Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas Quote

Even as a surgeon, minding off to cut
Some cureless limb,—before in ure he put
His violent engins on the vicious member,
Bringeth his patient in a senseless slumber,
And grief-less then (guided by use and art),
To save the whole, sawes off th' infested part.

First Week, Sixth Day. - La Semaine; ou, Création du monde (1578)