Introduction

The life of Aurelius Clemens Prudentius is emblematic of his multifaceted literary achievement. Prudentius was born in 348 in an area of Northern Spain, south of the Pyrenees along the Ebro River, most likely from the city of Calagurris. The Psychomachia is indeed the first systematic personification allegory in western literature. Prudentius’ use of allegory has its origins in both the pagan and biblical interpretive traditions. The Psychomachia as a totalizing and universal epic implies further observations concerning Prudentius’ influence on the major figures of epic poetry in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, including Dante and Milton. Prudentius’ reuse of the Roman poetic and the biblical traditions conforms to his allegorical project. The translation endeavors to be accessible to the 21st-century reader but also to reflect the intensity, speed, and rhetorical density of Prudentius’ Latin. On a smaller scale, Prudentius matches Vergil’s penchant for stylistic ambiguity and paradox.