To Florus 2.20
These are the principal points established in the first book. Any one of them alone is amply sufficient for the victory of truth. Although the further work is more than necessary, it remains for us to discuss the Teacher of the Gentiles’ statement that sin entered the world through one man (Romans 5:12). We will use the definitions already given whenever necessary and prove that reason has said nothing false. It is an act of injustice to charge some people’s births with other people’s deliberate deeds. Through testimonies from the law, in this book or the next, we will also show that this very injustice displeases God and is forbidden by him, although no one should have doubted it. These points necessarily establish both that we are entirely right to maintain that no one is born with sin and that God cannot judge newborn children guilty. Free will is therefore as intact as each person’s nature is innocent before the exercise of that person’s own will.
Latin
His igitur maxime actis in primo libro, quorum unum aliquod abunde sufficit ad victoriam veritatis; ex abundanti quidem, superest tamen, ut Magistri Gentium, qua per unum hominem peccatum dixit intrasse in mundum [n20] , sententiam disputemus; et definitionibus, quas praemisimus, cum necesse fuerit, adiuvandi; et probaturi nihil rationem fuisse mentitam; sed iniustitiae esse crimen, aliorum studia aliorum ortibus imputare; hocque ipsum quod iniquum est, quamvis nemo hinc dubitare debuerit, tamen Deo displicere, et ab eodem prohiberi, testimoniis legis, vel in hoc libro, vel in sequenti docebimus. Ex quibus necessario conficitur, et nos rectissime defendere, neminem cum peccato nasci, et Deum reos non posse iudicare nascentes; ac per hoc, tam integrum esse liberum arbitrium, quam ante voluntatis propriae usum innoxiam in unoquoque naturam.