his famous story of rape in ancient Rome includes the bizarre and tasteless lines:
And in a swogh she lay, and wex so ded
Men myghte smyten of hire arm or hed....
(1816-1817)
When Lucrece stabs herself to death with a knife, she still has the wherewithal to make sure her collapse is ladylike:
For in her fallynge yet she had a care,
Lest that hir fet or suche thyng lay bare;
So wel she loved clennesse and eke trouthe.
(1858-1860)