You declare a human being guiltless if born from fornication, but not innocent if born from marriage. That…

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You declare a human being guiltless if born from fornication, but not innocent if born from marriage. That is where your statement leads: a natural good can arise from adultery, while original evil is derived even from marriage.

Latin source witness

Latin

"Definis - inquit - hominem, si de fornicatione nascatur, reum non esse; si de coniugio, innocentem non esse. Huc enim pervenit quod dixisti bonum naturale de adulteriis posse subsistere, malum originale etiam de coniugio trahi". Frustra omnino conatur apud intellegentem lectorem, quae sunt recta pervertere. Absit enim, ut dicamus hominem, si de fornicatione nascatur, reum non esse, sed dicimus hominem, sive de coniugio sive de fornicatione nascatur, bonum aliquid esse propter auctorem naturae Deum, malum aliquid trahere propter originale peccatum. Quod ergo dicimus: "Bonum naturale etiam de adulteriis posse subsistere, malum autem originale etiam de coniugio trahi", non huc pervenit, quo ille conatur adducere, non nasci reum de adulteriis nec innocentem de nuptiis, sed ex utroque reum generatione factum propter originale delictum et utrumque regeneratione absolvendum propter naturae bonum.

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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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