Section 11, II/43-II/51 Summary and Analysis

In "More on this subject: the example of Antonia, wife of Drusus Tiberius," after Emperor Nero kills her husband, Drusus Tiberius, Antonia lives a chaste widowhood for which Boccaccio praises her. In "In order to contradict those who claim that women want to be raped, here begins a series of examples, the first of which is Lucretia," Christine mentions the claim that women want to be raped which Rectitude quickly disputes since rape is the worst possible thing imaginable for chaste women. Rectitude provides the example of Lucretia who is raped by Tarquin the Proud and commits suicide in shame the next day after telling her husband and father of the outrage. Due to the outrage over Lucretia's rape, Romans create a law sentencing rapists to death. In "On this same subject: the example of the queen...