《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十四章·十八世纪法国人的非宗教情绪及其影响》第2节
There the state of things was such as had never occurred before. In other times, established religions had been attacked with violence; but the ardour evinced against them had always taken rise in the zeal inspired by a new faith. Even the false and detestable religions of antiquity had not had either numerous or passionate adversaries until Christianity arose to supplant them; till then they were quietly and noiselessly dying out in doubt and indifference--dying, in fact, the death of religions, by old age. But in France the Christian religion was attacked with a sort of rage, without any attempt to substitute any other belief. Continuous and vehement efforts having been made to expel from the soul of man the faith that had filled it, the soul was left empty. A mighty multitude wrought with ardour at this thankless task. That absolute incredulity in matters of religion which is so contrary to the natural instincts of man, and places his soul in so painful a condition, appeared attractive to the masses. That which until then had only produced the effect of a sickly languor, began to generate fanaticism and a spirit of propagandism. The occurrence of several great writers, all disposed to deny the truths of the Christian religion, can hardly be accepted as a sufficient explanation of so extraordinary an event. For how, it may be asked, came all these writers, every one of them, to turn their talents in this direction rather than any other? Why, among them all, cannot one be found who took it into his head to support the other side? and, finally, how was it that they found the ears of the masses far more open to listen to them than any of their predecessors had done, and men’s minds so inclined to believe them? The efforts of all these writers, and above all their success, can only be explained by causes altogether peculiar to their time and their country. The spirit of Voltaire had already been long in the world: but Voltaire himself, in truth, could never have attained his supremacy, except in the eighteenth century and in France.
注释摘要
托克维尔在此展开的是一套非常自觉的比较历史分析。他先设定一个普遍的历史类型：以往所有对既有宗教的猛烈攻击，其驱动力都来自一种要取而代之的新信仰。哪怕是古代那些被他称为“虚假可憎”的异教，在没有基督教崛起与之竞争之前，它们的消亡也是安静的——不是为了摧毁而摧毁，而是渐渐在怀疑与漠然中衰老死去。这并非一句随意带过的修辞，而是他的一个结构性判断：一种信念体系的瓦…