Toxicity of Purity Culture: Publius Maenius and his daughter, Valerius Maximus 6.1.4

Name: Valerius Maximus Date:  1st century CE Region:  Unknown Citation:  Memorable Deeds and Sayings   6.1.4

What a stern guardian of [his daughter’s] chastity Publius Maenius was! When he found out that his favorite freedman had kissed his debutante daughter, Maenius put him to death even though it was done as a lapse in judgment and not done romantically. Maenius thought that the importance of chastity was best ingrained into his tender girl’s mind through the severity of the punishment, and with this awful event taught his daughter that she owed not only purity of her womb, but also unkissed lips to her future husband.

P. Maenius quam severum pudicitiae custodem egit! in libertum namque gratum admodum sibi animadvertit, quia eum nubilis iam aetatis filiae suae osculum dedisse cognoverat, cum praesertim non libidine sed errore lapsus videri posset. ceterum amaritudine poenae teneris adhuc puellae sensibus castitatis disciplinam ingenerari magni aestimavit, eique tam tristi exemplo praecepit ut non solum virginitatem illibatam sed etiam oscula ad virum sincere perferret. 

Valerius Maximus [1st century CE] Little is known about the life of Valerius Maximus except that he wrote during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. His work, Memorable Deeds and Sayings, is a collection of examples from Roman and world history categorized by theme for the purpose of rhetorical exercises.