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Reported interpretation
Augustine reports that the authors read the saying “It is for a human being to prepare the heart, and the…
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Augustine reports that the authors read the saying “It is for a human being to prepare the heart, and the Lord gives the tongue’s answer” as meaning that preparing the heart—that is, beginning something good—belongs to a human being without the help of God’s grace (Proverbs 16:1 ).
Latin source witness
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About this text Julian wrote in the early 400s, in the fight over Pelagius. This is later than the first three centuries of the church.
Surviving material from the bishops’ letter; not a recovered complete text. Open the Latin source witness on each section.
Julian of Eclanum (c. 386–c. 455) was bishop of Eclanum in southern Italy until 418, when he was deposed and exiled for refusing to condemn Pelagius. The most learned Pelagian controversialist, he pursued Augustine across a decade of pamphlet war.
None of Julian's works survives directly; what remains is preserved in the long quotations of Augustine, who answered him book by book. Reconstructed from those hostile pages, Julian emerges as a formidable defender of free will, marriage, and the goodness of creation.
Edition Against Two Letters of the Pelagians II–IV
Surviving material from the bishops’ letter as Augustine quotes it in Against Two Letters of the Pelagians II–IV. Not a recovered complete letter.
Printed text used
Fragments Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians II – IV We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.
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