《乌合之众·第二编·群体的意见与信念·群体意见的直接因素》第7节
One of the most essential functions of statesmen consists, then, in baptizing with popular or, at any rate, indifferent words things the crowd cannot endure under their old names. The power of words is so great that it suffices to designate in well-chosen terms the most odious things to make them acceptable to crowds. Taine justly observes that it was by invoking liberty and fraternity--words very popular at the time-- that the Jacobins were able "to install a despotism worthy of Dahomey, a tribunal similar to that of the Inquisition, and to accomplish human hecatombs akin to those of ancient Mexico." The art of those who govern, as is the case with the art of advocates, consists above all in the science of employing words. One of the greatest difficulties of this art is, that in one and the same society the same words most often have very different meanings for the different social classes, who employ in appearance the same words, but never speak the same language. In the preceding examples it is especially time that has been made to intervene as the principal factor in the changing of the meaning of words. If, however, we also make race intervene, we shall then see that, at the same period, among peoples equally civilised but of different race, the same words very often correspond to extremely dissimilar ideas. It is impossible to understand these differences without having travelled much, and for this reason I shall not insist upon them. I shall confine myself to observing that it is precisely the words most often employed by the masses which among different peoples possess the most different meanings. Such is the case, for instance, with the words "democracy" and "socialism" in such frequent use nowadays.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里继续推进他关于词语如何直接作用于群体心理的论证。他抛出一个令现代读者颇感不安的命题：政治家最关键的职能之一，就是用动听或中性的新词去重新包装那些群众无法忍受的旧事物。换言之，事物本身不必改变，只要改换名称，就能让群体从憎恶转为接受。为了证明词语的这种近乎魔法的力量，他援引了同时代史学家泰纳对雅各宾派恐怖统治的著名论断。在泰纳看来，雅各宾派正是…