"Do wey thy booldnesse," seyde Almachius tho,
"And sacrifice to oure goddes er thou go!
I recche nat what wrong that thou me profre,
For I kan suffre it as a philosophre;
But thilke wronges may I nat endure
That thou spekest of oure goddes heere." quod he.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Second Nun’s Tale. Almachius makes one last effort to get Cecilia to sacrifice to the Roman gods and avoid the execution. Totally not getting the point of her her spiritual faith, he tells her to do away with her boldness. He doesn’t care about what wrongs she expresses to him personally, but he cannot allow her to speak against his gods, he says.