To Florus 1.49

The Manichaean invented and believed that the god of light fought with the prince of darkness; he added that this god's substance is held captive in this world. But he tries to excuse so great a misfortune under an appearance of piety, asserting that his god fought like a good citizen for his homeland and exposed his limbs to danger rather than lose his kingdom. You learned these things. Consider how much progress you made by abandoning them, even for a time! You say that God was not forced to undergo war but committed an unjust judgment; that he is not subject to dark enemies but to plainly evident crimes; and finally that he did not part with his own substance but violated eternal justice. I leave others to judge which of you is worse. This much is clear: you arrive at one and the same wicked opinion. The Manichaean assigns injustice to his god when he says that on the last day his god will condemn the members he himself surrendered. You too declare God miserable, because he ruins the glory that made him renowned and, by persecuting the innocence he created, loses the justice that made him supremely holy. The god your teacher invented therefore surpasses the God you introduce by just as much as defeat in battle is more excusable than defeat by vice.