Even if newborns could draw some evil from their parents, it would be cleansed by God’s hands, because he…

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Even if newborns could draw some evil from their parents, it would be cleansed by God’s hands, because he himself forms them in their mothers’ wombs.

God’s works are hidden (compare Sirach 3:22–23).

This pronouncement exposes the emptiness of those who think nature’s depths can be comprehended by some investigation.

‘I do not know how you appeared in my womb’ (2 Maccabees 7:22).

Why are children not cleansed by the very act of their making, so that the maker’s majesty purifies them from the alleged pollutions of their parents?

Latin source witness

Latin

etiam si nascentes mali aliquid ex parentibus trahere possent, quod expiaretur manibus Dei, quia eos ipse format in uteris matrum

Quae sententia eorum arguit vanitatem, qui putant naturalem profunditatem posse investigatione aliqua comprehendi

Cur non ipso filii mundentur effectu, ut a pollutionibus - inquis - quae dicuntur parentum, maiestate opificis expientur?

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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.

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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