《乌合之众·第三编·不同群体的分类与描述·议会集会》第20节
Arrived at this point, the individual is bound to seek outside himself the forces he no longer finds within him. The functions of governments necessarily increase in proportion as the indifference and helplessness of the citizens grow. They it is who must necessarily exhibit the initiative, enterprising, and guiding spirit in which private persons are lacking. It falls on them to undertake everything, direct everything, and take everything under their protection. The State becomes an all-powerful god. Still experience shows that the power of such gods was never either very durable or very strong. This progressive restriction of all liberties in the case of certain peoples, in spite of an outward license that gives them the illusion that these liberties are still in their possession, seems at least as much a consequence of their old age as of any particular system. It constitutes one of the precursory symptoms of that decadent phase which up to now no civilisation has escaped. Judging by the lessons of the past, and by the symptoms that strike the attention on every side, several of our modern civilisations have reached that phase of extreme old age which precedes decadence. It seems inevitable that all peoples should pass through identical phases of existence, since history is so often seen to repeat its course.
注释摘要
这段临近全书的尾声，勒庞把议会政治的话题拉入了一个更大的历史哲学框架：文明的兴衰循环。他试图在此回答一个根本问题——当议会体制限制了个体的自由之后，社会和文明会走向何处。他的推理链条是这样的：随着法规不断增生，民众被一层层形式主义包围，表面上似乎受到平等的保护，实际上可以自主行动的空间不断收缩。久而久之，个体丧失了自发性与活力，变得麻木而被动。当人再也无法…