'O sodeyn hap, o thou fortune instable,
Lyk to the scorpioun so deceivable,
That flaterest with thyn heed when thou wolt stinge;
Thy tayl is deeth, thurgh thyn enveniminge.
O brotil Ioye, o swete venim queynte,
O monstre, that so subtilly canst peynte
Thy giftes under hewe of stedfastnesse,
That thou deceyvest bothe more and lesse,' &c.
Cant. Tales, 9931 (E 2057).
Compare also Man of Lawes Tale, B 361, 404. 'The scorpiun is ones cunnes
wurm thet haueth neb, ase me seith, sumdel iliche ase wummon, and is neddre
bihinden; maketh feir semblaunt and fiketh mit te heaued, and stingeth mid
te teile'; Ancren Riwle, p. 206. Vincent of Beauvais, in his Speculum
Naturale, bk. xx. c. 160, quotes from the Liber de Naturis Rerum--'Scorpio
blandum et quasi virgineum dicitur vultum habere, sed habet in cauda nodosa
venenatum aculeum, quo pungit et inficit proximantem.'