{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6499",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 6499,
    "subject": "Terminus Est & Real Swords of Justice",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2013-12-31T03:05:13+00:00",
    "last": "2013-12-31T03:05:13+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<CAGoL=DCgV-6GmhGicnoZEpfg89AhBc5ChNCCwsyiyY5fWE=40A@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Matthew Keeley",
        "address": "matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2013-12-31T03:05:13+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Terminus Est & Real Swords of Justice",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "A few years ago, there was some discussion of real-life executioner's\nswords or swords of justice, with a link to an image of an executioner's\nsword from the Higgins Armory Museum collection.\n\nI live near the museum and fully intended to look at the sword in question\nand report back, but until today I never got around to it. Sad to say, the\nMuseum is ceasing operations tomorrow, and although its collection will\nstay together and will eventually make its way to the Worcester Art Museum,\nit's going to be some time before everything's on display again.\n\nSpurred by the impending closure and by guilt at neglecting such a great\nlocal cultural institution, I visited the Higgins today. I was especially\ncurious to see the sword that had been discussed here a few years back; as\nthe Higgins allows photos, I took a few pictures in the hope of passing\nthem along to Urth. The pictures turned out poorly, but, happily enough,\nthe Higgins website provides images and\ndocumentation<http://higgins.lostpapyr.us/artifacts/1996.01.3.a>\n.\n\nLike Terminus Est, this sword is very wide and lacks a pronounced \"tip.\"\nLike Terminus Est, it is a beautifully-made weapon. Unlike Terminus Est, it\nwas never designed to actually shed blood. It turns out that this sword was\nin fact designed as a symbol of state power, not an actual executioner's\ntool. The lower parts of the blade itself are gilded and ornamented, with\nan image of a winged Justice. Beneath that there's a little oval cartouche\ncontaining an inscription: \"When the poor sinner is deprived of life,/then\nhe will be placed under my hand./ When I raise the sword/may God give the\npoor sinner eternal life.\" What would Severian make of that?\n\n-Matt"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}