#virginius

Guillaume Guillon-Lethière (French, 1760-1832) The Death of Virginia, ca.1800

My lord the emperor, resolve me this: Was it well done of rash Virginius To slay his daughter with his own right hand, Because she was enforced, stain'd, and deflower'd?

                                                      - Titus Act 5, Scene 3

The story of Virginius comes from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”. (FYI, Chaucer’s tales were inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses.)

Virginius was a knight who had a very beautiful, virtuous and chaste daughter, named Virginia. The town judge (Appius) saw her one day, lusted after her and determined to make her his. His plan was to have one of his servant peasants (Claudius) claim in court that Virginia was his daughter and that Virginius was holding her against his will. The judge ordered that Virginia be taken as a ward of the court. (And thus he would get to do with her as he pleased)

Virginius went home, called his daughter to him and explained that she had two options, either death or shame. Virginius then cuts off her head and takes it to the judge.    

Note that Virginia was not actually “enforced, stained and deflowered”, she was only threatened with it. Instead her father cut her head off to protect her from rape.

George Washington Bean was a pioneer of Utah in the mid-1800s. He had three wives, Elizabeth, Emma, and Mary Jane. I'm related to Mary Jane, who was 10 years younger than George Washington. Mary Jane gave George Washington 13 children. Some of the kids bore awesome names, such as Virginius.