To Florus 3.51
Here is our reply. Then admit that the other proposition, which carries equal weight, also holds: parents’ righteous deeds benefit and sanctify their children, and fail to benefit only those who, once older, have worn away their inborn righteousness by their own crimes. God denied both propositions, explaining and repeatedly emphasizing each through the example of the other. Since you see that his denial opposes your reasoning and insist that it is false concerning infants, refute both its parts by the condition of newborn children. When you do so, you will commit two evils together: you will attack God’s pronouncement, and you will assert that a righteous person is born from a righteous person and a criminal from a criminal (Ezekiel 18:19–20).
Latin
Sed ad hoc nos referimus. Et illud ergo aliud, quod paribus momentis appenditur fieri profitere, id est ut iustitiae parentum filiis suis prosint eosque sanctificent atque illis tantummodo non dicantur prodesse, qui grandioris iam aevi natales iustitias propriis attrivere criminibus, ut, quia utrumque a Deo negatum et alterum alterius exemplo dissertum atque inculcatum est, quam tu negationem rationibus tuis videns esse contrariam in parvulis mentitam esse contendis, ambas eius partes nascentium conditione confutes. Quod cum feceris, duo mala pariter perpetrabis, unum, quod oppugnat sententiam Dei, aliud quoniam nasci de iusto iustum et de criminoso asseris criminosum.