Note to As You Like It, 3.2.148: "Sad Lucretia's modesty"

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Act 3, Scene 2, line 148.

Sad Lucretia's modesty: i.e., serious Lucretia's heroic chastity. —After being raped, she sends for her husband and father to diclose the rapist's idenity; during this conversation she suddenly stabs herself to death. Her story is a key part of the history of Rome, as the government of Rome changes from kings to consuls because of her rape, and was retold by Shakespeare in his poem, The Rape of Lucrece.

Lucretia by Lucas the Elder, 1535