《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14节
"The taking of the Bastille was a culminating event in the history not only of France, but of all Europe; and inaugurated a new epoch in the history of the world!" With respect to Robespierre, we learn with stupefaction that "his dictatorship was based more especially on opinion, persuasion, and moral authority; it was a sort of pontificate in the hands of a virtuous man!" (pp. 91 and 220.) At the present day, as the result of discussion and analysis, all opinions are losing their prestige; their distinctive features are rapidly worn away, and few survive capable of arousing our enthusiasm. The man of modern times is more and more a prey to indifference. The general wearing away of opinions should not be too greatly deplored. That it is a symptom of decadence in the life of a people cannot be contested. It is certain that men of immense, of almost supernatural insight, that apostles, leaders of crowds--men, in a word, of genuine and strong convictions--exert a far greater force than men who deny, who criticise, or who are indifferent, but it must not be forgotten that, given the power possessed at present by crowds, were a single opinion to acquire sufficient prestige to enforce its general acceptance, it would soon be endowed with so tyrannical a strength that everything would have to bend before it, and the era of free discussion would be closed for a long time. Crowds are occasionally easy-going masters, as were Heliogabalus and Tiberius, but they are also violently capricious. A civilisation, when the moment has come for crowds to acquire a high hand over it, is at the mercy of too many chances to endure for long. Could anything postpone for a while the hour of its ruin, it would be precisely the extreme instability of the opinions of crowds and their growing indifference with respect to all general beliefs.
注释摘要
勒庞在此处插入的这则脚注，是他论证策略中的一个尖锐实例。他正试图说明，当根本信念消退，意见便如沙丘般随风而起，但即使在这种流动中，某些深刻植根于特定信念的历史叙述仍会以“知识”的面目出现。他引用索邦大学历史教授朗博《法国大革命》中的两段文字，意在揭示：即便是理应保持批判距离的学院中人，也会被时代的基本信条——此处是共和主义对大革命的崇拜——彻底支配。朗博将…