This antagonism of the virtues and vices as expressing various moral conflicts within the soul received its epic imagery later in the Psychomachia, an allegorical poem written by the Christian poet, A. Its formulation is found first in Tertullian's De spectaculis (29), where the vices and virtues are personified as two armies contending for the soul. The personification of virtues and vices, extant in medieval manuscript illumination and sculptural decoration, occurs early in Christian literature.Įarly Literary Formulation.
