The dispute between the two families might have been resolved if the * disputed section of land had not been so immense police had enforced the law Znaeyms had accepted a court's decision von Gradwitzes had taken the matter to court

lucifer has only once face

the verbal in this sentence is an infinitive. when you want to know the reason of an action, you simply ask the question "why? ". once you know the reason you can answer with "because".

many times we don´t use the word "because" but we can use another expression and that is an "infinitive of purpose". example:

-why did your brother bring a book?

-he brought a book to study.

in the answer above you can see an example of an infinitive sentence, just like in the example of your text. "he couldn´t run fast enough to beat his older sister". so, the answer is infinitive.