This union of bodies, with warmth, with pleasure, with seed, made by God, is recognized as praiseworthy…

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This union of bodies, with warmth, with pleasure, with seed, made by God, is recognized as praiseworthy within its proper measure. Sometimes it even becomes a great gift to the godly.

You must therefore confess that the original sin you invented has vanished.

Latin source witness

Latin

"Ista - inquit - corporum commixtio cum calore, cum voluptate, cum semine, a Deo facta, et pro suo modo laudabilis approbatur, quae aliquando etiam amplum efficitur munus piorum". Dixit: "cum calore"; dixit: "cum voluptate"; dixit: "cum semine", non tamen dicere ausus est: "cum libidine". Quare, nisi quia nominare erubescit, quam laudare non erubescit? Munus autem piorum propagatio est fecunda filiorum, non commotio pudenda membrorum, quam non haberet in generandis filiis natura sana, nunc autem habet eam natura vitiata. Ac per hoc et qui inde nascitur indiget renasci, ut sit membrum Christi; et de quo nascitur, si iam renatus est, indiget liberari ab ea quae in corpore mortis huius est lege peccati. Quae cum ita sint, quomodo adiungit et dicit: "Confitearis ergo necesse est originale, quod finxeras, interisse peccatum"? Non ego finxi originale peccatum, quod catholica fides credit antiquitus; sed tu, qui hoc negas, sine dubio es novus haereticus. Sub diabolo autem sunt, iudicio Dei, omnes cum peccato generati, si non fuerint in Christo regenerati.

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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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