'My deere doghter Venus,' quod Saturne,
'My cours, that hath so wide for to turne,
Hath moore power than woot any man.
Min is the drenching in the see so wan;
Min is the prisoun in the derke cote;
Min is the strangling and hanging by the throte,
The murmur and the cherles rebelling,
The groining, and the privee empoisoning.
I do vengeance and plein correccioun
Whil I dwelle in the signe of the Leoun.
Min is the ruine of the hye halles,
The falling of the toures and of the walles
Upon the minour or the carpenter.
I slow Sampson shaking the piler,
And mine be the maladies colde,
The derke tresons and the castes olde;
My loking is the fader of pestilence.'

- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (The Knight's Tale), first published 1478