Lord of rope and blade
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Pela força da necessidade, pois, o fidalgo se havia constituido senhor de baraço e cutello, de alta e baixa justiça dentro dos seus dominios; devemos porém declarar que vara vez tinha sido precisa a applicação dessa lei rigorosa; a severidade tinha apenas o effeito salutar de conservar a ordem, a disciplina e a harmonia.
By the force of necessity, then, the fidalgo had made himself lord of rope and blade, of high and low justice within his domains; yet we should declare that rarely had the application of that harsh law been needed: its severity had only the salutary effect of preserving order, discipline, and harmony.
By sheer necessity, then, the fidalgo had made himself lord of rope and blade, of high and low justice within his domains; yet — we should say — that harsh law was rarely needed: its severity only kept order, discipline, and harmony.
The old phrase 'lord of rope and blade' hands Dom Antônio a medieval baron's absolute power of life and death, and Alencar lets it stand at full weight before softening it — the sword is rarely drawn. The source's vara for rara is a scanner's slip we keep verbatim, a small blemish on a sentence about a rule kept almost entirely by consent.
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