He is the ruler of Verona, and not an effective one, as three brawls between these rival families have broken out on his watch ("Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word"). We can take "airy word" to mean these fights start over nothing, and have escalated quickly. As he finishes admonishing the families for fighting, he warns them "your lives will pay the forfeit" if there is one more brawl. But later, after Romeo kills Tybalt, Escalus banishes him instead of killing him ("We presume to stop the continued family once again").
When he gets what he wants (an end to the fighting), it comes at a great cost. Consider his last words...
A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
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