Literary notes about salutary (AI summary)
The term “salutary” is employed in literature to denote something that is beneficial, instructive, or healthful—even if such benefit comes through hardship or strict measures. Authors invoke the word to highlight reforms or influences that lead to moral, physical, or social improvement, as when Livy envisions a catalyst for peace ([1], [2]) or Gibbon reflects on governmental policies and personal corrections that secure order and well-being ([3], [4], [5]). In other instances, it describes the remedial effect of stern advice or corrective discipline, whether in the shaping of character ([6]) or the enforcement of civic responsibility ([7], [8]). Even in more poetic or philosophical discourse—for instance, in the healing properties of a mineral spring or the compassionate benefits of moral instruction—the term underscores an imperious necessity for change ([9], [10]).
- Now you will stand with propriety and honour among the foremost to promote peace; and may you be a salutary agent in this conference.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - Those of you to whom these measures seem salutary, come on, pass over to the right."
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - He struggled with the barbarism of the first conquerors; but his salutary lessons produced a rich harvest in the second generation.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - 291 But the same salutary maxims of government, which had secured the peace and obedience of Italy were extended to the most distant conquests.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - With this salutary view, the emperor ventured on a very dangerous and doubtful step, of fixing, by legal authority, the value of corn.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - This distinguished savant, Joshua Hullas by name, was liberal-minded and exercised a salutary influence upon the boy.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein - Still more salutary is the moral part of the instruction afforded by the participation of the private citizen, if even rarely, in public functions.
— from Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill - Meanwhile the arrest and summary punishment of landlords, or their agents, who persistently violate law and decency, will have a salutary effect.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis - York was the seat of government; London was already enriched by commerce; and Bath was celebrated for the salutary effects of its medicinal waters.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - ‘Well,’ resumed she, ‘have you not observed the salutary change in Mr. Huntingdon?
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
