Thou liknest eek wommenes love to helle,
To bareyne lond, ther water may nat dwelle.
Thou liknest it also to wilde fyr;
The moore it brenneth, the moore it hath desir
To consume every thyng that brent wole be.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Her first three husbands would compare women’s love to hell or barren land, the Wife of Bath complains to them. They also compared it to Greek fire that never goes out, the more it burns the more it desires to consume everything that can be burned (the burning fire is used as a metaphor). Did her husbands actually say that? No they didn’t, she later confesses she made it all up to keep them in check!