The 48 Laws Of Power

1.()Rl~.\‘/.0llli‘\l!-ZDIIII

f~l"l)lill-"hT339"1’(ll’l~'

l.urwi:u

[1l1¢'.’Vl¢3di1'i/

(or!rm

up/mrtunilyof

im,‘rva.w‘in;:

I/Le

Il’.\‘pl’(‘l

which

Pup?

Imxnrwm

now

felifm

himand

of

gaming

his

friem1.vhip,

z‘j'pu.s:»*ii:Ie

his

a/]’eczz‘un.

He

tank

thetroubletr»

Aisuzvtrr1/11’

Pope

iv

tt1Stt’Sand

nrululgml

(hem

uccunlingly.

He

remham...u1.sks'

of

Izirfuvourirc

wine....

Ht:

remhim(i0!iF!1?(Ili_\'.

flazterilzg

lettersin

whichhf’assured

him,

whenIhe

Pope

mm‘

ill,

thathe

[all

his

.mj]'er-

ing.\

as

lhough

they

were}1i.\‘nwn.inwhich

he

enctoumgvri

hull

with.\'m‘h

forlzfying

flaremmtsas“:1

Pope

iswhathe

willyto

be,"

andin

which,

as

thoughimvdenmlly,

he

im:/mlr*a’

his

views

on

the

proper

course

of

pupalpolicies.
Innocmt

war

gralzfiedIvy

Lqirerzzrfs

azleniérlns

andconvinced

by

his

argumenrx

...So

cmnpleiely,

mdeed.

did

he(mileto.\‘/tarehis

opinionsthat,

asthe

dixgnmrlerl

F«*rrar«'.w>

mnI)u.\:smlor

put

it,

“/he

Pupw.\'[H*,]1.v

with

the

eyesnftheMagnifi-

remLorenz:

'

iur.mum:

or‘,\Al,-tum.

UsRIM:rumFALL.

CnR|5'H)PuERHmmzm.

I980

38.? LAW 44

cibiacleswhoarrivedin

Sparta

wasnotatallwhat

they

expected:

Hewore

hishairuntfimmed

(astheydid),

tookcold

baths,

atecoarsebreadand

black

broth,

andwore

simple

clothes.Tothe

Spartans

this

signified

thathe

hadcometoseetheir

way

oflifeas

superior

tothe

Athenian;

greater

than

they

were,

hehadchosentobea

Spartan

ratherthan

being

born

one,

and

should

thusbehonoredabove

allothers.

They

fellunderhis

spell

and

gave

him

greatpowers.Unfortunately

Alcibiades

rarely

knewhow to

reininhischa.rm—he

managed

toseducethe

king

of

Spaxtafs

wifeand

makeher

pregnant.

Whenthisbecame

public

heoncemorehadtoflee

forhislife.

Thistime

Alcibiades

defectedto

Persia,

wherehe

suddenly

wentfrom

Spartansimplicity

to

embracing

thelavishPersian

lifestyle

downtothelast

detail.Itwasofcourse

immenselyflattering

tothePersianstoseeaGreek

ofAlcibiades’stature

prefer

theircultureoverhis

own,

and

they

showered

himwith

honors,

land,

and

power.

Onceseduced

by

the

mirror,

they

failed

tonoticethatbehindthisshieldAlcibiadeswas

playing

adouble

game,

se-

cretlyhelping

theAthenians

in

theirwarwith

Sparta

andthus

reingrafiab

ing

himselfwiththe

city

towhichhe

desperately

wantedto

remm,

and

whichwelcomedhimbackwith

open

armsin 408 B.C.

Interpretation

Early

inhis

political

career,

Alcibiadesmadea

discovery

that

changed

his

whole

approach

to

power:

Hehad

a

colorfulandforceful

personality,

but

whenhe

argued

hisideas

strongly

withother

people

hewouldwinovera

fewwhileatthesametime

alienatingmany

more.Thesecretto

gaining

as»

cendancy

over

large

numbers,

hecameto

believe,

wasnotto

impose

his

colorsbuttoabsorb

thecolorsofthosearound

him,

likeachameleon.

Once

people

fell

for

the

trick,

the

decepfions

he

wentonto

practice

would

beinvisibletothem.

Understand:

Everyone

is

wrappedup

intheirownnarcissisticshell.

When

youtry

to

imposeyour

own

ego

on

them,

awall

goesup,

resistance

isincreased.

Bymirroring

them,however,

you

seducetheminto

a

kindof

narcissistic

rapture:They

are

gazing

atadoubleoftheirownsoul.This

doubleis

actually

manufactured

in

its

entiretybyyou.

Once

you

haveused

themirrortoseduce

them,

you

have

great

power

overthem.

Itisworth

noting,

however,

the

dangers

inthe

promiscuous

use

ofthe

mirror.In

Alcibiades’

presencepeople

felt

larger,

asiftheir

egos

had

been

doubled.Butoncehe

left,

they

felt

empty

and

diminished,

andwhen

they

sawhim

mirroringcompletely

different

people

as

totally

ashehadmir-

rored

them,

they

feltnot

just

diminishedbut

betrayed.

Alcibiades’overuse

oftheMirrorEffectmadewhole

peoples

feel

used,

sothathe

constantly

hadtofleefromone

place

toanother.indeedAlcibiadesso

angered

the

Spartans

that

theyfinally

had

him

murdered.Hehad

gone

Loofar.TheSe-

ducer’sMirrormustbeusedwithcautionanddiscrimination.

ObservanceIII

In 1652 the

recently

widowedBaronessMancinimovedher

family

from

Rometo

Paris,

whereshecould

counton

theinfluenceand

protection

of