The expression ‘in whom all sinned’ is used as though it said ‘because of which all sinned,’ just as it…

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The expression ‘in whom all sinned’ is used as though it said ‘because of which all sinned,’ just as it says, ‘By what does a young man correct his way?’ (Romans 5:12; Psalm 119:9, LXX/Vulgate Psalm 118:9)

Augustine reports Julian’s interpretation: all people are not to be understood as having sinned originally in one man, together as though united in a single mass. Rather, they sin because the first man sinned—by imitating him, not by being born from him.

Latin source witness

Latin

ea locutione dictum esse: In quo omnes peccaverunt, ac si diceretur: Propter quod omnes peccaverunt; sicut dictum est: In quo corrigit iunior viam suam [n214] ; ut scilicet non in uno homine omnes homines peccasse intellegantur originaliter, et tamquam in massae unione communiter; sed propterea quia primus hominum ille peccavit; id est, cum imitantur illum, non cum generantur ex illo. Non ergo huic sensui convenit illa locutio, ita dictum esse: in quo, velut dictum esset:

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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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