The 48 Laws Of Power

l’II|‘

>l.t_)l

I‘(Ii4)!‘

l\{l)\‘i—|:\\\||\\|‘|U\J

Inall

your

L.'F0.\'.V-

r.mmimir1rm.s'. ..,mm‘:

impmmmn/all.

letme

rr»/war

Ihe

mjtmcliun

In

heeveron/heulerl

for

a

good/7]Il(,’[’

In

xnlp.

Nor/ting

amhemore

tmpnrlzim

thantoclose

your

e.rmmImn'(mwill;

.1

mum,/wh.

So

many

Iuw_\'z'r.s'

murder]in

(‘arc/ting

uwitrzersin 11

Seriouscrmrrzldictiori;

lmt,

rm!

saris/ierl

with

this:

go

on

askingqmI.\'—

(ions.and

layeroff

theire.t41rr1inaIiununtil

the

effectupon

(he

fury

oftlzrirfornmr

arivmie

(age

islost

u/Iugctlwr.

TH}:/nu‘or(‘Ross-

I.-.‘(»\MIN/\l'l()‘~£.

FRANCISL,WI-1LMAN.

l‘)l3

PHI‘,(HIfllilth\t2l|l\tl

t1l5\|‘}l(r\|

Wermd

ofmany

In.»mm‘e‘.\'

of

this

kimi,

/‘urthe

general

who

by

hisvalorImx

(,‘()I1([ll6I‘erI

utlalvz

for

/ziyrnuslw‘,andwon

greatglowfor

himsel

f

by

his

victory

overthe

enemy,

andhasloaded

hissoldierswithrich

Imnty,m’t[uirF.\'

m?1'¢'\‘—

sarily

withhisown

wldicrs,aswelluswith

[/1038

nflheL’Il(’IIl)'

and

withthe

vulajnrrsufllw

prirxng

rohig/1

u

n77u—

mlirm.thathis‘

very

wrturymay

lmcurm»

distmveful,

andul‘lllIXAf

forapprc/misimz

Inhis

[7I‘lIl(,‘t’.

Forasthe

41.? LAW 47

humiliation,

andsohekilledhimself.

The

newsof

herson’s

death

over»

whelmed

Tomyris.

She

gathered

alltheforcesthatshecouldmusterinher

kingdom,

and

whipping

themintoa

vengefulfrenzy,engaged Qrms’s

troops

inaviolentand

bloody

battle.

Finally,

the

Massagetaiprevailed.

In

their

angerthey

decimatedthePersian

army,killingCyrus

himself.

Afterthe

battle,

Tomyris

andhersoldierssearchedthebattlefieldfor

Cyrus’s

corpse.

Whenshefounditshecutolfhisheadandshoveditintoa

wineskinfullofhuman

blood,

crying

out,

“Though

Ihave

conqueredyou

and

live,

yetyou

haveruined

me

bytreacherouslytakingmy

son.See

now--Ifulfill

my

threat:Youhave

your

fillofblood.”After

Cyrus’s

death,

thePersian

Empirequickly

unraveled.Oneactof

arrogance

undidallof

Cyrus’sgood

work.

Interpretation

Thereis

nothing

more

intoxicating

than

victory,

and

nothing

moredan-

gerous.

Cyrus

hadbuilthis

greatempire

ontheruinsofa

previous

one.Ahun-

dred

years

earlier,

the

powerfulAssyrianEmpire

hadbeen

totally

de«

stroyed,

itsonce

splendidcapital

ofNinevehbutruinsinthesand.The

Assyrians

hadsufferedthisfatebecause

they

had

pushed

too

far,

destroy-

ing

one

city-state

afteranotheruntil

they

lost

sight

ofthe

purposes

oftheir

victories,

andalsoofthecosts.

They

overextendedthemselvesandmade

many

enemieswhowere

finally

abletoband

together

and

destroy

them.

Cyrusignored

thelessonof

Assyria.

He

paid

noheed

tothe

warnings

of

oraclesandadvisers.He

did

not

worry

about

offending

a

queen.

His

many

victorieshad

gone

tohis

head,

clouding

hisreason.Insteadofcon-

solidating

his

already

vast

empire,

he

pushed

forward.Insteadof

recogniz-

ing

eachsituationas

different,

he

thought

eachnewwarwould

bring

the

sameresultasthe onebeforeas

long

asheusedthemethodsheknew:

ruthlessforceand

cunning.

Understand:Intherealmof

power,you

mustbe

guidedby

reason.To

leta

momentary

thrilloran emotional

victory

influenceor

guide

your

moves

will

prove

fatal.

When

you

attain

success,

step

back.Becautious.

When

yougainvictory,

understandthe

partplayedby

the

particular

cir-

cumstancesofa

situation,

andnever

simplyrepeat

the

sameactions

again

and

again.History

islitteredwiththeminsofvictorious

empires

andthe

corpses

ofleaderswhocouldnotlearnto

stop

andconsolidatetheir

gains.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

No

single

person

in

history

has

occupied

amoredelicateand

precarious

position

thanthe

kings

mistress.Shehadnorealor

legitimatepower

base

tofallbackonintimesof

trouble‘,

shewassurrounded

bypacks

ofenvious

courtiers

eagerlyanticipating

herfallfrom

grace;

and

finally,

sincethe

sourceofher

power

was

usually

her

physicalbeauty,

formost

royal

mis-

tressesthatfallwasinevitableand

unpleasant.