Traitor

“ I have, like a hunted wolf, dressed those wounds in mountain-fastnesses, shunning the abode of man, and eluding pursuers whose mercy I disdained to ask. I have seen my King a prisoner, without power to redress his wrongs; my country a prey to tyrants; all her hallowed institutions overturned; but never till now, Eustace, was I completely wretched; for never did anguish, in its most desperate forebodings, whisper that I could be the parent of a traitor. ”

“ Remember him, the villain, righteous heaven, In thy great day of vengeance! Blast the traitor And his pernicious counsels; who, for wealth, For pow'r, the pride of greatness, or revenge, Would plunge his native land in civil wars! ”

“ A traitor is none the less a despicable and loathsome wretch because his Prince cannot punish him. I am bound by no direct tie of loyalty to any Terrestrial sovereign. I was born the subject of one of the greatest monarchs of the Earth; I left his country at an early age, and my youth was passed in the service of less powerful rulers, to one at least of whom I long owed the same military allegiance that binds your guards and officers to yourself. ”

“ In vain we compose our faces and our words; it holds uncontrollable communication with the enemy, and he answers civilly to us, but believes the spirit. We exclaim, 'There's a traitor in the house!' but at last it appears that he is the true man, and I am the traitor. ”

“ You must declare you, whether you determine To act a treason 'gainst your lord and sovereign, Or whether you will serve him faithfully. ISOLANI. Treason! My God! But who talks then of treason? OCTAVIO. That is the case. The prince-duke is a traitor— Means to lead over to the enemy The emperor's army. Now, count! brief and full— Say, will you break your oath to the emperor? Sell yourself to the enemy? ”

“ All in that fatal hour,
And bodily was born away,
And never was seen more.
But where she went was never kend,
And so, to end the matter,
A traitor's end, you may depend,
Can be expect'd no better. ”

“ Is it likely, with all the incentives to good conduct I have named, I should have proved a traitor to my country? And, even if so, what to gain, I would ask; and by what means was a correspondence with the enemy to be maintained by one in my humble station? ”

“ By every tie that hath its birth
Within your homes--around your hearth;
Believe me, 'tis a tyrant's plot,
Worse for the fair and sleek disguise--
A traitor in a patriot's cloak!
"Your country's good
Demands your blood!"
Was it a fiend from hell that spoke?
They point us to the Stripes and Stars;
(Our banner erst--the despot's now!)
But let not thoughts of by-gone wars,
When beat we back the common foe,
And felled them fast and shamed them so,
Divide us at this fearful hour ”

“ The king looked down at the guilty traitor; the traitor hung his head. Presently the king said: "Weasel, false and double-tongued weasel, did I not choose you to be my chiefest and most secret counsellor? Did you not know everything? Did I not consult you on every occasion, and were you not promoted to high honour and dignity? And you have repaid me by plotting against my throne, and against my life; the gnat has told me everything, and it is of no avail for you to deny it. You double traitor, false to me and false to those other traitors who met in this very place to conspire against me. ”

“ But do not be astonished at our having been filled with indignation and anger on hearing such a proposal made to us, one unworthy of men who have hearts and arms, and which would make us appear to the eyes of the whole country cowards and traitors as vile as the Count of Carrion. There are some who may say, 'Set a traitor to punish a traitor'; but I say, and also all those whose hearts are not cowardly and base would say, that it is an honourable man who should punish a traitor. ”

“ And for delivering my mind openly and freely, shall I be in danger of my life as a traitor? If that necessity be put upon me, I thank God, by his blessing, I have learned not to stand in fear of him who can only kill the body. ”

“ Speech in the Senate, on his Bill for the Confiscation of Property and the Liberation of Slaves belonging to Rebels, May 19, 1862.
Wherefore he deserves to be punished, not only as an enemy, but also as a traitor, both to you and to us. And indeed treason is as much worse than war as it is harder to guard against what is secret than what is open,—and as much more hateful, as with enemies men make treaties again, and put faith in them, but with one who is discovered to be a traitor nobody ever enters into covenant, or trusts him for the future.—Xenophon, Hellenica, Book II. ch. ”

