User blog comment:Wass12/Translatation Help 7 (and a weird phenomenon)/@comment-1401334-20111204001310

This is a late reply, but I can give a little more perspective on the third idiom, "to weigh, to measure, and to *cut*".

In Greek mythology there was a group of three beings known as The Fates: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. They had the power to spin, measure, and cut the thread of each man's life, thus determining how long he would live. The Fates were very powerful, since they controlled even the life and death of gods. This idea of being all-powerful relates to the earlier part of the quote: "the whole of creation is held in the relative, sun and moon revolve for him alone", since the tyrants believe they have god-like power over everything.