Let say it is the key power. Having others to feel the way you want them to feel.
Everything else follows and every politician knows that.
So, if you want to go to Rome and be the Emperor, you must ensure they will desire to see yourself on that place. Either by inducing love or fear or something else in them. You can go a normal way which maybe takes decades—or just walk in and trigger a deep love toward you in every Roman. That would be the Mule’s way. Currently unavailable, but what’s another 100 (?) years in the context of already more than 2000?
Even then, it’s a more subtle problem than it appears to be.
Everyone loves you, or worse, everyone fears you. Suppose you have a bad idea like the Great Leap Forward. Who’s going to tell you? Fear guarantees that they won’t. If they don’t love Rome as well as you, they might not tell you because they don’t want you to feel sad.
If they do love Rome as well as you, there’s a risk they might decide you’re bad for Rome.
Let say it is the key power. Having others to feel the way you want them to feel.
Everything else follows and every politician knows that.
So, if you want to go to Rome and be the Emperor, you must ensure they will desire to see yourself on that place. Either by inducing love or fear or something else in them. You can go a normal way which maybe takes decades—or just walk in and trigger a deep love toward you in every Roman. That would be the Mule’s way. Currently unavailable, but what’s another 100 (?) years in the context of already more than 2000?
Even then, it’s a more subtle problem than it appears to be.
Everyone loves you, or worse, everyone fears you. Suppose you have a bad idea like the Great Leap Forward. Who’s going to tell you? Fear guarantees that they won’t. If they don’t love Rome as well as you, they might not tell you because they don’t want you to feel sad.
If they do love Rome as well as you, there’s a risk they might decide you’re bad for Rome.
You are already the Emperor, game’s over.
But you can reign happily forever, by cleverly manage their emotions, to avoid “bad news filtering” and such.