Literary notes about draconian (AI summary)
In literature, "draconian" is used to evoke a sense of unusually harsh or inflexible severity, often drawing on the notorious legacy of ancient Athenian legislation. Authors apply the term to both historical and modern regimes to emphasize the punitive, unyielding character of laws or measures—for instance, its connection to the rigid legal framework instituted by Draco himself ([1], [2]) and its modern application to describe policies deemed excessively repressive ([3], [4]). Through such usage, the adjective not only recalls the brutal punishments of ancient times but also serves as a powerful metaphor for any system marked by relentless, severe discipline.
- Dracon , i.e. Draco, the Athenian legislator, the memory of the excessive severity of whose laws lingers in our adjective draconian .
— from La Légende des Siècles by Victor Hugo - This cruel severity of the Draconian laws caused an Athenian orator to say of them that "they were written, not in ink, but in blood."
— from General History for Colleges and High Schools by P. V. N. (Philip Van Ness) Myers - Facing such a danger, Judge Kaplan agrees that Congress needed to be draconian.
— from The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle - Moreover, a hasty process of consolidation coupled with draconian regulation may decimate private sector Russian banking for good.
— from Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's Era by Samuel Vaknin
