評論
打印
Louis XV, himself, must be intensely mortified
路易十五自己一定非常心煩意亂
by the fact that he is not loved,
因為他不再受人民愛戴
that he faces opposition at court,
被當庭質問
and for the fact that he is so isolated
他在自己掌權時期
within his own courtly environment.
卻如此孤立無援
If the Abbe intended to wound Louis,
就算神父有心傷害路易
he could not have expected what happened next.
他也完全意料不到接下來的事
Weeks after this humiliating dressing down
這場屈辱性的訓斥之后的數周后
by the Abbe Beauvais at Easter, Louis XV falls ill.
路易十五病倒了
Nobody knows what's wrong with him.
無人知曉病因
And it takes the doctors, gathered around him,
御醫們聚集在他周圍
several days to work out what's going on.
連續數日 想搞清楚病因
They bleed him, which can only weaken him, to my mind,
給他放血 但我認為這只會讓他更虛弱
and then, suddenly, one of the doctor sees familiar blotches,
突然 其中一名御醫看到熟悉的斑點
and they realise that he has smallpox.
他們才意識到他得了天花
It is a complete bolt out of the blue.
這猶如晴天霹靂
Smallpox, in the 18th-century,
天花 在18世紀
is still an absolute killer disease.
仍是一種致死性疾病
