The 48 Laws Of Power

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Whenthe(W1)armies

/Julius

Cazamrivtmrl

Pampry’s]

werecame

intu

Plturyzllitt,

and

both

mmmpterl

Ilwre.

Pompreyistlzrmghtx

ran

thexurne

way

as

they

haddone

before,

agtumtfiglztiug.

..

.But

thosewhowereabout

himwere

grmtly(,’(mfl-

zlrmonu‘cz'ss.

.

,us

if

tlugv

hml

«I/ready

mru/uerod.

.. .The

rruvulrv

t.'.i‘/7r'<tt'all_v

were

obstinate

farfigltrtrzg,

bflmgvplerzt/izlly

armed

and

bravely

mnuntzvrl.

and

valuirtg

thmzsrelves

uponthcfine

horses

they

kept,

and

upon

theirownhandmrm"

persons.‘

asalso

upon

the

atlvunmgcof

their

numl1er\'.

forthey

were

five

Ihtmyaml

against

onethousand

of

(Trtcxtrrit.Norwerethe

number:
oftheinfamr_v

less

t1i.\[Irt)pnrtitmult'.

there

lwingforty-five

thousand

ofPompey

It

uguimt!WL’7t/‘V-(wt)

thottsunrl

uflhoenemy.

(The

mut

day]

whilst

the

infantry

wasthus

sharplyengagml

inthe

mainbattle,onthe

/tcmh

POInp4:y'.s'

horse

rode

upam,/irlemly.

and

npenerl[his

cavalry'.s'l

ranks

very

wide,

that

theymight

surroundthe
rightwing

of

Caesar.But

before

theyengaged,

Caesar's

whorlsl'll.\’h€(Ioutand

attacked

them,

anddid

notduntheir

mveltus

atatlistarm’.I1rN‘.S‘lrlh‘('

atthe

thighv

and

legs,

as

theyusually

didin

rlose

battle.

butaimerl

attlmir

frurcx.

Forthus

275
LAW 33

Interpretation

Catherinehadseen

veryearly

onthe

sway

thatamistresshasoveraman

of

power:

Herown

husband,

Henri

II,

had

kept

one

of

themostinfamous

mistressesofthem

all,

Diane

dePoitiers.WhatCatherinelearnedfromthe

experience

wasthatamanlikeherhusbandwantedtofeelhecouldwina

womanoverwithout

having

to

rely

onhis

status,

whichhehadinherited

ratherthanearned.Andsuchaneedcontaineda

huge

blind

spot:

As

long

asthewoman

began

theaffair

byacting

asifshehadbeen

conquered,

the

man

would

failto

notice

that

asdine

passed

themistresshadcometohold

power

over

him,

asDianedePoitiersdidoverHenri.ItwasCatherine’s

strategy

toturnthisweaknesstoher

advantage,using

itasa

way

to

conquer

andcontrolmen.Allshehadtodowasunleashtheloveliestwomeninthe

court,

her

“flyingsquadron,”

onmenwhomsheknew

sharedherhus«

ba.nd’s

vulnerability.

Remember.

Always

lookfor

passions

andobsessionsthatcannotbe

controlled.The

stronger

the

passion,

themorevulnerablethe

person.

This

may

seem

surprising,

for

passionatepeople

look

strong.

In

fact,however,

they

are

simplyfilling

the

stage

withtheir

theatricality,distractingpeople

fromhowweakand

helplesstheyreally

are.Aman’sneedto

conquer

women

actually

revealsatremendous

helplessness

thathasmadesuckers

outofthemforthousandsof

years.

Lookatthe

part

ofa

person

thatismost

visible—their

greed,

their

lust,

theirintensefear.Thesearetheemotions

they

cannot

conceal,

andoverwhich

they

havethe

leastcontrol.Andwhat

people

cannot

control,

you

can

controlforthem.

ObservanceIV

Arabella

Huntington,

wife ofthe

greatlate-nineteenth-century

railroad

magnate

Collis P.

Huntington,

camefromhumble

origins

and

always

struggled

forsocial

recognitionamong

her

wealthypeers.

Whenshe

gave

a

party

inherSan

Francisco

mansion,

fewofthesocialelitewouldshow

up;

mostofthemtookherfora

golddigger,

nottheirkind.Becauseofherhus-

band’sfabulous

wealth,

artdealerscourted

her,

butwithsuchcondescen-

sion

theyobviously

sawherasan

upstart.Only

onemanof

consequence

treatedher

difl’erently:

thedealer

Joseph

Duveen.

Forthefirstfew

years

ofDuveen’s

relationship

with

Arabella,

hemade

noeiforttosell

expensive

arttoher.Insteadhe

accompanied

hertofine

stores,

chatted

endlessly

about

queens

and

princesses

he

knew,

onandon.

At

last,

she

thought,

amanwhotreatedherasan

equal,

evena

superior,

in

highsociety.

Meanwhile,

ifDuveendidnot

try

tosellartto

her,

he

did

sub-

tly

educate

her

inhisaesthetic

ideas——n-amely,

thatthebestatwasthe

most

expensive

art.AndafterArabellahadsoaked

up

his

way

of

seeing

things,

Duveenwouldactasifshe

always

had

exquisite

taste,

even

though

beforeshemethimheraestheticshadbeen

abysmal.

WhenCollis

Huntington

died,

in

1900,

Arabella

cameinto

afortune.

She

suddenly

started to

buyexpensive paintings, by

Rembrandtand

Velazquez,

for

exa.rnple—andonly

fromDuveen.YearslaterDuveensold

her

Gainsb0rough’s

Blue

Boy

forthe

highestprice

ever

paid

foraworkof