The 48 Laws Of Power

TH}(.‘UU.<l;AND

Till’.IIOHSF

A

game

who

was

plucking

grass

upon

u

common

thought

her.\'el_faffronter!by

a

horsewho
fed

near

her;

mm’.in

hi.\'.s'ingll(‘L‘(Wll.\',

thusaddressedhim:“I

am

certainly

amore

nobleand

perfect

animalthan

yozrfor

tin’whole

range

and

extent

afyourfarcrtlties

is

confined

toone

element.

Icanwalk

upon

the

groom!

as

well(:5

you,’

Ihave,

basidtas,wings,

with

whichIcanraise

myself

intheair;and

whenI

please.

Ican

sport

on

pomls

and

lakes,

and

n7f*'.'Sh

myst,-ifin

1119 ‘ml

waters:

1

enfmirlle

dlffermzrpowersUfa

bird,

(1

fish,

am!a

qumiruped.

"

The

horse,

$tl(5!‘!§Izg

sonrrwhat

distltzinjizliy.

replied:

“I:ismic:

you

inhabit

three

eiemems.

but

you

makeno

very

disrirzguisiieri/ignre

in

any

one

ofthem.

You

fly,

imlerd;

but

your

flight

isso

heavy

and

clmnsy,

thatVonluau-‘e

no

right

to

putyourself

nnalevelwiththe[ark

ortheswallow.Youcan

swimonthe

surfaceof

the

watch»,

but

you

Ltmnoiliveinthemas

fishes

r1o:you

cannot

findyourfood

inrho!

riemenl,nor

gfirlr

.\'nzoor?:1

y

(aitmg

the

bottom

of

rite

waves.

Amiwhen

you

walk,

or

rather

wtlcltlle,upon

the

ground,

with

your

liroad

fret

and

your

long

neckxlretchred

out,

TRANSGRESSION

OFTHELAW

InChinainthe

early

sixth

century

B.C.,

the

kingdom

ofWu

began

awas

withthe

neighboring

norlhem

provinces

oftheMiddle

Kingdom.

Wuwas

a.

growing

power,

butitlackedthe

great

history

andcivilizationoftheMid

dle

Kingdom,

forcenturiesthecenterofChineseculture.

Bydefeating

the

Middle

Kingdom,

the

king

ofWuwould

instantly

raisehisstatus.

The

war

began

with

great

fanfare

andseveral

victories,

but

it

soon

bogged

down.A

victory

ononefromwouldleavetheWuarmiesvulnera~

bleonanother.The

king’

schiefministerand

adviser,

Wu

Tzu-hsiu,

warned

himthatthebarbarousstateof

Yueh,

tothe

south,

was

beginning

tonotice

the

kingdom

of

V\’u’s

problems

andhad

designs

toinvade.

The

kingonly

laughed

at

suchw0rries~onemore

bigvictory

andthe

great

Middle

King—

domwouldbehis.

Inthe

year

490,

WuT212-hsiusenthisson

away

to

safety

inthe

king-

domof

Ch’i.

In

doing

sohesentthe

king

a

signal

thathe

disapproved

of

the

war,

andthathe

believed

the

king’s

selfishambitionwas

leading

Wuto

min.The

king,sensingbetrayal,

lashedoutathis

minister,

accusing

himof

alackof

loyalty

and,

inafitof

anger,

orderedhimtokillhimself.WuTzu-

hsiu

obeyed

his

king,

butbeforehe

plunged

theknifeintohis

chest,

he

cried,

“Tearout

myeyes,

oh

King,

andfixthemonthe

gate

of

Wu,

sothatI

may

seethe

triumphantentry

ofYueh.”

AsWuTzwlrsiuhad

predicted,

withinafew

years

aYueh

armypassed

beneaththe

gate

ofWu.Asthebarbarianssurroundedthe

palace,

the

king

rememberedhisminister’slastWords-——~andfeltthedeadman’sdisembod-

ied

eyeswatching

his

disgrace.

Unabletohearhis

shame,

the

king

killed

himself,

“covering

hisfacesothathewould

nothave

to

meet

the

reproaclr

ful

gaze

ofhisministerinthenextworld.”

Interpretation

The

story

ofWuisa

paradigm

ofallthe

empires

thathavecometomin

by

overreachlng.

Drunkwithsuccess

andsick

with

ambition,

such

empires

ex‘

pand

to

grotesqueproportions

andmeetaminthatistotal.Thisiswhat

happened

toancient

Athens,

whichlustedforthe

faraway

islandof

Sicily

andended

uplosing

its

empire.

The

Romansstretchedthe

boundariesof

their

empire

to

encompass

vast

territories;

in

doing

so

they

increasedtheir

vulnerability,

andthechancesofinvasionfrom

yet

anotherbarbariantribe.

Theiruseless

expansion

ledtheir

empire

intooblivion.

Forthe

Chinese,

thefateofthe

kingdom

ofWuservesasanelemental

lessononwhat

happens

when

youdissipateyour

forcesonseveral

fronts,

losingsight

ofdistant

dangers

forthesakeof

presentgain.

“If

you

arenotin

danger,”says

Sun-tzu,

“donot

fight.”

It

isalmosta

physical

law:Whatis

bloated

beyond

its

proportions

inevitably

collapses.

Themindmustnot

wanderfrom

goal

to

goal,

orbedistracted

by

successfromitssenseof

pur-

pose

and

proportion.

Whatis

concentrated,coherent,

andconnectedtoits

past

has

power.

Whatis

dissipated,

divided,

anddistendedrotsand

fallsto

the

ground.

The

bigger

it

bloats,

the

harderitfalls.