《乌合之众·第三编·不同群体的分类与描述·议会集会》第21节
It is easy to note briefly these common phases of the evolution of civilisations, and I shall terminate this work with a summary of them. This rapid sketch will perhaps throw some gleams of light on the causes of the power at present wielded by crowds. If we examine in their main lines the genesis of the greatness and of the fall of the civilisations that preceded our own, what do we see? At the dawn of civilisation a swarm of men of various origin, brought together by the chances of migrations, invasions, and conquests. Of different blood, and of equally different languages and beliefs, the only common bond of union between these men is the half-recognised law of a chief. The psychological characteristics of crowds are present in an eminent degree in these confused agglomerations. They have the transient cohesion of crowds, their heroism, their weaknesses, their impulsiveness, and their violence. Nothing is stable in connection with them. They are barbarians. At length time accomplishes its work. The identity of surroundings, the repeated intermingling of races, the necessities of life in common exert their influence. The assemblage of dissimilar units begins to blend into a whole, to form a race; that is, an aggregate possessing common characteristics and sentiments to which heredity will give greater and greater fixity. The crowd has become a people, and this people is able to emerge from its barbarous state. However, it will only entirely emerge therefrom when, after long efforts, struggles necessarily repeated, and innumerable recommencements, it shall have acquired an ideal. The nature of this ideal is of slight importance; whether it be the cult of Rome, the might of Athens, or the triumph of Allah, it will suffice to endow all the individuals of the race that is forming with perfect unity of sentiment and thought.
注释摘要
在全书的收尾部分，勒庞试图勾勒文明演化的共同规律，以此为他一直论述的群体心理提供一个宏观的历史脚注。他的论证线索很清晰：文明的开端，不过是一群来源各异的人，因为迁徙、入侵或征服凑到一起，彼此语言不通、信仰不同，唯有对某个酋长半认半从的法则勉强维系。在这种混杂的聚集里，乌合之众的所有心理特征——冲动的英雄气概、不加掩饰的暴戾、变化无常的激情——都极端地表现出…