The 48 Laws Of Power

todeceivethan

youimagine.Falling

foraruseoften

takes

intelligence

and
imagina1J'on—-a

senseofthe

possible

rewards.Thebluntmanwill

nottakethebait
becausehedoesnot

recognize

it.Heisthatunaware.The

danger

withthismanisnotthathewillharm

you

orseek

revenge,

but

merely

that

hewillwaste

your

time,

energy,

resources,

andeven

your

san~

ity

in

trying

todeceivehim.Haveatest

ready

foramark—a

joke,

a

story.

If

hisreactionis

utterly

literal,

thisisthe

typeyou

are

dealing

with.Continue

at

your

ownrisk.

TRANSGRESSIONSOFTHELAW

Transgression

I

In the

early part

ofthe thirteenth

century,

Muhammad,

the shahof

Khwarezm,managed

after

many

warsto

forge

a

hugeempire,extending

westto

present-dayTurkey

andsouthto

Afghanistan.

The

empire’s

center

was

the

great

Asian

capital

of

Samarkand.Theshahhada

powerful,

well-

trained

army,

andcould

mobilize

200,000

waniorswithin

days.

In 1219 Muhammadreceivedan

embassy

fromanewtriballeaderto

the

east,

Genghis

Khan.The

embassy

includedallsortsof

gifts

tothe

great

Muhammad,

representing

thefinest

goods

fromKhan’s

smallbut

growing

Mongolempire.Genghis

Khanwantedto

reopen

theSilkRouteto

Europe,

andofferedtoshareitwith

Muhammad,

while

promisingpeace

between

thetwo

empires.

Muhammaddidnotknowthis

upstart

fromthe

east,who,

itseemedto

him,

was

extremelyarrogant

to

try

totalkasan

equal

to

oneso

clearly

his

superior.

He

ignored

Khan’soffer.Khantried

again:

Thistimehesenta

caravanofahundredcamelsfilledwiththerarestarticleshehad

plun-

deredfromChina. Before thecaravanreached

Muhammad,however,

Inalchik,

the

governor

ofa

region bordering

on

Samarkand,

seized it

for

himself,

andexecuteditsleaders.

'

Genghis

Khanwassure

that

thiswasamistake—thatInalchikhad

actedwithoutMuhammad’s

approval.

He sent

yet

anothermissionto

Muhammad,reiterating

hisofferand

asking

thatthe

governor

be

punished.

This

time

Muhammadhimselfhadoneoftheambassadors

beheaded,

and

sentthe

other

twobackwithshavedheads-a

horrifying

insultintheMon-

gol

codeofhonor.Khansenta

message

totheshah:“Youhavechosenwar.

Whatwill

happen

will

happen,

andwhatitistobeweknow

not;

only

God

knows.”

Mobilizing

his

forces,

in 1220 he

attackedInalchik’s

province,

whereheseized

the

capital,captured

the

governor,

andorderedhimexe-

cuted

byhaving

moltensilver

poured

intohis

eyes

andears.

Overthenext

year,

Khanled aseries of

guern‘lla~1ike campaigns

against

thesha.h’smuch

largerarmy,

Hismethodwas

totally

novel

forthe

time—hissoldierscouldmove

very

fast

on

horseback,

andhadmastered

theart

of

firing

withbowandarrowwhilemounted.The

speed

andflexi-

bility

ofhisforcesallowedhimtodeceiveMuhammadastohisintentions

andthedirectionsofhismovements.

Eventually

he

managed

firsttosur-

prison,

and

putAguirre

on

thebeast.

. ..
The

beastwardriven

on,

andhereceiver!the

l£15llt’..X.

.

.

W'l1en

freed.Aguirre

announcedhisintarr

/ion

0_/‘killing

the

offi-

cialwholmzlSt’Ilf€I1C(’(l

him,

thealcaldri

Esquivel,Esquiuelly

term

nfoffirel’X[7Ir£?(l

and

he/led

to

Lima,

threelmmlred

tweruy

leaguesaway,

but

within

/ifrcen

days

Aguirre

hm]mzvkezl

him

there.

Theft-ighr

melt

judgei()IlI‘ll€_W:'(l

tn

Quim,

a

Iripoffour

/zmzdred

l€agN€.\‘,

andin

twentydaysAguirre

arn'w=d.

“When

Erquivul

/ward

of

his

presemr,

”

rurconlirig

In

Gzzrcilaso,

“hemade

anotl1t>r}'()ur-

myuffiw:

humlreil

leagues

tn

Cuzco;

but

ina

fewdaysAguirre

also

arrived,liming

tmvcllrcrlon

foot

and

William‘

.sI1oc.\‘,

saying

that(1

Wllipped

man

has‘nol)u.sir1¢r.s,\‘torirlc

u

h()P‘.Yt’.,

orto

go

where

hewouldbesezrtz

by

01/mrs.Inthis

way,

/iguzrrrfnllowmi

his

judgefor

three

years.

and/our

Inmztlls."

Wcaryingof

the

pur.s'uz'I,Esquire]

remainedat

Cu.'./so,

:2

citymr1erIzlygoverr:.ezI

/hat

lzefclt

hewould

be

safefrom

A

gufrre.

He

looka

housenear/he

rnrlmdralandnever

\’€I’ltll7'(,’£loutdnorr

wirlwul

a

swan!and(1

dagger.

“llnwevcr.

ona

('£’l'l£llnM

omlay,

ut

mum.

Aguirre

entered

his

lwu.\‘(.',

and

having

walkedalloverii.and

having

rrawtr.redu

corridor.

:1

mloon,

(2

L'lzurnber.mn1aninner

LAWI9 139