meaning in context - Dickens (a tale of two city, chapter 1): what do "they were awake" and "was to be atheistical and traitorous" refer to?



But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous.



In the last sentence of the passage above, "...that they were awake", who were awake and awakened from what?


In "...,was to be atheistical and traitorous", who was atheistical and traitorous? Thank you!




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