The good God, through whom everything was made, himself formed the parts of our body. He who made bodies…

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The good God, through whom everything was made, himself formed the parts of our body.

He who made bodies also distinguished the sexes. He made them different in form in order to join them in action; the difference between their organs supplied the reason for their union.

Therefore the union of bodies comes from the same source as bodies themselves.

Once you have conceded this, however unwillingly, it follows that so many good things—bodies, sexes, unions—cannot have evil fruits.

Latin source witness

Latin

Deus - inquis - bonus, per quem facta sunt omnia, ipse corporis nostri membra formavit

Qui autem corpora fecerat, divisit et sexum: divisit in specie, quod in operatione coniungeret; fecitque causam coniunctionum dissimilitudo membrorum

Ab ipso igitur commixtio corporum, a quo est origo corporum

Quod cum ingratis, - inquis - concesseris, sequitur tot rerum bonarum, corporum, sexuum, coniunctionum, malos fructus esse non posse

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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.

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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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