The 48 Laws Of Power

92,

LAWl2

beenfloodedwithavastamountof

phony

stockcertificatesforthecom»

party.

Hestoodtoloseafortuneandtosufferalotofembarrassment.

Inthemidstofthis

crisis,

aman

namedLord

john

Gordon-Gordon

of-

feredto

help.

Gordon—Gordon,

aScottish

lord,

had

apparently

made

a

smallfortune

investing

inrailroads.

Byhiring

some

handwriting

experts

'Gordon—Gordon was ableto

prove

toGouldthatthe

culprits

forthe

phony

stockcertificateswereactu-

ally

several

top

executives

withtheErieRailroaditself.Gouldwas

grateful.

Gordon«Gordonthen

proposed

thatheandGould

join

forcesto

buyup

a

controlling

interest

in

Erie. Gould

agreed.

For

awhilethe

venture

ap-

peared

to

prosper.

Thetwomenwerenow

good

friends,

and

every

time

Gordon—Gordon cametoGould

asking

for

money

to

buy

more

stock,

Gould

gave

it to him. In

1873, however,

Gordon-Gordon

suddenly

dumped

allofhis

stock,

making

afortunebut

drasticallylowering

thevalue

ofGould’sown

holdings.

Thenhe

disappeared

from

sight.

Upon

investigation,

GouldfoundoutthatGordon-Gordon’srealname

was

johnCrowningsfield,

andthathewasthebastardsonofamerchant

SeamanandaLondonbarmaid.Therehadbeen

many

cluesbeforethen

that

Goi-donvGordon

wasa

con

man,

buthisinitialactof

honesty

and

sup

port

hadsoblindedGouldthatittookthelossofmillionsforhimtosee

through

thescheme.

A

single

actof

honesty

isoftennot

enough.

Whatis

required

isa

repu-

tationfor

honesty,

builtona.

seriesofacts-—but

thesecanbe

quite

inconse-

quential.

Oncethis

reputation

is

established,

aswithfirst

impressions,

itis

hardtoshake.

~

Inancient

China,

DukeWuof

Chéng

decideditwastimetotakeover

the

increasingly

powerfulkingdom

ofHo.

Telling

nooneofhis

plan,

he

marriedhis

daughter

toHu’sruler.Hethencalledaoouncilandaskedhis

ministers,

“Iam

considering

a

militarycampaign.

Which

country

should

we

invade?”Ashehad

expected,

oneofhis

ministers

replied,

“H11should

beinvaded.”Thedukeseemed

angry,

and

said,

“Huisasisterstatenow.

Why

do

yousuggestinvading

her?”Hehadtheministerexecutedforhis

impolitic

remark.TherulerofHuheardabout

this,

and

considering

other

tokensofWu’s

honesty

andthe

marriage

withhis

daughter,

hetookno

pre-

cautionstodefendhimselffrom

Chéng.

Afewweeks

later,

Chéng

forces

swept

through

Huandtookthe

country,

never

to

relinquish

it.

Honesty

isoneofthebest

ways

todisarmthe

wary,

butitisnotthe

only

one.

Any

kindof

noble,

apparently

selflessactwill

serve.

Perhaps

the

bestsuch

act,

though,

isoneof

generosity.

Few

people

can

resist

a

gift,

even

fromthemosthardened

enemy,

whichis

why

it

isoftenthe

perfectway

to

disarm

people.

A

giftbrings

outthechildin

us,

instantlylowering

ourdc»

lenses.

Although

weoftenviewother

people’s

actionsinthemost

cynical

light,

we

rarely

seetheMachiavellianelementofa

gift,

which

quite

often

hidesulteriormotives.

A

gift

isthe

perfectobject

inwhichto

hidea

decep—

livemove.

Overthreethousand

yearsago

theancientGreekstraveledacrossthe

seato

recapture

thebeautiful

Helen,

stolen

away

fromthem

by

Paris,

and