psychomachia

/ ˌsaɪkəʊˈmækɪə; ˈsaɪkəʊməkɪ /

noun

1. conflict of the soul

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychomachia¹

C17: from Late Latin psӯchomachia, title of a poem by Prudentius (about 400), from Greek psukhē spirit + makhē battle

Example Sentences

Miranda’s ravaged inner life is exteriorized as in the medieval genre of psychomachia in which virtue and vice wage a battle for the soul.

From Seattle Times

He views his interior life as a psychomachia, a struggle between “the Dictates of my Fancy” and reason, common sense and various premonitions or “secret Hints” from guardian spirits who inhabit an “invisible World.”

From Washington Post

This kind of personification has its origins in the late antique poem the Psychomachia, in which the virtues and the vices battle each other, and it became a popular literary device in medieval and early-modern literature concerned with sin and salvation.

From Slate

Performances 8 p.m. today, Teatro de la Psychomachia, 1534 First Ave. S., Seattle, and 8 p.m.

From Seattle Times

Filling the voussoirs of the arch of the doorway are fourteen small niches containing subjects from the Psychomachia of Prudentius, the Battle of the Virtues against the Vices.

From Project Gutenberg