| Abstrakt: |
The purpose of the article is to study Prudentius’ Psychomachia in the context of the religious and socio-political atmosphere of the Roman Empire at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th centuries A.D. After the adoption of laws against pagans by Emperor Theodosius I in the early 390s, Christianity supposedly finally defeated the old cults. But in reality, Christians felt the need to continue the struggle for the consciousness of pagans and their superficial co-religionists. Another problem was the heresies - the teachings of Arius, Photinus, and Priscillian, which undermined the unity of the Christian community from within. Psychomachia is the first Latin allegorical poem about the battle of virtues and vices in the human soul. Seven duels take place between them in an unspecified place outside of space and time. The description of their appearance and the speeches they constantly make help to give a better understanding of the characters. The purpose of the writing was the glorification of Christian morality and worldview, and the polemical struggle against paganism and heresies. Although the form of the poem is innovative, the style of Psychomachia is largely based on the second half of Virgil’s Aeneid, which is full of battle scenes. Prudentius does not ignore Roman literature and history but tries to fit it into the Christian tradition. At the same time, the aesthetics of the work are absolutely Christian. There are many allusions to the biblical tradition in Psychomachia. Like any good literary work, poem has several layers. The first one presents a description of the struggle of virtues and vices in the human soul. The second one gives a picture of the establishment of Christianity in the fight against paganism and heresies. The third layer shows the eschatological struggle between good and evil. The combination of a unique genre, classical tradition and Christian content makes Psychomachia a unique monument of the age of transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, which helps to better understand the essence of this age and this transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
