Virginitee is greet perfeccion…
He spak to hem that wolde lyve parfitly;
And lordynges, by youre leve, that am nat I.
I wol bistowe the flour of al myn age
In the actes and in fruyt of mariage.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Virginity is great perfection and Christ spoke to those who would live perfectly, says the Wife of Bath. But she is not perfect and will bestow the flower of all her age to the acts and fruits of marriage.