Laudator Temporis Acti

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Reflections on the Revolution in France, in his Works, Vol. IV (London: Francis & John Rivington, 1852), p. 229:

To avoid therefore the evils of inconstancy and versatility, ten thousand times worse than those of obstinacy and the blindest prejudice, we have consecrated the State, that no man should approach to look into defects or corruptions but with due caution; that he should never dream of beginning its reformation by its subversion; that he should approach to the faults of the State as to the wounds of a father, with pious awe and trembling solicitude. By this wise prejudice we are taught to look with horror on those children of their country who are prompt rashly to hack that aged parent in pieces, and put him into the kettle of magicians, in hopes that by their poisonous weeds, and wild incantations, they may regenerate the paternal constitution, and renovate their father's life.

John Lempriere, Bibliotheca Classica; or, A Classical Dictionary, Containing a full Account of all the Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors (Reading: Printed for T. Cadell, 1788), entry for Pelias:

While Jason was absent in the Argonautic expedition, Pelias murdered Æson and all his family; but, according to the more received opinion of Ovid, Æson was still living when the Argonauts returned, and he was restored to the flower of youth by the magic of Medea. This change in the vigour and the constitution of Æson astonished all the inhabitants of Iolchos; and the daughters of Pelias, who have received the patronymic of Peliades, expressed their desire to see their father's infirmities vanish by the same powerful magic. Medea, who wished to avenge the injuries which her husband Jason had received from Pelias, raised the desires of the Peliades, by cutting an old ram to pieces, and boiling the flesh in a cauldron, and then turning it into a fine young lamb. After they had seen this successful experiment, the Peliades cut their father's body to pieces, after they had drawn all the blood from his veins, on the assurance that Medea would replenish them by her wonderful power. The limbs were immediately put into a cauldron of boiling water; but Medea suffered the flesh to be totally consumed, and refused to give the promised assistance, and the bones of Pelias did not even receive a burial.