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### Book:strength and courage had impressed Michael, who immediately raised

### Book:Basilius from the obscurity of being a horse trainer to the position of

### Book:head of the stables. He loaded his friend with gifts and favors and they

### Book:became inseparable. Basilius was sent to the finest school in Byzantium,

### Book:and the crude peasant became a cultured and sophisticated courtier.

### Book:Every time I bestow a vacant office I make a hundred discontented

### Book:persons and one ingrate.

### Book:Louis XIV, 1638-1715

### Book:Now Michael was emperor, and in need of someone loyal. Who could

### Book:he better trust with the post of chamberlain and chief councillor than a

### Book:young man who owed him everything?

### Book:Basilius could be trained for the job and Michael loved him like a

### Book:brother. Ignoring the advice of those who recommended the much more

### Book:qualified Bardas, Michael chose his friend.

### Book:Thus for my own part l have more than once been deceived by the person

### Book:I loved most and of whose love, above everyone else’s, I have been most

### Book:confident. So that I believe that u may be right to love and serve one

### Book:person above all others. according to merit and worth, but never to trust

### Book:so much in this tempting trap of friendship as to have cause to repent of

### Book:it later on.

### Book:BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE, 1478-1529

### Book:Basilius learned well and was soon advising the emperor on all

### Book:matters of state. The only problem seemed to be money—Basiiius never

### Book:had enough. Exposure to the splendor of Byzantine court life made him

### Book:avaricious for the perks of power. Michael doubled, then tripled his

### Book:salary, ennobled him, and married him off to his own mistress, Eudoxia

### Book:Ingerina. Keeping such a trusted friend and adviser satisfied was worth

### Book:any price. But more trouble was to come. Bardas was now head of the

### Book:army, and Basilius convinced Michael that the man was hopelessly

### Book:ambitious. Under the illusion that he could control his nephew, Bardas

### Book:had conspired to put him on the throne, and he could conspire again, this

### Book:time to get rid of Michael and assume the crown himself. Basilius poured

### Book:poison into Michael’s ear until the emperor agreed to have his uncle

### Book:murdered. During a great horse race, Basilius closed in on Bardas in the

### Book:crowd and stabbed him to death. Soon after, Basilius asked that he

### Book:replace Bardas as head of the army, where he could keep control of the

### Book:realm and quell rebellion. This was granted.Now Basilius’s power and wealth only grew, and a few years later

### Book:Michael, in financial straits from his own extravagance, asked him to pay

### Book:back some of the money he had borrowed over the years. To Michael’s

### Book:shock and astonishment, Basilius refused, with a look of such impudence

### Book:that the emperor suddenly realized his predicament: The former stable

### Book:boy had more money, more allies in the army and senate, and in the end

### Book:more power than the emperor himself. A few weeks later, after a night of

### Book:heavy drinking, Michael awoke to find himself surrounded by soldiers.

### Book:Basilius watched as they stabbed the emperor to death. Then, after

### Book:proclaiming himself emperor, he rode his horse through the streets of

### Book:Byzantium, brandishing the head of his former benefactor and best friend

### Book:at the end of a long pike.

### Book:THE SNAKE. THE FARMER. AND THE

### Book:HERON

### Book:A snake chased by hunters asked a farmer to save its life. To hide it from

### Book:its pursuers, the farmer squatted and let the snake crawl into his belly.

### Book:But when the danger had passed and the farmer asked the snake to come

### Book:out, the snake refused. It was warm and safe inside. On his way home,

### Book:the man saw a heron and went up to him and whispered what had

### Book:happened. The heron told him to squat and strain to eject the snake.

### Book:When the snake snuck its head out, the heron caught it, pulled it out, and

### Book:killed it. The farmer was worried that the snake’s poison might still be

### Book:inside him, and the heron told him that the cure for snake poison was to

### Book:cook and eat six white fowl. “You’re a white fowl,” said the farmer.

### Book:“You’ll do for a start.” He grabbed the heron, put it in a bag, and

### Book:carried it home, where he hung it up while he told his wife what had

### Book:happened. “I’m surprised at you, ” said the wife. “The bird does you a

### Book:kindness, rids you of the evil in your belly, saves your life in fact, yet you

### Book:catch it and talk of killing it. She immediately released the heron, and it

### Book:flew away. But on its way, it gouged out her eyes.

### Book:Moral: When you see water flowing uphill, it means that someone is

### Book:repaying a kindness.

### Book:AFRICAN FOLK TALE

### Book:InterpretationMichael III staked his future on the sense of gratitude he thought Basilius

### Book:must feel for him. Surely Basilius would serve him best; he owed the

### Book:emperor his wealth, his education, and his position. Then, once Basilius

### Book:was in power, anything he needed it was best to give to him,

### Book:strengthening the bonds between the two men. It was only on the fateful

### Book:day when the emperor saw that impudent smile on Basilius’s face that he

### Book:realized his deadly mistake.

### Book:He had created a monster. He had allowed a man to see power up

### Book:close—a man who then wanted more, who asked for anything and got it,

### Book:who felt encumbered by the charity he had received and simply did what

### Book:many people do in such a situation: They forget the favors they have

### Book:received and imagine they have earned their success by their own merits.

### Book:At Michael’s moment of realization, he could still have saved his own

### Book:life, but friendship and love blind every man to their interests. Nobody

### Book:believes a friend can betray. And Michael went on disbelieving until the

### Book:day his head ended up on a pike.

### Book:Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

### Book:Voltaire, 1694-1778

### Book:OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

### Book:For several centuries after the fall of the Han Dynasty (A.D. 222),

### Book:Chinese history followed the same pattern of violent and bloody coups,

### Book:one after the other. Army men would plot to kill a weak emperor, then

### Book:would replace him on the Dragon Throne with a strong general. The

### Book:general would start a new dynasty and crown himself emperor; to ensure

### Book:his own survival he would kill off his fellow generals. A few years later,

### Book:however, the pattern would resume: New generals would rise up and

### Book:assassinate him or his sons in their turn. To be emperor of China was to

### Book:be alone, surrounded by a pack of enemies—it was the least powerful,

### Book:least secure position in the realm.

### Book:In A.D. 959, General Chao K’uang-yin became Emperor Sung. He

### Book:knew the odds, the probability that within a year or two he would be