The 48 Laws Of Power

they

havehaddire

consequences,especially

in

dealings

withtheCastruc

ciosoftheworld.Stefanoknewthatthe
prince

hadrisento

powerthrough

treachery

andruthlessness.Thiswasa

man,

after

all,

whohad

put

aclose

anddevotedfriendtodeath.WhenCastrucciowastoldthatithadbeena

terrible
wrong

tokill

suchanold

friend,

he

replied

that

hehadexecuted

notanoldfriendbutanew
enemy.

AmanlikeCastruccioknows

only

forceandself—interest.Whenthere-

bellion

began,

toenditand

place

oneself

athis

mercy

wasthemostdan—

gerouspossible

move.EvenonceStefanodi

Poggio

hadmadethatfatal

mistake,however,
hestillhad

options:

He

could

haveoffered

money

to

Castruccio,

couldhavemade

promises

forthe

future,

couldhave

pointed

outwhatthe

Poggios

couldstillcontributetoCastruccio’s

power-their

in-

fluence
withthemostinfluentialfamiliesof
Rome,

for

example,

andthe

greatmarriagethey

couldhavebrokered.

InsteadStefano

broughtup

the

past,

anddebtsthatcarriedno

obliga-

tion.Not

only

isamannot

obliged

tobe

grateful,gratitude

isoftenaterri-

bleburdenthathe

gladly

discards.AndinthiscaseCastruccioridhimself

ofhis

obligations

tothe

Poggiosbyeliminating

the

Poggios.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

In4-33
B.C.,
just

beforethe

Peloponnesian

War,

theislandof

Corcyra

(later

called

Corfu)

andtheGreek

city~state

of

Corinth

stoodonthebrinkofcon-

flict.Both

parties

sentambassadorstoAthensto

try

towinovertheAtheni~

anstotheirside.Thestakeswere

high,

sincewhoeverhadAthensonhis

sidewassuretowin.Andwhoeverwonthewarwould

certainlygive

the

defeatedsideno
mercy.

Corcyraspoke

first.Itsambassador

beganbyadmitting

thattheisland

had
never

helped

Athens

before,

and

in

facthad

allieditselfwithAthens’s

enemies.Therewerenotiesof

friendship

or

gratitude

between

Corcyra

andAthens.

Yes,

theambassador

achnitted,

hehadcometoAthensnow

outoffearandconcernfor

Corcyra’ssafety.

The

onlything

hecouldoffer

wasan

alliance

ofmutualinterests.

Corcyra

hada

navyonlysurpassed

in

sizeand

strength by

Athens’s

own;

an

alliance

betweenthetwo

states

wouldcreateaformidable

force,

onethatcouldintimidatetherivalstateof

Sparta.

That,

unfortunately,

wasall

Oorcyra

hadtooffer.

The

representative

from Corinththen

gave

a

brilliant,

passionate

speech,

in

sharp

contrasttothe

dry,

colorless

approach

ofthe

Corcyran.

Hetalkedof

everything

Corinth

had

done

for

Athens

inthe

past.

He

asked

how

it

wouldlooktoAthens’sotherallies

if

the

cityput

an

agreement

with

aformer

enemy

overonewith a

present

friend,

onethathadserved

Athens’sinterest

loyally:Perhaps

thoseallieswouldbreaktheir

agreements

withAthensif

they

sawthattheir

loyalty

wasnotvalued.

Hereferred

to

Hellenic

law,

andthe

needto

repay

Corinthforallits

good

deeds.Hefi-

nally

wentontolistthe

many

servicesCorinthhad

performed

for

Athens,

andthe

importance

of

showing

gratitude

toone’sfriends.

Afterthe

speech,

theAtheniansdebatedtheissueinan

assembly.

On

Mostmenaresothor-

oughlyxubjeciive

that

nothing

really

intermls

zhembu!1hmn.reIw.v.

T/zr,-yalways

think

of

theirowncasnatman

as(war

any

remarkis

made,andtheirwhole

auenukmis

erzgrmxscd

andabvorbedb

y

the

Inerestclmnre

rr:fr:r-

mureto

anything

which

uffct/s

them

personally,

beitneversorcrnoze.

/\R1‘liUR

S(:xmm«‘r~:uALrr-.12.

l7XX—l8tI(l

LAWI3 97