《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的情感与道德》第24节
A crowd may be guilty of murder, incendiarism, and every kind of crime, but it is also capable of very lofty acts of devotion, sacrifice, and disinterestedness, of acts much loftier indeed than those of which the isolated individual is capable. Appeals to sentiments of glory, honour, and patriotism are particularly likely to influence the individual forming part of a crowd, and often to the extent of obtaining from him the sacrifice of his life. History is rich in examples analogous to those furnished by the Crusaders and the volunteers of 1793. Collectivities alone are capable of great disinterestedness and great devotion. How numerous are the crowds that have heroically faced death for beliefs, ideas, and phrases that they scarcely understood! The crowds that go on strike do so far more in obedience to an order than to obtain an increase of the slender salary with which they make shift. Personal interest is very rarely a powerful motive force with crowds, while it is almost the exclusive motive of the conduct of the isolated individual. It is assuredly not self-interest that has guided crowds in so many wars, incomprehensible as a rule to their intelligence--wars in which they have allowed themselves to be massacred as easily as the larks hypnotised by the mirror of the hunter.
注释摘要
在这一段里，勒庞试图论证群体道德的双重性：群体既可能沉沦到极端的罪恶，也可能跃升到极端的崇高。他的基本论证逻辑是，个体在独处时被个人利益与理性算计所约束，而一旦融入群体，便获得了一种免于责任的幻觉，这种幻觉可能释放野兽般的破坏本能，也可能点燃一种忘我的奉献欲。他举出的历史例证都是经过高度浓缩的典型：十字军东征的宗教狂热、1793年法国大革命中奔向前线抵御外…