There can be absolutely nothing that is both sin and punishment for sin. Augustine reports Julian accused…

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There can be absolutely nothing that is both sin and punishment for sin.

Augustine reports Julian accused him of contradictory statements: that bodily intercourse was invented by the devil, and that the law of sin opposing the mind’s law was imposed by God as punishment.

Latin source witness

Latin

Nullo modo esse posse aliquid quod et peccatum sit et poena peccati?

extra futuram operum retributionem ex multa parte liberum arbitrium formam voluit implere iudicii? Iustissime enim sibi - sicut definis - bonus homo malusque committitur, ut et bonus se fruatur

et malus se ipse patiatur

concubitum corporum a diabolo fuisse repertum

inoboedientiam carnis quae in carne concupiscente adversus spiritum apparet, diabolico vulnere contigisse

Hanc legem peccati repugnantem legi mentis a Deo illatam propter ultionem, et ideo poenam esse peccati

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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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