The 48 Laws Of Power

tothethrone.But

although

Simeonhad

recently

convertedto

Christianity,

he

was

by

birtha

Tartar,

and

hisenthronement

wasaninsulttoIvan’ssub-

jects,

sinceRussianslookeddown

ontheTartarsasinferiorsandinfidels.

Yet

Ivan

orderedthatall

Russians,

including

the

boyars,pledge

obedience

totheirnewruler.AndwhileSimeonmovedintothe

Kremlin,

Ivanlived

inahumblehouseonMoscow’s

outskirts,

fromwhichhewouldsometimes

\n‘sit

the

palace,

bow

beforethe

throne,

sit

among

the

other

boyars,

and

humbly

petition

Simeonforfavors.

OvertimeitbecameclearthatSimeonwasakindof

kings

double.He

dressedlike

Ivan,

andactedlike

Ivan,

buthehadnoreal

power,

sinceno

onewould

reallyobey

him.The

boyars

atthecourtwhowereold

enough

toremember

taunting

Ivanwhenhewasa

boy,byplacing

himon

the

throne,

sawtheconnection:

They

hadmadeIvanfeellikeaweak

pre-

tender,

sonowhemirroredthem

by

placing

aweak

pretender

ofhisown

onthethrone.

Fortwo

longyears

IvanheldthemirrorofSimeon

up

totheRussian

people.

Themirrorsaid:Your

whining

anddisobediencehavemademea

czar

withno

real

power,

soIwill

reflectbackto

you

a

czar

with

noreal

power.

Youhavetreatedme

disrespectfully,

soIwilldothesameto

you,

making

Russiathe

laughingstock

oftheworld.In

1577,

inthenameofthe

Russian

people,

thechastised

boyars

once

againbegged

Ivantoreturnto

the

throne,

whichhedid.Helivedas

czar

untilhis

death,

in

1584,

andthe

conspiracies,complaining,

and

second—guessingdisappearedalong

with

Simeon.

Interpretation

In 15

64,

after

threatening

to

abdicate,

Ivan

hadbeen

granted

absolute

pow-

ers.Butthese

powers

had

slowly

been

chippedaway

as

every

sectorofso-

ciety—theboyars,

the

church,

the

government—vied

formorecontrol.

Foreign

warshadexhaustedthe

country,

internal

bickering

had

increased,

andIvan’s

attempts

to

respond

hadbeenmetwithscorn.Russiahadturned

intoakindofboisterousclassroominwhichthe

pupilslaughedopenly

at

theteacher.Ifheraisedhisvoiceor

complained,

he

only

metmoreresis-

tance.He

had

to

teachthem

a

lesson,

give

them

a

tasteoftheirownmedi-

cine.SimeonBekbulatovichwasthemirrorheusedtodoso.

Aftertwo

years

inwhichthethronehadbeenan

object

ofridiculeand

disgust,

theRussian

people

learnedtheirlesson.

They

wantedtheirczar

back,

conceding

to

him

allthe

dignity

and

respect

thatthe

position

should

always

havecommanded.Fortherestofhis

reign,

RussiaandIvan

got

along

fine.

Understand:

People

arelockedintheirown

experiences.

When

you

whineaboutsome

insensitivity

on

their

part,theymay

seem

to

understand,

but

inwardlythey

areuntouchedandevenmoreresistant.The

goal

of

power

is

always

tolower

people’s

resistanceto

you.

Forthis

you

need

tricks,

andonetrickistoteachthemalesson.

Insteadof

haranguingpeopleverbally,

then,

createakindofmirrorof

theirbehavior,In

doing

so

you

leavethemtwochoices:

They

can

ignore

LAW 44