To Florus 2.72

Let us also examine what follows. ‘But sin was not reckoned,’ the apostle says, ‘when there was no law’ (Romans 5:13). You then add: ‘It therefore existed but was not reckoned, as he says elsewhere: “Through the law comes knowledge of sin”’ (Romans 3:20; Augustine, Marriage and Desire 2.46). If, then, knowledge of sin came through the law, and the sin of inherited transmission was not imputed before the law, show that it was imputed under the law. If through the law came knowledge of sin, and before the law there was ignorance of sin, there can be no doubt that a chief reason for promulgating the law was to expose, and enable people to avoid, what had previously been hidden.