326 Elbert N. S. Thompson 
The influence of the Psychomachia on later allegorical literature 
can hardly be overestimated, though now and again it may be 
traceable only in a brief allusion. A sermon, for example, in which 
the vices are said to attack man from the rear, while the temp- 
tations lure on from the van, owes its thought, more or less directly, 
to Prudentius.! Other works borrow and adapt more freely. A 
significant instance of such detailed imitation is the Anticlaudianus, 
a Latin poem of the twelfth century in which Alain de Lille com- 
bined the epic account of the spiritual combat with an allegorical 
treatment of man’s intellectual qualities and of the seven liberal arts. 
It is at the end of the eighth book that the “divinus homo ” whom 
God has created in response to entreaties of Reason and Prudence 
and to whom Nature has given a body, is assailed by the familiar 
forces of evil. Discord, supported by such vices as Livor, Rabies, 
Furor, Impetus, Ira, and many more, leads the assault, while Pride 
advances with her army. Meanwhile the virtues prepare to defend 
man. Discord, who makes the first attack, is decapitated, and her 
followers either perish or flee. Then in turn other vices attack and 
are vanquished, Luxury by Sobriety, Lust by Reason, Imprudence 
by Prudence, Fraud by Faith, and Avarice by Generosity. Thus 
all the vices are repelled, and the Golden Age, when man and 
nature are without blemish, is ushered in. The combat occupies 
but a part of this poem, in which pagan influences and medieval 
scholasticism do not conceal the dominating influence of the Psycho- 
machia. 
More complete and more interesting, possibly, than the Avwti- 
claudianus is the thirteenth century poem, Lz Tornoiemenz Antecrit. 
It is also more strictly theological, for the author, Huon de Meri, 
wrote to attack the Albigenses, who regarded Christ as the great 
impostor, and, like the Jews, awaited the coming of the true Savior. 
In the poem, the approach of Antichrist is heralded by his chamber- 
lain, Bras-de-fer, who prepares the stronghold Desesperance for his 
lord’s reception. There Antichrist feasts his evil followers, and enter- 
tains them with Satanic minstrelsy. Next day his army is assembled 
for battle; Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, and other “barons of hell” ad- 
vance in company with Beelzebub and the long familiar vices of 
Christian allegory. No enumeration of their names could suggest 
the pains that the author gave himself to picture the soldiers of 
Antichrist, their numbers, their arms and banners. At the same time 
the army of Christ, composed of angels and all the other celestial 

1 De Pugna et Pace, Adam Praemonstrateus, Patr. Lat., 198. 151. 
