John Donne on Virginity

Peter J. Leithart, December 08, 2003

John Donne on Virginity (from Paradoxes and Problemes): "I call not that Virginity a vertue, which resideth only in the Bodies integrity. . . But I call that Virginity a vertue which is willing and desirous to yeeld it selfe upon honest and lawfull terms, which just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of Body and Mind."