Then they struck his head repeatedly with the pommels of their swords so that blood spattered from more than seven wounds, causing him great pain; but he never said a word nor gave any sign that it affected him.

[...]

Then he had him stripped to his underwear and had him beaten with knotted leather whips by four huge and wicked men until blood was spurting out everywhere. But he never said a word nor gave any indication they were hurting him, though they had already beaten him until blood was dripping to the ground. Once they were tired and exhausted they stopped, and the knight who had had him beaten had him thrown instantly into a deep, black, and repulsive well full of snakes and vermin that poisoned and ruined the water.

[...]

As soon as he hit the cold water, he fainted from the shock, because he was hot from his earlier exertions, and fell so hard on a large rock that he opened a deep gash on his head. As soon as the snakes and other vermin sensed the warm, fresh blood flowing from him, they attacked his legs, biting him up and down, and caused him so much pain and anguish that if before he did not know what suffering was, then now he was enduring as much as any man's heart could take. Nonetheless, he defended himself as best he could, grabbing the snakes in his bare hands, squeezing them and crushing their heads, and he killed as many as he could seize. By now he was so filled with poison that he thought he would die unconfessed, because when he tried to lift his legs out of the water he discovered that they were so huge and swollen that it was amazing how much the poison had already affected him.

The Vulgate Cycle