The 48 Laws Of Power

9
LAW 1

TRANSCRESSIONOFTHELAW

Nicolas

Fouquet,

LouisXIV’sfinanceminister

in

thefirst

years

ofhis

reign,

wasa

generous

manwholovedlavish

parties,pretty

women,

and

poetry.

Healsoloved

money,

forheledan

extravagantlifestyle.Fouquet

was

cleverand

very

much

indispensable

tothe

king,

sowhenthe

prime

mim's—

ter,

Jules

Mazarin, died,

in

1661,

the finance minister

expected

tobe

namedthesuccessor.

Instead,

the

king

decidedtoabolishthe

position.

This

andother

signs

made

Fouquetsuspect

thathewas

falling

outof

favor,

and

sohedecidedto

ingraliate

himselfwiththe

kingbystaging

themost

spec-

tacular

party

theworldhadeverseen.The

party’s

ostensible

purpose

wouldbetocommemoratethe

completion

of

Fouquet’s

chateau,

Vaux—le-

Vicomte,

butitsrealfunctionwasto

pay

tributetothe

king,

the

guest

of

honor.

Themostbrilliant

nobility

of

Europe

andsomeofthe

greatest

minds

ofthe Iime—La

Fontaine,

La

Rochefoucauld,

Madame de

Sévigné—

attendedthe

party.

Molierewrote a

play

forthe

occasion,

in

which he

himselfwas

to

perform

at

the

evening’s

conclusion.The

partybegan

witha

lavishseven—course

dinner,

featuring

foods fromtheOrient neverbe-

foretastedin

France,

aswellasnewdishescreated

especially

forthe

night.

The mealwas

accompanied

withmusic

commissioned

by Fouquet

to

honorthe

king.

Afterdinnertherewasa

promenadethrough

thechateau’s

gardens.

The

grounds

andfountainsofVaux—le»Vicomteweretobethe

inspiration

forVersailles.

Fouquetpersonallyaccompanied

the

youngkingthrough

the

geomet-

ricallyalignedarrangements

of

shrubbery

andflowerbeds.

Arriving

atthe

gardens’

canals,

they

witnessedafireworks

display,

whichwasfollowed

by

the

performance

ofMoliere’s

play.

The

party

ranwellintothe

night

and

everyoneagreed

itwasthemost

amazing

affair

they

hadeverattended.

Thenext

day,Fouquet

wasarrested

by

the

king’s

head

musketeer,

D’Artagna.n.

Threemonthslaterhewent

on

trialfor

stealing

from

the

country’streasury.(Actually,

mostofthe

stealing

hewasaccusedofhehad

doneonthe

kings

behalfandwiththe

king’spermission.)Fouquet

was

found

guilty

andsenttothemostisolated

prison

in

France,

high

inthe

Pyrenees

Mountains,

wherehe

spent

thelast

twentyyears

ofhislifeinsoli-

tary

confinement.

Interpretation

Louis

XIV,

theSun

King,

wasa

proud

and

arrogant

manwhowantedtobe

thecenterofattention

at

all

times;

hecouldnotcountenance

being

out-

done

in

lavishness

byanyone,

and

certainly

nothisfinanceminister.To

succeed

Fouquet,

Louischose

_]ean—Baptiste

Colbert,

amanfamousforhis

parsimony

andfor

giving

thedullest

parties

inParis.Colbertmadesure

that

anymoney

liberated fromthe

treasury

went

straight

into Louis’s

hands.Withthe

money,

Louisbuilt

a

palace

evenmore

magnificent

than

Fouquet’s—thegloriouspalace

ofVersailles.Heusedthesame

architects,