“ He handled it reluctantly, half drawing it, half sheathing it.
“No,” he said abruptly.
“Ah,” she cried; “art traitor, then—traitor?”
“Why, traitor is a good word,” he told her; “human, living men are traitors; traitor smacks homely, and I hope there's no worse word between us.”
“No worse word than traitor?” she cried amazed, for she had no inkling of the weird superstitious fears the hour and the place and her own strange personality had wrought in him. “What! art thou a traitor, then?” ”

“ While thus enveloped in the insignia of a glorious and successful Revolution, and no doubt smitten with remorse at the thought of the crimes for which he was answerable, alternately toying with the honored uniform and deploring the depth of infamy into which he had plunged himself, life took its departure, and the soul of the traitor went to another world. ”

“ Congress have seen that the language of the Constitution was insufficient, of itself, to make a man a traitor—on the ground of birth in this country—who levies war against the United States, but practices no treachery, deceit, or breach of faith. ”

“ He knew that they would brand him as a traitor, disown him, revile him, and that he would die alone in the dark, stricken by the dagger of an avenger, and not be thought worthy the common death of the martyrs. ”

“ After, if he may findin in the town
Any woman, his blind affection
Unto bestow. But evil mote he preve!
A man, for all his oaths, is hard to believe!
And for that every false Man hath a Make,
(As unto every wight is light to know)
When this traitor, this woman hath forsake,
He fast speedeth him unto his fellow.
Till he be there, his heart is on a low;
His false deceit ne may him not suffice,
But of his treason telleth all the wise.
Is this a fair avaunt? Is this honour?
A man himself accuse thus and defame!
Is it good to confess himself a traitor? ”

“ Know therefore that I have determined to fight a duel to the death with this traitor, who cannot refuse to fight with me, since I have designedly assaulted and insulted him in the person of his servant, and since I do at this moment insult and challenge him in his own person, branding him before God, before you and before the honest fellows who attend us, as a cowardly and despicable murderer! ”

“ The death of what is called a traitor, that is, a person who, from whatever motive, would abolish the government of the day, is as often a triumphant exhibition of suffering virtue, as the warning of a culprit. ”

“ Is it in blood that you are to dip your charter; is it in making every man of common sense despise, and every man of humanity abhor you, that you are to seek for popular good-will? Down with your weapons! The first man who dares to use them, I declare a traitor to his country! ”

“ Enter Contarini and Steno, with servants bearing torches.
Contarini
Ha! the traitor fled! But one way's open. Steno---haste---withdraw Your trusty men, and search within the walls Of yonder palace. He is proved a traitor. ”

“ President, and gentlemen,--Although, standing before you in the capacity of a private soldier, and, oh! bitter and humiliating reflection, in that most wretched and disgraceful of all situations, a suspected traitor, I am not indeed what I seem to be. ”

“ But is that man to be reputed a traitor who, when he sees the soldiers quitting the ranks, forgetting their captain, the battle, and the oath which they have taken, scattered, wandering to and fro, raises the standard, calls them back, and sets them again in order? ”

“ Will any man deny that a military character arraying himself against the constitution of his country is worthy of death? I say he is a traitor. A commander-in-chief of an army, who, on his own responsibility, puts the constitution and laws of his country at defiance, is a traitor; and, supposing the case stated at New Orleans to be correctly stated, the Commander-in-chief is as much a traitor as any other man concerned in the conspiracy. Who are these traitors? Burr & Co. ”

“ I gave you the benefit of that warning!" protested Derr.
"If there had been no traitor there would be no need of any warning," answered the captain, then his words took on a greater force of meaning—
"Brothers! comrades! there is a traitor in our midst. The repulse we met with the other night proves beyond a doubt that our most secret plans are made known to our enemies. Who, then, is this traitor? Cain't you pick him out? I know of only one person among us who would like to see the New Pike Gate still stand after all others had gone down. ”

