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Literary notes about Factious (AI summary)

The word "factious" has historically been used in literature to characterize individuals or groups that foster division and conflict, particularly within a political or societal context. For instance, authors like John Locke [1] warned against "ill-affected and factious men" who might spread unrest when a ruler exercises his authority, while Charles Dickens [2] portrayed factious behavior as deliberately self-serving and divisive. Thomas Carlyle, in multiple passages [3, 4, 5], frequently linked the term with political strife and the damaging consequences of factionalism, underscoring its association with rebellion and internal discord. Similarly, Ben Jonson [6, 7] defined "factious" by its very connection to seditious and partisan behavior, and ancient historians such as Livy [8] and Plutarch [9] noted that such tendencies were often a natural, if dangerous, facet of public life. This literary usage consistently reflects a wariness of factional loyalties that challenge established order or unity within the state.
  1. This, perhaps, ill-affected and factious men may spread amongst the people, when the prince only makes use of his due prerogative.
    — from Second Treatise of Government by John Locke
  2. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse.
    — from A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens
  3. His despatches to Committee openly denounce a factious Convention, for the woes it has brought on France and him.
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  4. Factious disturbance ceases not: as indeed how can they, unless authoritatively conjured, in a Revolt which is by nature bottomless?
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  5. "I carry in my heart the death-dirge of the French Monarchy; the dead remains of it will now be the spoil of the factious."
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  6. FACTIOUS, seditious, belonging to a party, given to party feeling.
    — from The Alchemist by Ben Jonson
  7. FACTIOUS, seditious, belonging to a party, given to party feeling.
    — from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson
  8. They return to their tribunal, and on purpose commanded one of the most factious of the people, who stood in their view, to be called upon by name.
    — from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy
  9. They abstained from all factious proceedings, and merely stated that they had been driven from the city by the wealthy classes.
    — from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

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