Julian excerpt in the intermediary document
Marriage 2.7.18
For Adam had fathered him through the power of his organs, not through a difference in merits.
Latin
Verum nunc, obsecro te, paulo attentius intuere, quod nomen invenerit, quo rursus operiret quod erubescit aperire. "Genuerat enim eum - inquit - Adam potentia membrorum, non diversitate meritorum". Quid dixerit "diversitate meritorum", fateor, non intellego; sed: "potentia membrorum", credo, illud voluit dicere, quod pudet evidenter dicere. Maluit enim dicere: "membrorum potentiam", quam carnis concupiscentiam. Plane, etiamsi non cogitavit, significavit aliquid, quod ad rem pertinere videatur. Quid enim potentius membris hominis, quando non serviunt voluntati hominis? Quae tamen etsi frenentur temperantia vel continentia, usus eorum aliquantum, motus tamen eorum non est in hominis potestate. Genuit ergo Adam filios hac, ut iste dicit: "membrorum" suorum "potentia", de qua priusquam illos gigneret, erubuit post peccatum. Si autem non peccasset, non eos genuisset membrorum potentia, sed membrorum oboedientia. Ipse quippe esset potens, ut eis subiectis voluntate imperaret, si potentiori et ipse subiectus eadem voluntate serviret.
About this text
Intermediary extracts Augustine answered in Book Two — compiler framing labeled where needed. Latin context is on each section when recovered.
English follows the extracts Augustine answered in On Marriage and Concupiscence II. Compiler framing is labeled where needed.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence II (Latin · Extracts of Julian)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.