《道德情操论·卷一·论行为的合宜性·三之三·论道德情感因崇拜富贵、轻视贫贱而败坏》第4节
It is from our disposition to admire, and consequently to imitate, the rich and the great, that they are enabled to set, or to lead, what is called the fashion. Their dress is the fashionable dress; the language of their conversation, the fashionable style; their air and deportment, the fashionable behaviour. Even their vices and follies are fashionable; and the greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the very qualities which dishonour and degrade them. Vain men often give themselves airs of a fashionable profligacy, which, in their hearts, they do not approve of, and of which, perhaps, they are really not guilty. They desire to be praised for what they themselves do not think praiseworthy, and are ashamed of unfashionable virtues which they sometimes practise in secret, and for which they have secretly some degree of real veneration. There are hypocrites of wealth and greatness, as well as of religion and virtue; and a vain man is as apt to pretend to be what he is not, in the one way, as a cunning man is in the other. He assumes the equipage and splendid way of living of his superiors, without considering that whatever may be praiseworthy in any of these, derives its whole merit and propriety from its suitableness to that situation and fortune which both require and can easily support the expense. Many a poor man places his glory in being thought rich, without considering that the duties (if one may call such follies by so venerable a name) which that reputation imposes upon him, must soon reduce him to beggary, and render his situation still more unlike that of those whom he admires and imitates, than it had been originally.
注释摘要
斯密在这一段转而讨论一个具体的后果：崇拜富贵并不只是把敬意错给了人，它还会让我们主动模仿那些人，从而将他们的品味、举止乃至恶习传播到整个社会，成为他们引领风潮的媒介。前面他刚刚论证，人们对财富与权贵的尊敬几乎是不假思索的，而这种情感又与对智慧美德的尊敬在外观上极为相似，极易混淆。现在他进一步说明，崇拜不仅止于观望，它自然而然地导向模仿。因为羡慕那些高高在上…