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Literary notes about omnibus (AI summary)

The word "omnibus" appears in literature with a curious duality. In some classical and scholarly writings, it functions as an adjective connoting universality or totality—as seen in Latin phrases discussing everything from justice to fate ([1], [2], [3]). Conversely, in the narrative and descriptive realms of fiction, it more often denotes a public carriage or bus, a vehicle that carries characters through busy urban landscapes and unexpected adventures. This latter usage is vividly portrayed in works that detail the bustle of city life or dramatic encounters aboard these conveyances ([4], [5], [6], [7], [8]). Thus, whether evoking all-encompassing ideas or literally transporting individuals, "omnibus" reveals a rich layering of meaning across literary genres.
  1. Omnes timent licet non omnibus idem timendi modus Aetius Tetrab.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  2. Difficile autem est, cum praestare omnibus concupieris, servare aequitatem, quae est iustitiae maxime propria.
    — from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero
  3. ad Petas. in regno Franciae omnibus scribendi datur libertas, paucis facultas.
    — from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
  4. Two light-infantrymen, who tried to lift the shattered omnibus, were slain by two shots fired from the attic.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  5. He answered: “Yes, it's quite a distance, but we will take the omnibus.”
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  6. An omnibus passed, obscuring her view; then, from the edge of the pavement, through a gap in the traffic, she saw him walking on.
    — from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. by John Galsworthy
  7. There was an omnibus passing—going into the country; the conductor thought he was wishing for a place, and stopped near the pavement.
    — from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
  8. I dare say he fell into the Seine off an omnibus and that the conductor hushed up the scandal.
    — from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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