A Source of Prudentius' Psychomachia

Author(s): Morton W. Bloomfield

Source: Speculum, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 87-90
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Medieval Academy of
America
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2853641
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 A SOURCE OF PRUDENTIUS' PSYCHOMACHIA

BY MORTON W. BLOOMFIELD

SEVERAL pagan and Christian works have been suggested at various times as
sources for the general conception of Prudentius' Psychomachia, that influential
late Classical poem.1 These general sources make clear that the concept of a
struggle between the virtues and vices was not a new idea and that Prudentius
was made aware of the moral battle by absorbing these earlier writings in one way
or another. The purpose of this paper is to add another source to that list. The
closeness of the parallel would seem to suggest that Prudentius consciously used
the material, a suggestion that cannot be made with any certainty in the other
cases. In fact, it may be said that the Psychomachia is a remarkably original
piece of work.
In a Prefatio of sixty-eight lines to the poem, Prudentius discusses several inci-
dents from the life of Abraham, and especially the story of his aid to Bera, King
of Sodom, and his allies.2 Bera, together with his associates, had been attacked
by Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer and Tidal. After a preliminary success at
Siddim, the attackers were routed by Abram who wished to rescue Lot, his
nephew. His victory saved the goods of Bera and his brother kings. Prudentius
interprets this tale as a battle between the virtues and vices. He writes in part:

... uigilandum in armis pectorum fidelium

omnemque nostri portionem corporis,
quae capta foedae seruiat libidini,
domi coactis liberandam uiribus....

He, no doubt, felt that he needed some Biblical support for his treatment of
the moral life and found it in the story of the patriarch's life, especially in his
aid to Bera. The poem is then concluded with a prayer to Christ, and he proceeds
with his well-known story of the contest between seven virtues and vices.
The source of this particular allegory is to be found in the works of Philo.
The Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, at least three times in his voluminous writ-
ings,3 interprets the Bera incident as an allegory of the combat between the vices
and man. The four attackers are the four Stoic passions who storm the five
senses (Bera and his allies). Their ultimate defeat is due to the intervention of
reason, personified in Abram.
It is well to note, however, that the parallel is by no means exact and is con-
fined to a similar use of a similar story. In the Psychomachia, the vices fight the
virtues (not the senses), and the battlefield is presumably man himself. Philo

1 Those of Paul, Tertullian, Statius and Virgil. For these four see below. Augustine, of course,
not have had any direct influence on Prudentius. See Confessions x, xvii, xxi, viii, and xi and espe-
cially, City of God, xix, 4 for his use of the struggle image. 2 Genesis, xiv.
I For some references in Philo to the struggle theme see Colson and Whitaker, Philo with an Eng-
lish Translation (Loeb Classical Library, 19929 ff.), i, 402, 426,9274,176; ii, 437; III, 230, 146-148; iv, 22,
428; viii, 834 etc. For the Bera story see ibid., vi, 110-120 (On Abraham), iv, 504 and iii, 37g.

87

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88 A Source of Prudentius' Psychomachia

makes the vices attack man through his five senses, his points of contact with
the external world. One must also point out that the treatment of the story in
Philo, as befitted the father of allegorical exegesis, is more detailed than in
Prudentius' version. These differences raise doubts as to whether there is any
direct borrowing here. It is not my purpose to argue one way or another. It
may be said that, as far as I am aware, no closer parallel to the Psychomachia
in detail has ever been found.
Could Prudentius have known Philo? It is entirely possible, for Philo was
highly respected by many of the Fathers, particularly by Ambrose. In fact, this
respect explains the preservation of a great bulk of Philo's work, whereas the
writings of many non-Christians of his period and later have vanished. His in-
fluence, however, was so all-pervading that we need not postulate direct ac-
quaintanceship on the part of Prudentius.
My interest in pointing out this parallel, however, is not in source-hunting. It
lies rather in the problem of the background of the poem, a problem that has
been recently raised by C. S. Lewis.' I believe that the relationship of Philo to
the poem tends to strengthen the theory of a Judaeo-Christian, rather than a
classical, matrix for the work. Before this statement is substantiated some
general remarks are necessary.
In support of his contention, Lewis has noted that Greek ethical thought as it
is found in Plato and Aristotle did not conceive of the good life as a struggle or
battle.2 It was only in the later Classical age, in imperial times, that the way of
virtue was regarded as a contest against evil. The change is part of that general
orientalization of classical culture which is termed Hellenism, and this particu-
lar concept was probably a Persian contribution, brought to the west by offshoots
of Zoroastrianism3 or by Judaism. Lewis has emphasized the influence of certain
pagan works, notably Statius' Thebiad, on Prudentius, although he does not
imply any direct borrowing. In so doing, Lewis has made us aware of the gener
Hellenistic influence on the Psychomachia. I do not think that we need assume
that this influence came by way of pagan works. The parallel with Philo given
above can only strengthen the older view of a Judaeo-Christian background that
Lewis has tried to displace.
Philo4 and Paul5 (in the next generation) both regarded the virtuous life as a
struggle against evil. Naturally, in this view, they were children of their age and
of the Judaism of their time. The image of battle appealed to both of them as an
appropriate metaphor to express their conception of the moral life.
Between these men and Prudentius, there are several other works, all in the
Judaeo-Christian line of descent, which deal with the struggle theme. In Li-
bellus xiii of the Corpus Hermeticum, a work influenced by Judaism, Neo-
Platonism and Stoicism, the author speaks of ten virtues who defeat and drive

I The Allegory of Love (1936). 2 Ibid., pp. 59 ff.

