Arnobius — Against the Nations 2.50
50.1. You declare that there are good men in the human race, who perhaps are believed to be so by comparison of the worst. Who are these? Say. Philosophers, I suppose, who claim that they alone are most wise and by force of that name have lifted the eyebrow: namely those who fight daily with their own desires and strive by stubborn wrestling of virtues to drive out and cast forth affections planted from the soul; who, lest they be able to be spurred into vices by the impulse of some means, flee patrimonies and riches and take away from themselves the causes of falling: which when they do and tend to, they indicate most openly that souls are slippery and by weakness prone to vices.
2. But in our judgment what is good by nature neither asks to be amended nor corrected; rather it itself ought not to know what evil is, if the form of each kind thinks to stand in its own integrity: for a contrary cannot be planted in a contrary, nor can equality be contained in the unequal, nor sweetness in bitterness. Therefore he who struggles to correct the inborn depravities of souls most openly shows that he is imperfect and unprovable, though he strive with every effort and obstinacy.
Latin
50.1. Vos humano in genere bonos esse dictitatis viros, qui ut esse credantur, conparatio forsitan efficiat pessimorum. Quinam isti sunt? dicite. Philosophi, credo, qui se esse solos sapientissimos autumant et vi huius nominis supercilium sustulerunt: nempe illi qui cum suis cotidie cupiditatibus pugnant et adfectus ex animis insitos proturbare, pellere pertinaci moliuntur obluctatione virtutum, qui ne in vitia proritari facultatis possint alicuius instinctu, patrimonia et divitias fugiunt et causas sibi auferunt lapsus: quod cum faciunt et curant, apertissime animas esse indicant labiles et infirmitate ad vitia proclives.
2. Nostra autem sententia quod bonum natura est neque emendari neque corrigi se poscit, immo ipsum debet quid sit malum nescire, si generis forma cuiusque in sua cogitat integritate perstare: neque enim contrarium insitum esse contrario potis est aut <in>inpari paritas aut dulcedo in amaritudine contineri. Qui ergo luctatur animarum ingenitas corrigere pravitates, is apertissime monstrat inperfectum, inprobabilem se esse, quamvis omni conatu et pervicacia contendat.