《乌合之众·第二编·群体的意见与信念·群体信念与意见的变异限度》第5节
From the fundamental belief transient accessory ideas may arise, but they always bear the impress of the belief from which they have sprung. The Egyptian civilisation, the European civilisation of the Middle Ages, the Mussulman civilisation of the Arabs are all the outcome of a small number of religious beliefs which have left their mark on the least important elements of these civilisations and allow of their immediate recognition. Thus it is that, thanks to general beliefs, the men of every age are enveloped in a network of traditions, opinions, and customs which render them all alike, and from whose yoke they cannot extricate themselves. Men are guided in their conduct above all by their beliefs and by the customs that are the consequence of those beliefs. These beliefs and customs regulate the smallest acts of our existence, and the most independent spirit cannot escape their influence. The tyranny exercised unconsciously on men's minds is the only real tyranny, because it cannot be fought against. Tiberius, Ghengis Khan, and Napoleon were assuredly redoubtable tyrants, but from the depth of their graves Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Mahomet have exerted on the human soul a far profounder despotism. A conspiracy may overthrow a tyrant, but what can it avail against a firmly established belief? In its violent struggle with Roman Catholicism it is the French Revolution that has been vanquished, and this in spite of the fact that the sympathy of the crowd was apparently on its side, and in spite of recourse to destructive measures as pitiless as those of the Inquisition. The only real tyrants that humanity has known have always been the memories of its dead or the illusions it has forged itself.
注释摘要
勒庞在这几段里要证明的，是他整座体系中最核心的一层判断：浮在表面的那些政党更迭、文学潮流、一时好恶，说到底只是泡沫。泡沫底下压着一种极其缓慢、几乎感觉不到变动的东西，他称之为根本信念。他举的例子很明确：古埃及文明，中世纪欧洲文明，阿拉伯的伊斯兰文明，全都不是靠政策或者制度撑起来的，而是靠一小撮宗教信念，像模子一样浇铸出了房屋样式、法律习惯、甚至日常礼节的每…