The 48 Laws Of Power

428
LAW
48

For

centuriesthe

Japanese

would

accept

foreignersgraciously,

and

ap—

pearedsusceptible

to

foreign

culturesandinfluences.

joaoRodriguez,

a

Portuguese

priest

whoarrivedin

japan

in 1577 andlivedtherefor

many

years,

wrote,

“Iam

flabbergastedby

the

Japanesewillingness

to

my

andac-

cepteverythingPortuguese.”

Hesaw

japanese

inthe

streets

wearing

Por—

tugueseclothing,

with

rosary

beadsattheirnecksandcrossesattheir

hips.

This

might

seemlikea

weak,

mutable

culture,

but

]apa.n’sadaptability

actuallyprotected

the

country

from

having

analienculture

imposedby

military

invasion.Itseducedthe

Portuguese

andother

Westerners

intobe-

lieving

the

japanese

were

yielding

toa

superior

culturewhen

actually

the

foreign

culture’s

ways

were

merely

afashiontobedonnedanddoffed.

Underthe

surface,Japanese

culturethrived.Hadthe

Japanese

been

rigid

about

foreign

influencesandtriedto

fight

them

off,

theymight

havesuf-

feredthe

injuries

thattheWest

inflicted

onChina.Thatisthe

power

of

i'ormlessness—~—it

gives

the

aggressornothing

toreact

against,nothing

to

hit.

In

evolution,

largeness

isoftenthefirst

step

towardextinction.Whatis

immenseandbloatedhasno

mobility,

butmust

constantly

feeditself.The

unintelligent

areoftenseducedinto

believing

thatsizeconnotes

power,

the

bigger

thebetter.

In4-83

13.0.,

King

XerxesofPersiainvaded

Greece,

believing

hecould

conquer

the

country

inone

easycampaign.

After

all,

hehadthe

largest

army

everassembledforoneinvasion-—thehistorianHerodotusestimated

itatovermorethanfivemillion.ThePersians

planned

tobuilda

bridge

across

the

l-Iellespont

tooverrunGreece

fromthe

land,

whiletheir

equally

immense

navy

would

pin

the Greek

ships

in

harbor,

preventing

their

forcesfrom

escaping

tosea.The

plan

seemed

sure,

yet

asXerxes

prepared

the

invasion,

hisadviserArtabanuswarnedhismasterof

grave

misgivings:

“The

two

mightiestpowers

inthe

world

are

againstyou,”

hesaid.Xerxes

laughed-—whatpowers

couldmatch

his

giganticarmy?

“I

willtell

you

what

they

are,”

answeredArtabanus.“Thelandandthe

sea."

Therewere

nosafe

harbors

largeenough

toreceiveXerxes‘fleet.AndthemorelandthePer-

sians

conquered,

andthe

longer

their

supply

lines

stretched,

themoreru-

inousthecostof

feeding

this

immense

army

would

prove.

Thinking

hisadvisera

coward,

Xerxes

proceeded

withtheinvasion.

YetasArtabanus

predicted,

badweatheratseadecimatedthePersian

fleet,

whichwastoo

large

totakeshelterin

any

harbor.On

land,meanwhile,

the

Persian

armydestroyedeverything

inits

path,

which

only

madeit

impossi—

hieto

feed,

sincethedestructionincluded

crops

andstoresoffood.itwas

alsoan

easy

and

slowqnovingtarget.

TheGreeks

practiced

allkindsofde

ceptive

maneuverstodisorientthePersians.Xerxes’eventualdefeatatthe

handsoftheGreekallieswasanimmensedisaster.The

story

isemblematic

ofallthosewhosacrifice

mobility

forsize:Theflexibleandfleetoffootwill

almost

always

win,

for

they

havemore

strategicoptions.

Themore

gigantic

the

enemy,

theeasieritistoinduce

collapse.

Theneedforformlessnessbecomes

greater

theolderwe

get,

aswe

grow

more

likely

tobecomesetinour

ways

andassumetoo

rigid

aform.