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Fragments to Turbantius

Ad Turbantium

Julian of Eclanum (c. 386–c. 455 AD) · written c. 418–430 AD · Quoted by Augustine

Book 12 passages · 13 sections · read
  1. 1.5.16–1.7.30“Evil is not a substance, but a way of behaving that comes solely…
  2. 1.7.31–1.9.44You oppose us with only the crowd’s murmuring.
Book 22 passages · 9 sections · read
  1. 2.1.2–2.10.36The devil creates them, if they are created from the wound the devil…
  2. 2.10.37“The common dregs of sedentary tradesmen,” “stirred up against you.”…
Book 37 passages · 50 sections · read
  1. 3.1.2–3.5.11We could not plead our case before those judges, because no one…
  2. 3.6.13–3.10.20You will not let me escape, but will question me closely and…
  3. 3.11.21–3.16.30Sexual desire was restored by God’s gift to Abraham and Sarah when…
  4. 3.17.31–3.20.39The event was prophetic of what has now been shown in the region of…
  5. 3.20.40–3.23.53The apostle praised sexual desire by calling the use of a woman…
  6. 3.24.54–3.26.61A thing does not escape punishment when other things incur guilt by…
  7. 3.26.64–3.26.65For this is the shameful desire that shameless people shamelessly…
Book 47 passages · 55 sections · read
  1. 4.1.2–4.2.11I said that, on the apostle’s testimony, marital chastity is God’s gift.
  2. 4.2.12–4.3.23Moderating a thing that harms by its very nature does nothing to…
  3. 4.3.24–4.6.36“Everything that is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
  4. 4.7.37–4.8.47If someone could be created evil, they could never pass into…
  5. 4.8.48–4.9.55It contributes nothing to the praise of grace if it gives its own…
  6. 4.10.56–4.14.73If there is no marriage without desire, and you condemn desire in…
  7. 4.14.74–4.16.83Imitating animals is always sinful.
Book 58 passages · 60 sections · read
  1. 5.1.1–5.3.8Augustine reports that Julian’s introduction discussed hostility…
  2. 5.3.9–5.4.18If lust is punishment for sin, chastity must be cast aside, lest…
  3. 5.5.19–5.7.26Augustine reports that Julian charged him with contradicting…
  4. 5.7.27–5.9.35If I concede — as you say — that desire’s evil cannot be conquered,…
  5. 5.9.36–5.11.45There can be absolutely nothing that is both sin and punishment for…
  6. 5.12.46–5.15.54Augustine reports that Julian argued that, because intercourse was…
  7. 5.15.55–5.16.62The error of Apollinaris, who denied that Christ possessed bodily…
  8. 5.16.63–5.16.66Augustine reports Julian accused him of offering shameful and…
Book 610 passages · 64 sections · read
  1. 6.1.1–6.6.16Foolishness is the mother of all vices. ‘God loves no one except the…
  2. 6.7.17–6.9.26Curiosity usually wonders less at what it has understood. Against…
  3. 6.9.27–6.11.34Augustine reports that Julian and his party do not admit those who…
  4. 6.11.35–6.14.43Even in a worn-out body, lust cannot be restrained.
  5. 6.14.44–6.18.53People are not renewed through baptism, but only supposedly renewed;…
  6. 6.18.54–6.20.63The third kind of quality is a passing state and an enduring quality…
  7. 6.20.64–6.23.71‘Greater’ and ‘lesser’ belong to the defined category of quantity.…
  8. 6.23.72–6.24.75Augustine reports that Julian refers these words to ‘the Jews’…
  9. 6.24.76How a young man corrects his way (Psalm 119:9)
  10. 6.24.77–6.26.83But if he was speaking about the transmission of sin by descent,…
About this text

Julian’s earlier work To Turbantius, in four books, survives only in the excerpts Augustine quotes in his six-book reply, Against Julian. The excerpts are grouped here by those six books. Latin source text 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 Julian’s words as Augustine excerpts them in Against Julian. This is not a recovered complete To Turbantius.

Printed text used

  • Translated from Augustine, Against Julian (Latin · Excerpts arranged by Augustine’s books)

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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Author

Julian of Eclanum (c. 386–c. 455 AD) — Bishop of Eclanum in southern Italy and the sharpest opponent of Augustine's late teaching on grace and original sin. Deposed for refusing to condemn Pelagius, he argued that human nature remains good and the will free. Much of his writing survives only inside Augustine's replies.

All works by Julian of Eclanum

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