To Florus 4.79
Why do you deceive unhappy souls by lying that something was indicated when it was not? The Lord says in the Gospel: “See, the ruler of this world is coming, and he finds nothing in me” (John 14:30) (Matthew 4:1–11). The devil certainly encountered no sin in him, because he was defeated in every temptation he brought against him, whether when he hungered or afterward when he preached, through his persecutors (compare Matthew 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13). The Savior therefore declares that the devil detected no sin in him. Yet he certainly would have found it if anything were inherited through the flesh’s condition, since Christ too had been made from a woman descended from David’s seed and Adam’s stock (compare Galatians 4:4; Romans 1:3; Luke 3:23–38) (Luke 4:1–13) (Galatians 4:4) (Romans 1:3) (Luke 3:23–38).
Latin
Quid circumscribis infelices animas, ut mentiaris indicatum esse, quod non est? Dominus dicit in Evangelio: Ecce venit princeps mundi huius, et in me invenit nihil [n118] . Certum est nihil peccati in eo diabolum offendisse; quoniam in omni, vel quam esurienti, vel quam postea praedicanti, tamquam persecutores suos admoverat, tentatione superatus est. Profitetur ergo Salvator, nihil in se diabolum deprehendisse peccati. In quo certe invenisset, si quid de carnis conditione traheretur; quoniam et ipse factus fuerat ex muliere, de semine David et de Adam stirpe prognata.