The 48 Laws Of Power

mystery

aboutanartistmakeshisorherartwork

immediately

more

intrigu-

ing,

atrickMarcel

Duchamp

played

to

great

effect.Itisall

very

easy

to

clo—-say

littleabout

your

work,

teaseandtitillatewith

alluring,

evencontra~

dictory

comments,

thenstandbackandletothers

try

tomakesenseofitall.

Mysteriouspeopleput

othersinakindofinferior

position—-that

of

try-

ing

to

figure

themout.To

degrees

that

they

can

control,

they

alsoelicitthe

fear

surroundinganything

uncertainorunknown.All

great

leadersknow

thatanauraof
mystery

drawsattentiontothemandcreatesan

intimidating

presence.

Mao

Tse-rung,

for

example,cleverly

cultivated an

enigmatic

image;

hehadnoworriesabout

seeming

inconsistentor

contradicting

him~

self-—fl1e
very

contradictorinessofhisactionsandwordsmeantthathea.l~

ways

had the

upper

hand.No

one,

notevenhisown

wife,

everfelt

they

understood
him,

andhethereforeseemed

larger

thanlife.Thisalsomeant

thatthe

publicpaid

constantattentionto

him,

everanxioustowitnesshis

nextmove.

If

your

social

positionpreventsyou

from

completely

wrapping

your

actionsin
mystery,you

mustatleastlearntomake

yourself

lessobvious.

Every

nowand

then,

actina

way

thatdoesnotmeshwith

other

people’s

perception

of

you.

This

wayyoukeep

thosearound

you

onthe

defensive,

eliciting

thekindofattentionthatmakes

youpowerful.

Done

right,

theore

ationof

enigma.

canalsodrawthekindofattentionthatstrikesterrorinto

yourenemy.

During

theSecondPunicWar

(21940213.0.),

the

greatCarthaginian

general

Hannibalwas

wreaking

havocinhismarchonRome.Hannibal

wasknownforhis
cleverness
and

duplicity.

Underhis

leadershipCarthage’s

army,

though

smallerthanthoseof

the
Romans,
had

constantly

outmaneuvered them. Onone

occasion,

though,

Hann1‘bal’sscoutsmadeahorrible

blunder,

leading

his

troops

into

a

marshy

terrainwiththeseaattheirback.TheRoman

army

blockedthe

mountain
passes

that

led

inland,

andits

general,

Fabius,

wasecstatic-at

lasthehadHannibal

trapped.Posting

hisbestsentriesonthe

passes,

he

workedona

plan

to

destroy

Hannibal’sforces.Butinthemiddleofthe

night,

thesentrieslookeddowntoseea

mysterioussight:

A

hugeproces-

sion

of

lights

was

headingup

themountain.Thousandsandthousandsof

lights.

Ifthis

wasHannibal’s

army,

ithad

suddenlygrown

ahundredfold.

Thesentries

arguedheatedly

aboutwhatthiscouldmean:Reinforce-

mentsfromthesea?

Troops

thathadbeenhiddeninthearea?Ghosts?No

explanation

madesense.

As

they

watched,

firesbrokeoutalloverthe

mountain,

anda

horrible

noisedrified

up

tothemfrom

below,

likethe

blowing

ofamillionhorns.

Demons,

theythought.

The

sentries,

thebravestandmostsensibleinthe

Roman

army,

fledtheir

posts

ina

panic.

By

thenext

day,

Hannibalhad

escaped

fromthemarshland.Whatwas

histrick?Hadhe

reallyconjuredup

demons?

Actually

whathehaddone

wasorderbundlesof

twigs

tobefastenedtothehornsofthethousandsof

oxen

thattraveled

with

his

troops

asbeastsofburden.The

twigs

werethen

LAW6

3

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