Augustine reports Julian applied to him the apostolic condemnation of heretics ‘forbidding marriage’ (1…

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Augustine reports Julian applied to him the apostolic condemnation of heretics ‘forbidding marriage’ (1 Timothy 4:3), alleging that his position was: ‘After Christ’s coming, marriages are shameful.’

A human being is sufficient to lay down laws for his inborn impulses.

Latin source witness

Latin

Apostolica sententia, qua notat haereticos prohibentes nubere [n142] , etiam me - asseris - tangi

Post adventum Christi turpia esse coniugia

hominem sufficere ingenitis sibi motibus dare leges

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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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