The 48 Laws Of Power

-1’
,

LAW]

honoring

theMedicis’

greatness.

Shortly

afterthe

discovery,

heannounced

that“the

bright

stars

[the

moonsof

jupiterl

offeredthemselvesintheheav~

ens”tohis

telescope

atthesame

timeasCosimoII’senthronement.He

saidthatthenumber

ofthe

moons-—-four——harmonizedwiththenumberof

theMedicis

(Cosimo

II

hadthree

brothers)

andthatthemoonsorbitecl

Jupiter

asthesefoursonsrevolvedaroundCosimo

I,

the

dynasty’

sfounder.

Morethan

coincidence,

thisshowedthattheheavensthemselvesreflected

the

ascendancy

oftheMedici

family.

Afterhededicatedthe

discovery

to

the

Medicis,

Galileocommissionedanemblem

representingJupitersitting

onacloudwiththefourstars

circling

about

him,

and

presented

thisto

CosimoIIasa

symbol

ofhislinktothestars.

In 1610 CosimoIImadeGalileohisofficialcourt

philosopher

and

mathematician,

withafull

salary.

Forascientistthiswasthe

coup

of

a

life»

time.The

days

of

begging

for

patronage

wereover.

Interpretation

In

one

stroke,

Galileo

gained

morewithhisnew

strategy

than

he

had

in

years

of

begging.

Thereasonis

simple:

Allmasterswantto

appear

more

brilliantthanother

people.

They

donotcareaboutscienceor

empirical

tmthorthelatestinven~

tion;

they

careabouttheirnameandtheir

glory.

Galileo

gave

theMedicis

infinitely

more

glorybylinking

their

name

with

cosmicforcesthemhehad

bymaking

them

the

patrons

ofsomenewscientific

gadget

or

discovery.

Scientistsarenot

spared

the

vagaries

ofcourtlifeand

patronage.They

toomustservemasterswhoholdthe

pursestrings.

Andtheir

great

intellec-

tual

powers

canmakethemasterfeel

insecure,

asifhewere

only

thereto

supply

thefunds~—an

ugly,ignoblejob.

The

producer

ofa

great

work

wantstofeelheismorethan

just

the

provider

ofthe

financing.

Hewantsto

appear

creative

and

powerful,

andalsomore

important

thanthework

pro~

duoedinhisname.Insteadof

insecurityyou

must

give

him

glory.

Galileo

didnot

challenge

the

intellectual

authority

oftheMediciswithhisdiscov~

ery,

ormakethemfeelinferiorin

anyway;byliterallyaligning

themwith

the

stars,

he

made

themshine

brilliantlyamong

thecourts

of

Italy.

Hedid

notoutshinethe

master,

hemadethemasteroutshineallothers.

KEYSTOPOWER

Everyone

has

insecurities.When

you

show

yourself

in

theworldanddis-

play

your

talents,

younaturally

stir

up

all

kinds

of

resentment,

envy,

and

othermanifestationsof

insecurity.

Thisistobe

expected.

Youcannot

spend

your

life

worrying

aboutthe

petty

feelings

ofothers.Withthoseabove

you,

however,

you

must

takeadifferent

approach:

Whenitcomesto

power,

outshining

themaster

is

perhaps

theworst

mistakeofall.

Donotfool

yourself

into

thinking

thatlifehas

changed

muchsincethe

days

ofLouisXIVandtheMedicis.Thosewhoattain

highstanding

inlife

arelike

kings

and

queens:They

wanttofeelsecureintheir

positions,

and