《乌合之众·第三编·不同群体的分类与描述·议会集会》第2节
The most perfect example of the ingenuous simplification of opinions peculiar to assemblies is offered by the Jacobins of the French Revolution. Dogmatic and logical to a man, and their brains full of vague generalities, they busied themselves with the application of fixed-principles without concerning themselves with events. It has been said of them, with reason, that they went through the Revolution without witnessing it. With the aid of the very simple dogmas that served them as guide, they imagined they could recast society from top to bottom, and cause a highly refined civilisation to return to a very anterior phase of the social evolution. The methods they resorted to to realise their dream wore the same stamp of absolute ingenuousness. They confined themselves, in reality, to destroying what stood in their way. All of them, moreover--Girondists, the Men of the Mountain, the Thermidorians, &c.--were alike animated by the same spirit. Parliamentary crowds are very open to suggestion; and, as in the case of all crowds, the suggestion comes from leaders possessing prestige; but the suggestibility of parliamentary assemblies has very clearly defined limits, which it is important to point out. On all questions of local or regional interest every member of an assembly has fixed, unalterable opinions, which no amount of argument can shake. The talent of a Demosthenes would be powerless to change the vote of a Deputy on such questions as protection or the privilege of distilling alcohol, questions in which the interests of influential electors are involved. The suggestion emanating from these electors and undergone before the time to vote arrives, sufficiently outweighs suggestions from any other source to annul them and to maintain an absolute fixity of opinion.[27]
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里提出了一个看似矛盾、实则相互补充的论点：议会一方面会以极其天真简单化的抽象原则去理解一切，另一方面又会在某些具体事务上表现出不可动摇的固执。他用这个对比来说明议会式群体的两重性。 他以法国大革命时期的雅各宾派作为第一个倾向的完美案例。这些人满脑子是笼统的抽象概念，坚信几条简单的教条就足以重新设计整个社会，从顶部到底部彻底翻新。勒庞说他们“经历…