But, however that was, the Emperor was in a very bad state; for not even for a moment could he draw breath freely. He was obliged to sit upright to breathe at all; and if by chance he lay on his back or on one side, alas I for the consequent suffocation. For he was unable to draw in or out even a tiny drift of the outer air by the channels for expiration and inspiration. And, whenever sleep pitied him and overpowered him, then also he was liable to suffocation; so that at all times whether sleeping or awake, the danger of strangulation hung over him.
As he was not given purgatives they had recourse to phlebotomy, and they made an incision at the elbow; however, he derived no benefit from it, but breathed with just the same difficulty as before and there was always the danger that by breathing so little he would expire under our hands. But his condition grew easier after he had been given an antidote of pepper. And in our delight we did not know how to shew our joy, but we offered up prayers of thanksgiving to God.
The lungs attacked the Emperor again
However, it was all a delusion, for on the third or fourth day the same fits of suffocation and the same difficulties with the lungs attacked the Emperor again. I wonder whether he was not made worse by that draught, for it spread the humours without getting a hold over them, and drove them into the cavities of the arteries and aggravated his illness. From that time on we could not find any way of making him lie down comfortably, for the disease had reached its height. And the Emperor would pass the night from evening to dawn without getting any sleep, nor could he easily take nourishment nor any of the things that might have helped him.
I have often, or rather continuously, seen my mother spending a sleepless night with the Emperor, sitting behind him on the bed and supporting him in her arms and relieving his breathing somewhat. And verily the tears she shed were more abundant than the waters of the Nile. The care she bestowed on him by day and night, and the work she did while nursing him and continually changing his position, and devising all kinds of changes in the bedding, these cannot be described. But by no means at all was he able to get any relief. For the illness followed, or rather accompanied the Emperor like a noose, and never left off strangling him. As no remedy could be found for the disease, the Emperor moved to the part of the palace which looked to the South.
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