Literary notes about Treasonable (AI summary)
The word "treasonable" has been employed across a wide array of literary texts to connote disloyalty, subversion, and betrayal, often laden with moral or political judgment. In Samuel Richardson's work, for instance, it appears both as an exclamation laden with emotion ([1]) and as an accusation within a charged dialogue regarding subversive documents ([2]). Suetonius expands the term’s application to describe violations of constitutional respect, linking personal ambition with betrayal of public duty ([3]), while Mark Twain uses it to question the suitability of leadership due to a perceived "treasonable taint" ([4]). Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet introduce the term in a moment that underscores its notoriety within public discourse ([5]). In Robert Southey’s narrative, the term again surfaces to criticise the means by which political manoeuvres were executed ([6]), and Snorri Sturluson utilizes it to denote conspiracies against the established order in a historical context ([7]). Through these varied examples, "treasonable" emerges as a multifaceted descriptor, used to interrogate the ethics of political and personal conduct.
- Treasonable! said I, very sullenly.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - My master came up, and, in a pleasanter manner than I expected, said, So, Pamela, we have seized, it seems, your treasonable papers?
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - The veneration for the constitution, usually a powerful check to treasonable designs, had been lately violated by the usurpations of Marius and Sylla.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - Is the prince to tarry uninstalled, because, forsooth, the realm lacketh an Earl Marshal free of treasonable taint to invest him with his honours?
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - I’faith, the treasonable word is out.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The latter is represented as a partisan of Genoa, favouring the views of the oppressors of his country by the most treasonable means.
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey - In the year 1237 Snorre visited Norway again, and entered, as it is believed, into treasonable conspiracies with Jarl Skule.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
