“This principle is old, but true as fate,—
Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate.”

The Honest Whore (1604), Part i, Act iv. Sc. 4.
Compare: "Cæsar said he loved the treason, but hated the traitor", Plutarch, Life of Romulus.
Compare: "treason is loved of many, but the Traitor hated of all", Robert Greene, Pandosto (1588).

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Thomas Dekker photo
Thomas Dekker 19
English dramatist and pamphleteer 1572–1632

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“Ah Franion, treason is loved of many, but the Traitor hated of all: unjust offences may for a time escape without danger, but never without revenge.”

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Compare: "Cæsar said he loved the treason, but hated the traitor", Plutarch, Life of Romulus.
Compare: "This principle is old, but true as fate,—
Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate." Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore (1604).

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