To Florus 4.25

If you say that the name “desire” (1 John 2:16) includes even that measure in which it experiences the lawful pleasure of natural things, so that the desire of the flesh seems condemned in its entirety, then profess that the sense of sight, the world itself, and everything in the world were created by the devil. For all are equally said not to be from God. If you agree to that, you will certainly not become a Manichaean, since you already are one. You will simply show it by your confession, as you long ago showed it by your arguments. But if, frightened at having your error exposed, you say that under the names “desire of the flesh,” “desire of the eyes,” and “world” the apostle did not condemn the things themselves—which are harmless when they remain within permitted limits, and become blameworthy when they run into forbidden territory—then the point I argued in my first work will be clear: neither the kind, nor the form, nor the proper measure of natural desire is blameworthy, but only its excess. Therefore have the decency to leave this apostolic testimony alone from now on. If you pollute it with even a passing mention, you will be shown to have gained no defense at all, while being publicly exposed (compare 1 John 2:16).