The 48 Laws Of Power

336

Thereisa

popular

saving

in

Japan

that

goer

“Tada

yori

takai

mono

wa

nai."mean-

ing:"Nothing

is’more

costly

than

xnmetliing

givenfret"ofcharge.

"

TH1:UNSPOKENwmr.

Ml(‘H|HlR0

lvlA'l'SHM()T().

1988

MU'\F.Y

Yusuf

lbn

Jafar

el-

Altlutliuser!tolake

sums

ofmoney,

some-

times

verylarge

ones,

from

thosewhocanto

to

study

withhim.

A

distinguishedlegalist

visiting

himonce

said:

“Iamenchantedand

impressed

byyour

teachings,

andIam

surethat

you

are

directingyourdisciples

in

a

proper

munner.

Butitisnotinaccor-

dancewithtraditionto

take

moneyfor

knowl-

edge.Besides,

the

actionis

open

torinsin-

terprelatiun.

"

El-Amudisaid:

“I

have

neversold

any

knowl-

edge.

Then:isno

money

onearth

suffi-

cient

to

payfor

it.As

/ormisinterpretation,

the

abstainingfrom

takingmoney

willnot

prevent

it,

for

itwill

find

someother

object.

Rathershould

you

knowthata

manwho

takes

moneymay

be

greedyformoney,

or

he

may

not.Butaman

whotakes

nothing

at

allisunderthe

gravest

LAW 40

In

February

of

1541,

the

largestexpeditionyet

inthis

venture,

led

by

Piza.rr0’sbrother

Gonzalo,

left

Quito,

inEcuador.

Resplendent

intheirar-

morsandcolorful

silks,

340

Spaniards

headed

east,

along

with

4,000

Indi-

ansto

carrysupplies

andserveas

scouts,4,000swine,

dozensof

llamas,

andcloseto

1,000

dogs.

Butthe

expedition

wassoonhit

by

torrential

rain,

whichrotted

its

gear

and

spoiled

itsfood.

Meanwhile,

asGonzaloPizarro

questioned

theIndians

they

met

along

the

way,

thosewhoseemedtobe

withholding

information,

orwhohadnotevenheardofthefabulous

king-

dom,

hewouldtortureandfeedtothe

dogs.

Wordofthe

Spaniards’

mur-

derousness

spreadquicklyamong

the

Indians,

whorealizedthatthe

only

way

toavoidGonzaldswrathwastomake

up

storiesaboutElDorado

andsendhimasfar

away

as

possible.

AsGonzaloandhismenfollowed

theleadstheIndians

gave

them,

then,they

were

only

ledfartherinto

deep

jungle.

The

explorers’spiritssagged.

Theiruniformshad

long

since

shredded;

theirarmorrustedand

they

threwit

away;

theirshoesweretornto

pieces,

forcing

them

towalk

barefoot;

theIndianslaves

they

hadsetoutwithhad

eitherdiedordeserted

them;

they

hadeatennot

only

thesvsnnebutthe

huntingdogs

andllamas.

They

livedonrootsandfruit.

Realizing

that

they

couldnotcontinuethis

way,

Pizarrodecidedtoriskriver

travel,

anda

barge

was

built

out

of

rotting

wood.Butthe

journey

downthe

treacherous

Napo

River

proved

noeasier.

Settingupcamp

onthen‘ver’s

edge,

Gonzalo

sentscoutsaheadonthe

barge

tofindIndiansettlementswithfood.He

waitedandwaitedforthescoutsto

return,

only

tofindout

they

hadde-

cided

to

desertthe

expedition

and

continuedowntheriverontheir

own.

Therain

continued

withoutend.

Gonzalo’s

men

forgot

about

ElDo-

rado;

they

wanted

only

toreturnto

Quito.Finally,

in

August

of

1542,

alit-

tleoverahundred

men,

froman

expedition

originallynumbering

inthe

thousands,

managed

tofindtheir

way

back.Totheresidentsof

Quitothey

seemedtohave

emerged

fromhell

itself,

wrapped

intattersand

skins,

their

bodiescoveredin

sores,

andsoemaciatedastobe

unrecognizable.

For

over

a

year

andahalf

they

hadmarchedinanenormous

circle,

twothou-

sandmiles

by

foot.Thevastsumsof

money

investedinthe

expedition

had

yieldednothing-—nosign

ofElDoradoandno

sign

of

gold.

interpretation

EvenafterGonzaloPizano’s

disaster,

the

Spaniards

launched

expedition

after

expedition

inSearchofElDorado.AndlikePizarrothe

conquistadors

wouldburnandloot

villages,

torture

Indians,

endure

unimaginable

hard-

ships,

and

get

nocloserto

gold.

The

moneytheyspent

onsuch

expeditions

cannotbe

calculated;

yetdespite

the

futility

ofthe

search,

thelureofthe

fantasy

endured.

Not

only

didthesearchforElDoradocostmillionsoflives——bothIn»

dianand

Spanish—ithelpedbring

theruinofthe

Spanishempire.

Goldbe-

came

Spain’s

obsession.The

gold

thatdidfindits

way

backto

Spain——and

alot

clid~—was

reinvestedin

more

expeditions,

orinthe

purchase

of

luxu-

ries,

ratherthanin

agriculture

or

any

other

productive

endeavor.Whole

Spanish

townswere

depopulated

astheirmenfolklefttohunt

gold.

Farms