Se how they blede! Be they noght wel arrayed?
Thus hath hir lord, the god of love, ypayed
Hir wages and hir fees for hir servyse!
And yet they wenen for to been ful wyse
That serven love, for aught that may bifalle.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Pointing to the bleeding Palamon and Arcite, Theseus says they have paid the god of love with their own blood in their feud over a woman. Yet those who serve love think themselves wise, whatever may happen, he adds.