The 48 Laws Of Power

hudthemewsthatthe

manwhose

n*quN,\'tfor

lll£’fltU7l£"-l.‘t1lU/t:‘(l
cloak

hehad

formerlygrati-

fied

in

Egypt

had

become

kingofl’ar.s‘t'a.

Ilehutrietltr)Sum.mt

downattheentrance
of

the

royal

palttte,

and

claimedtobeincltttled

inthe

uflivial

list

ofther

kitigkhenojatrtorx‘

The

smtry

on

guard

rqmrtcri

hisclaimto

Darius,

whoaskedin

surprise

whotheman

might

be.“For

surely,

"

he

said.

“aslhaveso

mntntly

trtmtctotha

thmne,therertmrtnthe

(1rI_V

GreekI0whomI

amimlelmzd

for

t!

service.

lltmllyanyof

themhavebeenhere

yet.

andI

certainly

canrtotremember

owinganytltirtg

toa

Greek.But

bring

him

inallthe

Xtlltlt’,

thatI

may

knowwhatho

matrix

by

thtv

rlaim.

"

The

guard

escorted

Syluson

intothe

royal

[)re.s'ence,

andwhenthe

interpreters

askedhim

whohewasandwhat

hehaddormto

justify

thestatetrterttthathe

wasthe

king

is’

lJé'V1L’ft!C-

tor,hereminder!

Darittr

nfthestoryof

the

cloak,

andsaidthat

hewasthemanwho

had

given

ithim.

“Sir,

"

exclaimed

I)ariu.r,

“you

arethe

nmst

getmroax

o

ftmw;

for

whileIwasstill(1

person

ofrm

power

or

t.‘u’nS€¢]ttenL'eyougate

me

u

prt3\‘e‘!1I—.S‘I11ttll

indeed.

but

deserving

thantn‘much

gratitude

from

measwouldthe

most

splemlnlufgtfts

today.

1 will

give

you

in

returnIVIOH’xilwrand

gold

than

you

can

mum,

that

youmay

342 LAW 40

themostillustrious

patron

oftheartsthat

history

haseverknown.Not

only

didhe

spendlavishly

on

paintings,

hecreated

Italy’s

finest

apprentice

schoolsfor

young

artists.Itwasinoneoftheseschoolsthatthe

young

Michelangelo

first

caught

theattentionof

Lorenzo,

whoinvitedtheartistto

comeandliveinhishouse.HedidthesamewithLeonardodaVinci.Once

underhis

wing,Michelangelo

andLeonardo

requited

his

generosityby

be»

comingloyal

artistsinhisstable.

WheneverLorenzofanedan

enemy,

hewouldwieldthe

weapon

of

patronage.

When

Pisa,

Florence’straditional

enemy,

threatenedtorebel

against

itin

1472,

Lorenzo

placated

its

people

bypouringmoney

intoits

university,

whichhadoncebeenits

pride

and

joy

buthad

longago

lostits

luster.ThePisanshadnodefense

against

thisinsidious

maneuver,

whichsi-

multaneously

fed

theirloveofcultureandbluntedtheirdesireforbattle.

Interpretation

Lorenzo

undoubtedly

lovedthe

arts,

buthis

patronage

ofartistshada

prac-

ticalfunctionas

well,

ofwhichhewas

keenly

aware.InFlorenceatthe

time,

banking

was

perhaps

theleastadmired

way

of

makingmoney,

and

was

certainly

nota

respected

sourceof

power.

Theartswereattheother

pole,

the

pole

of

qua.si—religious

transcendence.

Byspending

onthe

arts,

Lorenzodiluted

people’sopinions

ofthe

ugly

sourceofhis

wealth,

disguis-

ing

himselfin

nobility.

Thereisnobetteruseof

strategicgenerosity

than

thatof

distracting

attentionfroman

unsavoryreality

and

wrapping

oneself

inthemantleofartor

religion.

ObservanceIV

LouisXIVhadan

eagleeye

forthe

strategic

power

of

money.

Whenhe

cametothe

throne,

the

powerfulnobility

had

recentlyproven

a

thump

in

the

monarchy’s

side,

andseethedwith

rebelliousness.Sohe

impoverished

these

aristocrats

bymaking

them

spend

enormoussumson

maintaining

their

position

inthecourt.

Making

them

dependent

on

royallargesse

for

their

livelihood,

hehadtheminhisclaws.

NextLouis

brought

thenoblestotheirkneeswith

strategicgenerosity.

Itwouldworklikethis:

Vtlheneverhenoticed

a

stubborncourtierwhosein-

fluenceheneededto

gain,

orwhose

troublemaking

heneededto

squelch,

hewouldusehisvastwealthtosoftenthesoil.Firsthewould

ignore

hisvic-

tim,

making

themananxious.Thenthemanwould

suddenly

findthathis

sonhadbeen

given

a

well»paidpost,

or

that

fundshadbeen

spentliberally

inhishome

region,

orthathehadbeen

given

a

painting

hehad

long

cov-

eted.PresentswouldflowfromLouis’shands.

Finally,

weeksormonths

later,

Louiswouldaskforthefavorhehadneededall

along.

Amanwho

hadoncevowedtodo

anything

to

stop

the

king

wouldfindhehadlostthe

desireto

fight.

A

straightforward

bribewouldhavemadehim

rebellious;

thiswasfarmore

insidious.

Facing

hardenedearth

in

which

nothing

could

take

root,

Louis

loosenedthesoilbeforehe

planted

hisseeds.

Interpretation

Louisunderstoodthatthereisa.

deep-rooted

emotionalelementinouratti-

tudeto

money,

anelement

going

backtochildhood.

Whenwearechil-