“ This is the traitor. And when the moon comes up, stealing amidst the rustling leaves, he looks upon the cold, white face of a betrayed friend, whose last word was of confident love told to the ear of a hired assassin.
Two men are joined in a patriotic cause. To the maintenance of the principle of just freedom they pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. History will call the men who are true to this cause loyal and brave. The tyrant whom they seek to overthrow calls them conspirators. ”

“ You have considered me a traitor, but I shall be able to prove to you that you have been deceived, and to show that I may be the means of saving this town from the cruelty of a vindictive foe.”
“The man who, under the emotions of anger, seeks an enemy’s camp,” said Jugmul, “is to be suspected.” ”

“ Hard, hard. O filthy traitor! Glou. Unmerciful lady as you are, I am none. Corn. To this chair bind him. Villain, thou shalt find- [Regan plucks his beard.] Glou. By the kind gods, 'tis most ignobly done To pluck me by the beard. Reg. So white, and such a traitor! Glou. Naughty lady, These hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin Will quicken, and accuse thee. I am your host. With robber's hands my hospitable favours You should not ruffle thus. What will you do? Corn. Come, sir, what letters had you late from France? Reg. Be simple-answer'd, for we know the truth. ”

“ The true and legitimate meaning of the word treason, then, necessarily implies treachery, deceit, breach of faith. Without these, there can be no treason. A traitor is a betrayer—one who practices injury, while professing friendship. Benedict Arnold was a traitor, solely because, while professing friendship for the American cause, he attempted to injure it. An open enemy, however criminal in other respects, is no traitor. ”

“ No female traitors, no aristos beneath! The people had been fooled, hideously fooled by a traitor all the more execrable, as he had seemed one of themselves.
"Malediction! Death to the traitor!"
Aye, death indeed! The giant, whoever he might be, would have to bear a charmed life if he were to escape the maddened fury of a foiled populace. ”

“ To people of this stamp no leniency should at any time be shown, for in whatever light we may view a military plunderer, he must invariably appear to us dressed in the despicable garb of a traitor to his friends, his sovereign, and his country. ”

“ In the United States, a day on which a military company assembles for drill, especially in public.
Traitor. One who violates his allegiance and betrays his country; one guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers his country to its enemy, or any fort or place intrusted to its defense, or who surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished; or one who takes arms and levies war against his country; or one who aids an enemy in conquering his country.
Traitorous. Guilty of treason; treacherous; perfidious; faithless; as, a traitorous officer or subject. ”

“ However it may be convenient for us to like the treason, yet we must be very destitute of honour not to hate and abominate the traitor. [215] And accordingly history furnishes us with many instances of kings and great men who have punished the actors of treachery with death, though the part they acted had been so conducive to their interests as to give them a victory, or perhaps the quiet possession of a throne. Nor can princes pursue a more just maxim than this; for a traitor is a villain of no principles, that sticks at nothing to promote his own selfish ends ”

“ And the king's men pursue them fiercely, and hack and hew, and cleave, and brain them, and call the count a traitor. When he hears himself accused of treason, he flees for refuge towards his keep; and his men flee with him. And their enemies who fiercely rush after take them captive; they let not a single one escape of all those that they catch. They kill and slay so many that I do not think that more than seven reached a place of safety. When the traitors entered the keep, they are stayed at the entrance ”

“ Whoever shall presume otherwise to challenge any one and to invade him in the aforesaid manner, shall incur, by the very act, the same infamy as if no challenge had been made; and we decree that he be punished as a traitor by his judges, whoever they are, with the lawful punishments. ”

“ For though he who has found a traitor is pleased at the moment of victory by the service rendered, yet afterwards, moved by suspicion based upon the traitor's past, he hates and fears his benefactor, since he himself has in his own possession the evidences of the other's faithlessness. ”