Akademik

   by Prudentius

(ca. 405)

   PRUDENTIUS’s poem Psychomachia (War within the soul) was one of the most influential poems of the Middle Ages, initiating a vogue for ALLEGORY that lasted in European literature for 1,000 years. The Psychomachia, the first completely allegorical poem in Europe, is the story of the battle between virtues and vices over the possession of the human soul.

   Perhaps Prudentius’s theme was suggested by Ephesians 6.10–20, in which St. Paul speaks of the Christian’s battle against spiritual forces, allegorizing the “armor of God.” But at the same time, Prudentius was highly influenced by Virgil’s Aeneid, and adapts the epic language and imagery of that poem to his moral allegory. The poem, written in 915 lines of Latin dactylic hexameters (six-foot lines), begins with a preface retelling the story of Abraham rescuing his nephew Lot from his imprisonment by pagan kings, as told in Genesis 14. Prudentius sees this story as a symbol of our hearts’ need to struggle against the vices that hold our bodies captive. This leads into Prudentius’s depiction of personified female Virtues and Vices doing battle in a mental landscape over the prize of the soul.

   His method of presentation is a series of single combats, recalling the style of epic poems like the Aeneid and the Iliad. Thus Faith begins the fray by doing combat with Idolatry. Chastity then fights Lust, and Patience vies with Anger. Pride rides onto the field on a high horse to rally her comrades, and tries to trample down Humility and her supporter, Hope. But Pride falls, and Sensuality enters the fray. She is almost able to entice the Virtues to yield to her, when Sobriety takes the field and defeats her. Avarice next challenges Reason, but ultimately switches sides and disguises herself as Frugality.Trying to pass herself off as a Virtue, she begins to lead others astray, until Mercy exposes her for what she really is, and advocates generosity to the poor. Finally Peace takes the field, and drives the war away. Just when the strife seems over and the Virtues begin to retire, Concord is treacherously stabbed by the disguised figure of Discord, or Heresy, whose intent is to stir up dissension among the unified community of Faith. Faith executes Heresy, who is subsequently dismembered by the other Virtues. Concord and Faith then address the Virtues, urging them not to allow Discord to destroy their unity. Faith proclaims that a temple should be raised up, as Solomon built his temple in Israel when peace and security had been achieved there. In language echoing the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, Prudentius describes the construction of the Temple, a dwelling place for Christ within the human soul cleansed of sin.

   Prudentius’s poem is of interest on more than theological grounds. His Virtues and Vices are more than simple personified abstractions. They are described in ways that depict them as human beings with the qualities of the virtue or vice they allegorize. Patience, for instance, does nothing aggressive to defend herself against Anger’s attacks. She simply stands firm, and her armor cannot be pierced. In the end Anger, in her rage, kills herself. Similarly Sensuality is described as having “scented locks, slow voice, and wandering eyes;/Lost in delights, she lived to pamper flesh” (Eagen 1965, ll. 312–13), and she comes drunk to the battle. Prudentius varies the individual duels enough to avoid monotony, but all of the single combats contain similar elements. In each case the Virtue is described, and is challenged by her opposite Vice, who is described in some detail as well. Thus Patience, for example, is challenged to battle by Anger. The Virtue inevitably wins the battle, and is allowed to give a speech of triumph, not unlike the kind one might find in epic poetry, in which the particular Vice is condemned and the Virtue upheld. In this speech or elsewhere in the description of the combat, biblical figures are used as examples of the virtue—or the vice—in question (Job, for example, is used to illustrate Patience). Prudentius, as the first important Latin poet of Christendom, became a standard author read in the monastic schools of Europe from the ninth century onward.More than 300 manuscripts of his works survive from the Middle Ages, some of them containing illuminated copies of the Psychomachia. Such popularity attests to the widespread influence of this text.

   Bibliography

   ■ Haworth, Kenneth R. Deified Virtues, Demonic Vices, and Descriptive Allegory in Prudentius’ Psychomachia. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert, 1980.

   ■ Prudentius. Prudentius. 2 vols. Translated and edited by H. J. Thomson. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1947–1953.

   ■ ———. Prudentius, Poems, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Edited by Sister M. Clement Eagan. The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, vols. 43, 52.Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1965.

   ■ Smith, Macklin. Prudentius’ Psychomachia: A Reexamination. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976.