If I concede — as you say — that desire’s evil cannot be conquered, I will profess myself an advocate of…

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If I concede — as you say — that desire’s evil cannot be conquered, I will profess myself an advocate of shamefulness. But if I said that I called this evil natural, yet one that could be conquered — that is, avoided —

People can avoid every sin when they can conquer the evil of desire. If lust is a natural evil and is conquered by love of virtue, all the more can the vices arising solely from the will be overcome.

Latin source witness

Latin

Si connivero - sicut dicis - invictum esse libidinis malum, profitebor me esse turpitudinis advocatum: si autem dixero, malum me quidem hoc naturale dixisse, sed quod vinci possit, id est, possit caveri

Possunt enim homines - inquis - omne vitare peccatum, cum possunt vincere concupiscentiae malum. Si enim libido naturale malum est, et vincitur amore virtutis; multo magis - dicis - illa omnia vitia superari, quae de sola voluntate contingunt

Profiteri te turpitudinis advocatum, si libidinem negaveris esse vincendam

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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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