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But Louis was only human. And after years of good health,
但路易也是凡人 盡管多年健康
he began to suffer from a serious medical problem,
他仍患了一種重病:
an anal fistula.
肛瘺
This was an extremely serious condition
以17世紀的醫療條件來說
in the context of the 17th century.
路易的情況格外糟糕
The risk of it becoming gangrenous,
脫疽 也就是膿液
that the pus would seep into the rest of the body and infect
滲入并感染身體其他部位的
was very great indeed.
可能性很大
Untreated, it would almost certainly have killed the King.
如果不及時治療 將導致死亡
The only way that it was likely to be cured
唯一的治療方法
was through invasive surgery.
就是進行入侵性外科手術
Such surgery had had a very poor success rate.
但成功率很低
But Louis instructed his doctors to go ahead.
路易卻命令醫生繼續進行
His senior physician devised a new instrument
他的首席醫師發明了
especially for the operation.
一種手術專用工具
The doctors involved in the operation
手術醫生
practised on a number of others
預先已經在許多其他病人
who had anal fistulas before hand.
身上實驗手術
But it was nonetheless still a very risky operation.
但手術風險仍然很大
In the 17th century,
在17世紀
the doctors were much more likely to kill you than cure you.
醫生殺人多于醫人
Huge effort was made at Versailles
凡爾賽宮上下
to keep the details of this secret,
盡力對手術保密
because it was felt so likely that the King wouldn't survive,
因為國王很有可能無法存活
that the diplomatic repercussions of this
而由此導致的政治變革
would sweep through Europe.
將會席卷歐洲
He was so stalwart during the operation, he never spoke at all.
他在手術中很頑強 一言不發
Imagine the pain, no anaesthetic.
當時沒有麻醉藥 痛苦難以想象
This extraordinary self control he had,
路易的自控力超乎尋常
he just gritted his teeth,
他只是緊咬牙關
and conducted himself with great dignity.
表現出超凡的尊嚴
And that night, he took a counsel meeting. Extraordinary,
那晚他參加了議會會議 很驚人
very pale with a sort of sheen of sweat,
他臉色蒼白 汗珠晶亮
but he made it.
但他還是做到了
