The 48 Laws Of Power

118 LAW 16

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

For

many

centuries

the

Assyrians

ruled

upper

Asiawithanironfist.Inthe

eighthcentury

B.C.,however,

the

people

of

Medea

(now

northwestern

Iran)

revolted

against

them,

and

finally

brokefree.NowtheMedeshadto

establishanew

government.

Determinedtoavoid

any

formof

despotism,

they

refusedto

give

ultimate

power

to

any

one

man,

ortoestablisha

monarchy.

Withouta

leader,however,

the

country

soonfellinto

chaos,

andfracturedintosmall

kingdoms,

with

villagefightingagainstvillage.

Inonesuch

village

livedamannamed

Deioces,

who

began

tomakea

nameforhimselfforfair

dealing

andthe

ability

tosettle

disputes.

Hedidthisso

successfully,

in

fact,

thatsoon

anylegal

conflictinthe

area

was

brought

to

him,

andhis

power

increased.

Throughout

the

land,

thelawhadfalleninto

disrepute-——thejudges

were

corrupt,

andnooneen-

trustedtheircasestothecourts

any

more,

resorting

toviolenceinstead.

Whennews

spread

ofDeioces’

wisdom,

incormptibility,

andunshakable

impartiality,

Medean

villages

farandwideturnedtohimtosettleallman-

nerofcases.Soonhebecamethesolearbiterof

justice

intheland.

Atthe

height

ofhis

power,

Deioces

suddenly

decidedhehadhad

enough.

Hewould

no

longer

sitinthechairof

judgment,

wouldhearno

more

suits,

settlenomore

disputes

betweenbrotherand

brother,

village

and

village.Complaining

thathewas

spending

somuchtime

dealing

with

other

people’sproblems

thathehad

neglected

hisown

affairs,

heretired.

The

country

once

again

descended

intochaos.With thesuddenwith-

drawal

of

a

powerful

arbiterlike

Deioces,

crime

increased,

and

contempt

forthelawwasnever

greater.

The

Medeshelda

meeting

ofallthe

villages

todecidehowto

get

outoftheir

predicament.

“Wecannotcontinuetolive

inthis

country

underthese

conditions,”

saidonetriballeader.“Letus

ap-

point

oneofournumbertorulesothatwecanliveunder

orderlygovern-

ment,

ratherthan

losing

ourhomes

altogether

inthe

present

chaos.”

And

so,

despite

allthattheMedeshad

suffered

under

the

Assyrian

des-

potism,they

decidedtoset

up

a

monarchy

andnamea

king.

Andtheman

they

mostwantedto

rule,

of

course,

wasthefair-mindedDeioces.Hewas

hardto

convince,

forhewanted

nothing

moretodowiththe

villages’

in-

fighting

and

bickering,

butthe

Medes

begged

and

pleaded—without

himthe

country

haddescendedintoastateoflawlessness.Deioces

finallyagreed.

Yethealso

imposed

conditions.Anenormous

palace

wastobecon-

structedfor

him,

hewastobe

provided

with

bodyguards,

anda

capitalcity

wastobebuiltfromwhichhecouldrule.Allofthiswas

done,

andDeioces

settledinto

his

palace.

In

thecenter

ofthe

capital,

the

palace

wassur-

rounded

by

walls,

and

completely

inaccessible

to

ordinarypeople.

Deioces

thenestablishedthetermsofhisrule:Admissiontohis

presence

wasfor-

bidden.Communicationwiththe

king

was

onlypossible

through

messen-

gers.

Nooneinthe

royal

courtcouldseehimmorethanoncea

week,

and

then

onlybypermission.

Deiocesruledfor

fifty—threeyears,

extendedtheMedean

empire,

and

establishedthefoundationforwhatwouldlaterbethePersian

empire,

underhis

great—great—grandsonCyrus.During

Deioces’

reign,

the

people’s