This cannot be taken literally, IMHO.. It's likely a paraphased quote made by Jacques Mallet du Pan (1749-1800), a Genevan political journalist, thinker and counter-revolutionary reformer.

After the French Revolution, as a reaction to the attrocities of the Girondins towards both bourgeoise men, as well as their own, he wrote a widely circulated essay Considérations sur la nature de la Révolution de France, et sur les causes qui en prolongent la durée. In this work he coined the adage "A l'exemple de Saturne, la révolution dévore ses enfants" ("Just like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children").

This phrase is often used in the situations, when the same people who started the revolution begin to fight each other for power, the same techniques that were used to justify the reason of imprisoning and killing the former rulers are now used for the killing of members of the revolution that have different ideas on how to run the country.