From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Phrase.
A compressed phrase for the material force and legal institutions through which power is founded. Trubert contrasts these with shouting while coughing blood and returning to correspondence. Fer is figurative for armed or military means here; the line is not a metallurgical claim or evidence that he rejects law in favour of violence alone.
Places to read
- Chapter IX, paragraph 35Frenchavec du fer et des lois: With iron and laws. Trubert specifies both material force and law as the alternative to shouting.