The 48 Laws Of Power

happening.

wenttofair

retreatandrlmvakhrs

preserved

water.

Whenhe

saw,

from

his

s‘ecuri!y,

the

wan-rfnlls

againbagimzing

to

flow,

this

man

(lra.\'m>nded

armmg

(he

othersores

nfmen.

HP

found

that

(hey

were

thinking

and

mlking

in

an

mzrirely

different

wayfrombefore;ye!

they

hadno

menzwyof

who!had

Imppened.

nor

ofhaving

been

warned.Whenhetried

totalkto
them,
hereal»

izedthat

they

thought

thathewasmad.and

they

showed

hostility

or

compassion,

no:tmdan

standing.

A!

first

he

dranknmw

oflhe

new

water,

but

wentbacktohis

concealment,

I1)

draw

onhis

supplies,every

day.Finally,

however.

hetooktheditrisimrto

drinkthenewwater

bc(‘au.rahecouldnot

bearthelormlirresr

of

living.In-Imwng

and

thinking

inre

different

wayfromeveryone

else.Hedrankthenew

water,

andbecamelike

theres!.‘T1101;he

forgo!

allaboulhisownrmre

ofspecial

water.and

his

fellowsbegan

to

look

upon

himata

mailmanwhohad

miruc'ulr)u.vly

been

resloredZ0

sanity.

'lA1.ESOF

‘nu:ma

Rvisnss,

IDRIESSHAH.

I 967

320 LAW 38

into

prison

forhishereticalbeliefs.Six

years

later,

asaformof

partial

re

lease,

hewasconfinedtoa

monastery

in

Naples.

Southern

Italy

wascontrolled

bySpain

at

the

time,

andin

Naples

Campanella

becameinvolvedina

plot

to

fight

and

throwoutthesein»

vaders.

His

hope

wastoestablishan

independentrepublic

basedonhis

ownideasof

utopia.

TheleadersoftheItalian

Inquisition,

working

with

their

Spanishcounterparts,

hadhim

imprisonedagain.

Thistime

they

also

tortured

him,

todiscoverthetruenatureofhis

impious

beliefs:He

was

sub-

jected

totheinfamousla

zzeglia,

atortureinwhichhewas

suspendedby

his

arms

ina

squattingposition

a

fewinchesaboveaseatstuddedwith

spikes.

The

posture

was

impossible

to

sustain,

andintimethevictimwouldend

up

sitting

onthe

spikes,

whichwouldtearhisfleshatthe

slightest

contact.

During

these

years,

however,

Campanella

learned

something

about

power.Facing

the

prospect

ofexecutionfor

heresy,

he

changed

hiss|:a.t~

egy:

He

wouldnot

renouncehis

beliefs,

yet

heknewhehadto

disguise

theiroutward

appearance.

Tosavehis

life,

Campanellafeigned

madness.Helethis

inquisifors

imagine

thaxhisbeliefsstemmedfromaninconuollableunsoundness

of

mind.Fora

while

thetortures

continued,

tosee

if

his

insanity

was

faked,

butin 1603 hissentencewascommutedtolifein

prison.

Thefirstfour

years

ofthishe

spent

chainedtoawallinan

undergrounddungeon.

De»

spite

such

conditions,

hecontinuedto

write--although

no

longer

wouldhe

beso

foolish

asto

express

his

ideas

directly.

Onebookof

Ca.mpa.uella’s,

771::

HispanicMonardzy,promoted

theidea

that

Spain

hadadivine.missionto

expand

its

powers

aroundthe

world,

andofferedthe

Spanish

king

practical,Machiavelli-type

adviceforachiev-

ing

this.

Despite

hisowninterestin

Machiavelli,

thebookin

generalpre

sentedideas

completely

the

opposite

tohis

own.

The

HispanirrMonarchy

was

in

facta

ploy,

an

attempt

to

show

hisconversionto

orthodoxy

inthebold-

est

manner

possible.

It

worked:In

1626,

six

years

afterits

publication,

the

pope

finally

let

Campanella

outof

prison.

Shortly

afier

gaining

his

freedom,

Campanella

wrote Atheism Con»

guered,

abook

attacking

‘free-thinkers, Machiavellians, Calvinists,

and

heretics

of

all

stripes.

Thebookiswrittenintheformofdebatesinwhich

heretics

express

theirbeliefsandarecountered

byarguments

forthe

supe

riority

ofCatholicism.

Campanella

had

obviously

reformed-his book

madethatclear.Ordidit?

The

arguments

in

themouthsofthehereticshadneverbeforebeen

expressed

withsuchverveand

freshness.

Pretending

to

present

theirside

only

toknockit

down,

Campanella

actually

summarizedthecase

against

Caxholicismwith

strikingpassion.

“Thenhe

argued

theother

side,

suppos-

edly

his

side,

ontheother

hand,

heresortedtostaleclichésandconvoluted

rationales.Briefand

eloquent,

theheretics’

arguments

seemedboldand

sincere.The

lengthyarguments

forCatholicismseemedtiresomeand1m»

convincing.

Catholicswhoreadthebookfoundit

disturbing

and

ambiguous,

but