ABSTRACT
The ‘battle within the soul’ between personifications of the vices and virtues was a favorite subject of medieval allegory and a method used extensively by Spenser. It may be traced to Peter’s reference to ‘fleshlie lustes, which fight against the soule’ (1 Pet 2.11). In the fourth century, the Christian poet Prudentius formalized these ‘lustes’ as specific vices in his Psychomachia, a poem which presents a series of battles between Fides and Cultura Veterum Deorum (Faith and Worship of Old Gods), Pudicitia and Libido (Chastity and Lust), Patientia and Ira (Patience and Wrath), and so on. Each pair takes the field in turn, until the Virtues finally overcome the Vices. After the battle, Discordia (also called Heresy) slyly attempts to wound Concordia. After the Virtues tear Discord apart, they unite under the direction of Concord to construct a magnificent jeweled temple in which Sapientia (Wisdom) is enthroned. The poem concludes with a recognition that the rebellious side of man’s nature, the flesh, can be controlled only with the aid of Christ. Elements of the Psychomachia, such as the battlefield descriptions, look back to Virgil’s Aeneid. Prudentius’ strongly Christian theme of soul warfare, however, lays a basis for a tradition of depicting allegorical conflict which descends through Martianus Capella and the scholastic epics of the twelfthcentury Chartrians to Renaissance poets such as Petrarch, Boccaccio, Landino, and Tasso. It was also kept alive in morality plays, in the battles of virtues and vice found, for instance, in The Castle of Perseverance.
