O sodeyn hap! O thou Fortune unstable!
Lyk to the scorpion so deceyvable,
That flaterest with thyn heed whan thou wolt stynge.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. In telling about January’s loss of sight, the Merchant likens unstable Fortune to a deceitful scorpion, which flatters with the head yet stings with the tail, and which causes the old knight’s blindness.