3 See S. Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, 195, pp. 45 ff.
4 See W. Bousset, JUdisch-christlicher Schulbetrieb in Alexandria und Rom (1915) and for a new view
of the Jewish school at Alexandria, E. R. Goodenough, By Light, Light (1935).
6 Ephesians VI, I11 ff.

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 A Source of Prudentius' Psychomachia 89

out twelve vices.' The date of this passage is difficult to determine exactly but
is probably the second century A.D. The Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian work of
the first part of the same century, contains an allusion to a similar conflict. The
image is not clear, but twelve women clothed in black are contrasted with twelve
beautiful maidens who dwell in a Tower.2 Tertullian in De Patientia xv, and more
strikingly in De Spectaculis Xxix3 refers to a contest between virtues and vices.
As has been generally recognized,4 his work is an important influence on Pru-
dentius. His use of the image, as well as the New Testament and Shepherd of
Hermas allusions, reveals that the conflict simile was well-known in early Christian
writings.
The most notable pagan example of the treatment of this theme is to be found,
as Lewis has shown, in Statius' Thebaid xi.5 There are no close parallels in his
work to the Psychomachia, and it does not seem to me that we need revise the
older opinion that Prudentius' chief sources were Christian and Jewish, especially
when we keep in mind the above-mentioned parallel with Philo. The Shepherd
of Hermas should also not be discounted.
Prudentius' earlier work, the Hamartigenia, provides an earnest both in title
and in content of what is to come in his greater Psychomachia. In it, he refers to
the fourteen passions or sins which attack the soul. Seven heathen nations help
Satan in his battle.6 These nations which had opposed Israel in Canaan had been
explained by Origen7 as types of sin. Although I can find no such allegory in
Philo,8 Origen probably owes this interpretation to the Jewish Alexandrian
school. Here again, Prudentius is drawing on Christian sources.
In the Psychomnachia9 Prudentius changes the basic concept of an attack of the
vices on the human soul as found in his earlier work and in Philo, to a contest
between the virtues and vices with subordinates on both sides. Although a few
points can be noted, it is unnecessary to give an analysis of the rest of the poem.
The virtues and vices both are portrayed as women.10 Lewis has made a sound
literary study of the work, remarking that a battle scene between two forces
when we know in advance which is going to be the victor, is not exactly a good
literary device." Prudentius' list of sins is not that of the seven cardinal sins of

1 See W. Scott, Hermetica (1924-36), i, 249 ff. Scott thinks this passage is a later interpolation. For
twelve vices, see Philo, ed. cit., II, 108.
2 See K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (The Loeb Classical Library, 1913), ii, 2QO ff. and especially
958 ff. This work shows similarities to the Poimandres, Libellus I of the Corpus Hermaticum. See R.
Reitzenstein, Poimandres (1904) and Das iranische Erl6sungsmysterium (1991), pp. 149 and Bousset,
op. cit., pp. 185 ff.
I See Lewis, op. cit., pp. 64, A. Puech, Prudence, 1888, pp. Q44 ff. and H. 0. Taylor, The Classical
Heritage of the Middle Ages, 1911, pp. 979 ff. 4 Cf. Lewis, op. cit., pp. 68ff.
6 LI. 482 ff. See Lewis, op. cit., pp. 54 ff. The Aeneid, x, may also have contributed some elements
to the Psychomachia.
6 See H. 0. Taylor, op. cit., pp. 277-278. Homily xii in Lib. Jes. Nave.
8 Except perhaps for a vague reference, see Colson and Whitaker, op. cit. iv, p. 498.
Ed. I. Bergman, Avrelii Prvdentii Clementis Carmina (Corpvs Scriptorvm Ecclesiasticorvm Lati-
norvm, LXI [1926]), 165 ff. 10 See E. K. Rand, Founders of the Middle Ages (1928), p. R06.
11 Op. cit., p. 68. For another summary and analysis of the poem briefer than Lewis', see A. Katzenel-
lenbogen, Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art (London, 1939), 1 ff.

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 90 A Source of Prudentius' Psychomachia

Catholic theology. In the later Middle Ages, however, the struggle theme usually
centered around the cardinal vices and virtues.
From the homilies, late preserved Apocrypha, Latin poetry and Prudentius
himself, the struggle theme passed over into vernacular literature in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries. It was fruitful in both non-dramatic and dramatic
writing.' The theme was very popular in art.2 In exercising a profound influence
on the Middle Ages, it became part of Western civilization and may be traced
down to our day.

UNIVERSITY OF AKRoN (on leave)

CAMP RITCHIE, MD.

1 See 0. L. Triggs, The Assembly of Gods, EETS, e.s. 69 (1896), Introduction, pp.LxIni ff., H.Walther
Das Streitgedicht in der lateinischer Literatur des Mittelalters (19920), pp. 110-1926 and 0. Zockler, Die
Tugendlehre des Christentums (1904), pp. 257 ff. Alanus de Insulis' Anticlaudianus was an important
successor to the Psychomachia and helped to effect a transference of the struggle theme to the vernacu-
lars. So far, no completely adequate account of the theme in mediaeval literature is available. See, how-
ever, E. B. Vest, 'Prudentius in the Middle Ages,' Harvard Summaries of Theses, 1932, pp. 293-9295.
2 See E. MMle, L'Art Religieux du XIII siecle en France, 5th edition (1923), pp. 99 ff., R. Stettiner,
Die illustrierten Prudentiushandschriften (1895), A. Katzenellenbogen, Die Psychomachie in der Kunst
des Mittelalters, Dissertation . . . der Hamburgischen Universitiit (1933), and Allegories of the Virtues
and Vices in Mediaeval Art (1939).

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