The 48 Laws Of Power

Down,onhis

luck,[the

S(3l‘e(?flWflf(<‘Y]

Mirrhuel

Arlmwmtto/Vow

Yorkin1944.T2)drown

l1is.s'¢2rrow.s‘

he

paid

11

VlSlItothe

famous

restaurant“2I."Inthe

lobby,

heranintoSam

Goldwyn,

who

offered

Ihc
somewhat
impracti-

caladvicethathe

should

buy

mcelzorsex

A!

the

box./irienmet

Louis8.

Mayer.

anold

acquaintance,

who

askedhimwhatwere

his
plansfor

the

future.

‘‘Iwas

justtalking

to

Sam

Goldwyn

..

began

Arlen.

"How

muchdidhe

offer

you?

"

ziiterruptcd

Mayer.

“Not

enough,"

he

replied

evusively.

“Would
you

take

fifteen

ihousami

forthirty

wt-ek5?”uskcd

Mayer.

Nohesitationthistime.

“Yes

"

saidArlen.

rm:

urns,

snows

300KorANF.(‘D(}TES.

CLIFTONFADIMAN.

Fan, 1985

Om’

oft-will

taleabout

Kissinger

...

involveda

report

that

l'VimrtrmLordhad

worked‘on

fordays.

Afitergiving

itto

Kissinger,

he

got

it

baclcwiththe

notation,

“Isthisthebest

you

canIla?”Lordrowrote

and

polLx'l2ez1

and

finally

I’(<‘SMlNYliI!(¢(.l

it,‘

back 11 camewiththe

samecurl

question.

Afterrellmfting

it

one

more

n'me—and

once

againgetting

thesame

32 LAW 4

TRANSGRESSIONOFTHELAW

Gnaeus

Marcius,

alsoknown

as

Coriolanus,

wasa

greatmilitary

hero

of

ancientRome.Inthefirsthalfofthefifth

century

B.C.hewon

manyimpor-

tant

battles,

saving

the

city

from

calamity

timeandtime

again.

Becausehe

spent

mostofhistimeonthe

battlefield,

fewRomansknewhim

personally,

making

him

something

ofa

legendaryfigure.

In 454

B.C.,

Coriolanusdecideditwastimeto

exploit

his

reputation

andenter

politics.

He

stood

for

election

to

the

high

rank

of

consul.

Candi—

datesforthis

position

traditionally

madea

public

address

early

inthe

race,

andwhenCoriolanuscamebeforethe

people,

he

beganbydisplaying

the

dozensofscarshehadaccumulatedover

seventeen

years

of

fighting

for

Rome.

Fewin

the

crowd

really

heardthe

lengthyspeech

that

followed;

those

scars,

proof

ofhis

valorand

patriotism,

movedthe

people

to

tears.

Coriola.nus’selectionseemedcertain.

Whenthe

pollingday

arrived,

however,

Coriolanusmadean

entry

intotheforumescorted

by

theentiresenateand

by

the

city’spatricians,

the

aristocracy.

Thecommon

people

whosawthisweredisturbed

by

such

a

blustering

showofconfidenceonelection

day.

AndthenCoriolanus

spokeagain,mostlyaddressing

the

wealthy

citi-

zenswhohad

accompanied

him.Hiswordswere

arrogant

andinsolent.

Claiming

certain

victory

inthe

vote,

heboastedofhisbattlefield

exploits,

madesour

jokes

that

appealedonly

to

the

patricians,

voiced

angry

accuser»

tions

against

his

opponents,

and

speculated

onthericheshewould

bring

to

Rome.Thistimethe

people

listened:

They

hadnotrealizedthatthis

leg-

endary

soldierwasalsoacommon

braggart.

NewsofCoriolanus’ssecond

speechspreadquicklythrough

Rome,

andthe

people

turnedoutin

great

numberstomakesurehewasnot

elected.

Defeated,

Coriolanusreturnedtothe

battlefield,

bitterand

vowing

revenge

onthecommonfolkwhohadvoted

against

him.Someweekslater

a

large

shipment

of

grain

arrivedinRome.Thesenatewas

ready

todistrib~

utethisfoodtothe

people,

for

free,

but

just

as

they

were

preparing

tovote

onthe

question

Coriolanus

appeared

onthe

scene

andtookthe

senate

floor.The

distribution,

he

argued,

would

havea.harmful

effectonthe

city

asawhole.Severalsenators

appeared

won

over,

andthevoteonthedistri-

butionfellintodoubt.Coiiolanusdidnot

stop

there:Hewentontocon—

demothe

concept

of

democracy

itself.Headvocated

getting

ridofthe

people’srepresen!atives—the

tribunes-—-and

turning

over

the

governing

of

the

city

tothe

patricians.

WhenwordofCoriolanus’slatest

speech

reachedthe

people,

their

anger

knewnobounds.Thetribunesweresenttothesenatetodemand

thatCoriolanus

appear

beforethem.Herefused.Riotsbrokeoutallover

the

city.

The

senate,

fearing

the

people’s

wrath,

finally

votedinfavorofthe

grain

distribution.

The

tribunes

were

appeased,

butthe

people

stilldo

mandedthatCoriolanus

speak

tothemand

apologize.

Ifhe

repented,

and

agreed

to

keep

his

opinions

to

himself,

hewouldbeallowedtoreturnto

thebattlefield.

Coriolanusdid

appear

onelast

timebeforethe

people,

wholistened

to