《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的情感与道德》第25节
Even in the case of absolute scoundrels it often happens that the mere fact of their being in a crowd endows them for the moment with very strict principles of morality. Taine calls attention to the fact that the perpetrators of the September massacres deposited on the table of the committees the pocket-books and jewels they had found on their victims, and with which they could easily have been able to make away. The howling, swarming, ragged crowd which invaded the Tuileries during the revolution of 1848 did not lay hands on any of the objects that excited its astonishment, and one of which would have meant bread for many days. This moralisation of the individual by the crowd is not certainly a constant rule, but it is a rule frequently observed. It is even observed in circumstances much less grave than those I have just cited. I have remarked that in the theatre a crowd exacts from the hero of the piece exaggerated virtues, and it is a commonplace observation that an assembly, even though composed of inferior elements, shows itself as a rule very prudish. The debauchee, the souteneur, the rough often break out into murmurs at a slightly risky scene or expression, though they be very harmless in comparison with their customary conversation.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里试图论证一个让人意外的观点：即使是绝对意义上的恶棍，一旦身处群体之中，也可能暂时表现出相当严格的道德原则。他借用泰纳对九月屠杀的记录来支撑这一说法。1792年巴黎的九月屠杀中，那些屠杀囚犯的人将搜到的钱袋和珠宝放在了委员会的桌子上，而他们本可以轻易将这些财物据为己有。勒庞接着又举了另一个例子：1848年革命中，一群衣衫褴褛的暴民冲进杜伊勒里宫…