To Florus 1.74

Let us hear, then, what you wrote in reply to these words of mine: “It is not as you say, whoever said this; it is not so. You are greatly mistaken, or planning to mislead. We do not deny free choice. But Truth says: ‘If the Son sets you free, then you will be truly free’ (John 8:36). You begrudge this liberator to the captives to whom you attribute an empty freedom. ‘For whatever has overcome someone has made him its slave’, as Scripture says (2 Peter 2:19). No one is released from this bond of slavery except through the liberator's grace, and no human being is exempt from it. ‘For through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death; and so it passed to all human beings, in whom all sinned’” (Romans 5:12; Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.8).

The cause we defend has the greatest dignity, as consideration and weighing of the matters themselves show, and as your fear also shows. You fight to shed our people's blood by pouring out money, giving away estates, sending horses, stirring up the populace, and corrupting officials. Yet you are ashamed to profess the faith of yours that we attack, and take refuge in the language of our position, from which you have strayed.