachia.html The Latin original of the poem]
* [http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/rhuddlan/images/ Several medieval illustrations of the battle scenes described]
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