To Florus 2.11

But now it has begun to be offered as medicine, and pleasure has gained the support of authority. With almost the whole world’s consent, shamelessness runs riot: the queen of minds, ruling through the bodily organs, the conqueror of decency, the undefeated captor of every soul. The more honorable our defense of truth, the harder it has therefore become. For the few who heal through speech have little power against reckless crowds hostile to their own remedies. What then? Should we sound the retreat at the sight of them, avenge the insults we have suffered by keeping silent, and laugh at others’ shipwrecks from the safe harbor of our conscience? But first, the goodwill we owe the human race opposes such hatred. So do our hope and faith in God. Besides repeatedly restoring the seemingly hopeless wreckage of the times, God has rewarded with eternal recompense the steadfastness he wished us to exercise until death, even when no result followed in the present.