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The Church Fathers · c. 405
Psychomachia
Prudentius · 348–c. 413
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What it is
An epic in which the virtues and vices fight in single combat for possession of the soul, each duel described with Virgilian relish.
Why it lasted
The invention of sustained allegory in Western literature, and the direct ancestor of everything from medieval morality plays to The Pilgrim's Progress.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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