中文互联网上流传着一句话，据说是阿克顿勋爵说的——“每个时代，自由和常识都面临四大挑战：强人对权力集中的渴望，穷人对财富不平等的怨恨，无知者对乌托邦的向往，无信仰者将自由与放纵混为一谈。”
我查证了一下，这应该不是阿克顿勋爵的原话，可能是对其 1877 年 2 月 26 日在布里奇诺斯学会所作的演讲《The History of Freedom in Antiquity》开篇部分的总结。原文和译文如下：
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Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race.
自由在人类历史上的地位，仅次于宗教。自两千四百六十年前在雅典播下种子以来，直到这一成果在我们所继承的文明中逐渐成熟并被收获，自由既是推动善行的重要动力，也常常被用作罪行的共同借口。
It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free.
自由并不是与生俱来的东西，而是成熟文明所结出的精致而脆弱的果实；而真正理解“自由”这一概念，并在政治上决心追求自由的国家，出现至今也不过一百年左右。
In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food.
在任何一个时代，自由的进展都会遭遇它天然的敌人：无知与迷信，征服的欲望与贪图安逸的心理，强者对权力的渴望，以及为生存所迫的人对食物的迫切需求。
During long intervals it has been utterly arrested, when nations were being rescued from barbarism and from the grasp of strangers, and when the perpetual struggle for existence, depriving men of all interest and understanding in politics, has made them eager to sell their birthright for a pottage, and ignorant of the treasure they resigned.
在相当漫长的历史阶段中，自由曾经完全停滞不前——当民族尚在摆脱野蛮状态、挣脱外族统治之时；也当永无止境的生存斗争剥夺了人们对政治的一切兴趣与理解，使他们急于用本应属于自己的权利来换取一碗热汤，却并不知道自己究竟放弃了多么珍贵的东西。
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