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Psychomachia

ThePsychomachia(Battle of SpiritsorSoul War) is a poem by theLate AntiqueLatinpoetPrudentius,from the early fifth century AD.[1]It has been considered to be the first and most influential "pure"medieval allegory,the first in a long tradition of works as diverse as theRomance of the Rose,EverymanandPiers Plowman;however, a manuscript discovered in 1931 of a speech by the second-centuryacademic skepticphilosopherFavorinusemploys psychomachia, suggesting that he may have invented the technique.[2]

British Library,Add MS 24199, part 1, 10th century
Psychomachia, as the "battle between good and evil", on a Romanesque capital,Monastery of Sant Cugat,Catalonia, Spain

In slightly less than a thousand lines, the poem describes the conflict ofvicesandvirtuesas a battle in the style ofVirgil'sAeneid.Christianfaithis attacked by and defeatspaganidolatryto be cheered by a thousand Christianmartyrs.The work was extremely popular, and survives in many medieval manuscripts, 20 of them illustrated.[3]It may be the subject of wall paintings in the churches atClaverley,Shropshire,and atPyrford,Surrey,both in England. In the early twelfth century it was a common theme for sculptural programmes on façades of churches in western France, such asAulnay, Charente-Maritime.[4]

The word may be used more generally for the common theme of the "battle between good and evil", for example in sculpture. The duality portrayed in the book was the first of its kind to depict the different moral realms humans are battling within themselves. It was the first time one got to read how all are participating in the war of the soul, because Vice and Virtue both live within them and their decisions and actions determine the outcome of the conflict.

Characters

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The plot consists of the personified virtues ofHope,Sobriety,Chastity,Humility,etc. fighting the personified vices ofPride,Wrath,Paganism,Avarice,etc. Thepersonificationsare women because in Latin, words for abstract concepts have feminine grammatical gender; an uninformed reader of the work might take the story literally as a tale of many angry women fighting one another, because Prudentius provides no context or explanation of the allegory.[5]

  • Faith(Fides) strikes Worship-of-the-Old-GodsIdolatry(Veterum Cultura Deorum) on the head.
  • Chastity(Pudicitia) is assaulted byLust(Sodomita Libido), but cuts down her enemy with a sword.
  • Patience(Patientia) enragesWrath(Ira), who attacks but cannot defeat or even injure her. Driven mad with frustration, Anger ultimately kills herself instead.
  • Humility(Mens Humilis) otherwise known as Lowliness, seesPride(Superbia) charging her, but her horse stumbles, and Pride is thrown in a pit that Deceit has already dug across the field.
  • Sobriety(Sobrietas) plants her flag and restores the courage that was taken from the other virtues by the temptation ofIndulgence(Luxuria).
  • Good Works(Operatio) stranglesGreed(Avaritia) who has seized the entire human race.
  • Concordia,having heard such great blasphemy, pins the tongue ofDiscordiawith a spear and stops her breath.

In a similar manner, various vices fight corresponding virtues and are always defeated. Biblical figures that exemplify these virtues also appear (e.g.Jobas an example of patience).

Despite the fact that seven virtues defeat seven vices, they are not the canonicalseven deadly sins,nor thethree theologicalandfour cardinal virtues.

Notable manuscripts

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  • Berne,BurgerbibliothekCod. 264, region of Lake Constance c. AD 900. Parchment, 145 foll., 27.3/28.3 x 21.5/22 cm. The ms. is counted among the outstanding examples of Carolingian book art. It contains all seven poems by Prudentius plus an added eighth poem; given to the Strasbourg diocese in the 990s and later was acquired by Jacques Bongars.[6]
  • Cambridge,Corpus Christi College,MS 23; Prudentius,Psychomachiaand other poems, 10th century, English.[7]
  • London,British Library,Add MS 24199, part 1; Miscellany (Prudentius,Psychomachia), 10th century.
    • MS Cotton Cleopatra C VIII; Prudentius,Psychomachia,10th century.
  • Munich,Staatsbibliothek,CLM. 29031b; Prudentius, Psychomachia, 10th century.

Other uses of 'psychomachia'

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Theatre historian, Jonas Barish uses the term psychomachia to describe anti-theatrical conflict during the nineteenth century.[8]

Kirsty Allisonused Psychomachia as the title for her cult novel, set in the 1990s (Wrecking Ball Press,2020). The first edition also publishes a translation, and a modernised edit was later published in LoveLove magazine.

Notes

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  1. ^Holcomb
  2. ^Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, "Later Greek Voices on the Predicament of Exile: from Teles to Plutarch and Favorinus", in: J. F. Gaertner (Ed.),Writing Exile: The Discourse of Displacement in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Beyond,Leiden 2007ISBN9004155155p 104
  3. ^Holcomb, 69–71
  4. ^Anat Tcherikover:High Romanesque Sculpture in the Duchy of Aquitaine c.1090-1140,148-151. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1997ISBN0-19-817410-1.
  5. ^William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman (2001).Discovering the Middle Ages.The Teaching Company.ISBN1-56585-701-1
  6. ^Burgerbibliothek Cod. 264 (e-codices.unifr.ch)
  7. ^Holcomb, 69–71
  8. ^SeeAntitheatricality § 19th and early 20th century (psychomachia).

References

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