To Florus 3.27
Or perhaps he does not punish them—which is certainly prudent—but even rewards servants who obey his commands, although those commands teach injustice? Then what did his envy achieve, if mortals arrived by doing unjust things at the same destination they would have reached by observing justice? Those he deceived lose nothing of their happiness, while he is deprived both of the consciousness of goodness and justice and of the honor belonging to them. How much more tolerable it would have been to throw off the profession of religion than to steer a course along such steep and deadly paths!
Latin
An forte non punit, quod quidem facit prudenter, sed etiam remuneratur famulos praeceptis suis, licet iniustitiam docentibus, obsecutos? Et quid ei profuit invidere, si et iniustas res faciendo eo pervenerunt mortales, quo etiam iustitiam servando venissent? Cumque illis, quos circumvenit, de felicitate nihil pereat, hic tamen benignitatis ac iustitiae conscientia simul et honore privatur. Quanto erat tolerabilius a religionis professione colla subducere quam per tam praerupta, tam exitialia orbitas ducere?