Typology and Agency in Prudentius’s Treatment of the Judith Story

In the late fourth century, the Christian poet Prudentius wrote thePsychomachia(The Battle within the Soul), which depicts a series of single combats between personified virtues and vices. Immensely popular in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, thePsychomachia’s allegorical battles were depicted in a variety of relief sculptures and paintings throughout churches in Europe.¹ In his poem, Prudentius frequently uses a character or story from the Old Testament that prefigures a character or event from the New Testament, Roman Christian history, and a personified virtue or vice. These typologies form the backbone of Prudentius’s poem; so, for instance, the