You have certainly defined as evil by nature this desire without which there is no fruitfulness. How,…

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You have certainly defined as evil by nature this desire without which there is no fruitfulness. How, then, is it aroused in old people through a heavenly gift? Now establish, if you can, that something you see God bestow as a gift belongs to the devil’s work.

Latin source witness

Latin

Dicit etiam iste multa frustra de Abraham et Sarra, quomodo ex repromissione acceperint filium, et tandem concupiscentiam nominat, non tamen addit carnis quia ipsa pudenda est. In concupiscentia autem nomine aliquando gloriandum est, quia est et concupiscentia spiritus adversus carnem 41, est et concupiscentia sapientiae 42. Ait ergo: "Certe hanc concupiscentiam, sine qua nulla fecunditas est, malam naturaliter definisti; unde ergo per donum caeleste in senibus excitatur? Adstrue iam hoc, si potes, ad opus diaboli pertinere, quod Deum vides conferre pro munere". Ita hoc dicit, quasi concupiscentia carnis illis ante defuerit et hanc eis donaverit Deus, quae procul dubio inerat in corpore mortis huius; sed fecunditas defuit, cuius auctor est Deus, et ipsa donata est quando voluit Deus. Absit autem, ut dicamus, quod nos putavit esse dicturos, Isaac sine concubitus calore generatum.

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About this text

Intermediary extracts Augustine answered in Book Two — compiler framing labeled where needed. Latin context is on each section when recovered.

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.

English follows the extracts Augustine answered in On Marriage and Concupiscence II. Compiler framing is labeled where needed.

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Translated from Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence II (Latin · Extracts of Julian)

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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