Blissed be God that I shal dye a mayde!
Yif me my deeth, er that I have a shame;
Dooth with youre child youre wyl, a Goddes name!
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Physician’s Tale. Virginia’s father tells her that she must accept either death or shame at the hands of the lecherous judge Appius and blackguard Claudius. The virtuous young Virginia chooses death.