FathersVia Patrum

To Florus

Julian of Eclanum · c. 419–430 AD · Preserved in Augustine, Unfinished Work Against Julian

Julian’s six preserved books to Florus, quoted section by section in Augustine’s unfinished reply. Augustine’s refutations are omitted. Latin of Julian’s words is on each section.

About this text

Julian’s own books do not survive as a separate manuscript. English follows his words as Augustine quotes them in the Unfinished Work Against Julian. Augustine’s replies are omitted. We do not restore a Julian text independent of Augustine.

Witnesses

  • Copy-text Augustine, Unfinished Work Against Julian (Latin · Julian’s words as quoted, Books 1–6)
  • Checked print Augustinus.it Latin of the Unfinished Work (Latin · Same work)
  • Checked print Migne PL 45 (Latin · Hard cases)

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.

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.

This volume gathers the surviving arguments: the six books To Florus with the earlier fragments and letter material, each with its source locator.

© 2026 SaneApps. This translation is free to share and adapt, even commercially, as long as you credit SaneApps. Draft translation, prepared with AI assistance and not yet independently reviewed. Verify against the original before citing.

Each book reads on one continuous page:

Book 130 passages · 141 sections · read
  1. 1.1–1.6Although I was burdened with great distress, stirred partly by…
  2. 1.7–1.13But you urgently requested, or rather ordered with a father's…
  3. 1.14–1.19I explained some scriptural testimonies at greater length and others…
  4. 1.20–1.22Here too, however, as in my earlier work, I warn the reader that I…
  5. 1.23–1.27You invent the charge that I omitted the apostle's testimony,…
  6. 1.28–1.35Nature's own teaching has impressed on everyone, without exception,…
  7. 1.36–1.43Suppose Zeno does not allow justice to be called the greatest. He…
  8. 1.44–1.47What then? I will indeed yield to you. At this point I will give up…
  9. 1.48–1.49Sin deserves both the abhorrence of honorable people and lawful…
  10. 1.50–1.52Away with you, then, and this God of yours from the midst of the…
  11. 1.53–1.54For there I set out the following sequence of words, after saying…
  12. 1.55–1.62Thus infancy, when renewed, that is, advanced by the power of the…
  13. 1.63–1.65You say that sin is inherited through the condition of nature, while…
  14. 1.66–1.67You tried to make this union seem so accursed that you would have us…
  15. 1.68–1.70These matters were discussed at greater length in my first work. Yet…
  16. 1.71–1.72But enough of this; I will now take up what follows. “In the body of…
  17. 1.73–1.74Let us now proceed to my words, which he lifted out of the preface…
  18. 1.75–1.77What Babylon's shameful betrayal has undertaken is so wicked that,…
  19. 1.78–1.84For, as the author says, “Every discussion of a subject undertaken…
  20. 1.85–1.89Simply acknowledge whichever of these you choose, then, and stop…
  21. 1.90–1.94See how different the accounts of nature and will are. Jesus did not…
  22. 1.95–1.98This grace, then, which in baptism not only forgives sins but along…
  23. 1.99–1.106As it is, however, faithless to everyone, you say that a necessity…
  24. 1.107–1.109Your explanation of the apostle Paul's words would deserve to be…
  25. 1.110–1.115Let us briefly complete, however, the reply owed to the passage of…
  26. 1.116–1.123Believing human beings evil by the condition of birth, the…
  27. 1.124–1.131With this established, consider what follows from your course of…
  28. 1.132–1.134For Esau, profane and sexually immoral, sold his birthright for a…
  29. 1.135–1.139See the task of free will: “If anyone cleanses himself” from…
  30. 1.140–1.141Both the prophet and the apostle therefore introduced the potter as…
Book 240 passages · 236 sections · read
  1. 2.1–2.8We would be treated fairly if we were allowed to defend the cause of…
  2. 2.9–2.16These, then, are the whores of the Manichaeans, pandering to…
  3. 2.17–2.22Just as we discussed the definition of justice, we also discussed…
  4. 2.23–2.26In my first work, then, I examined his statement: ‘For just as sin,…
  5. 2.27–2.28I asked, then, in strict logical sequence, as all learning will…
  6. 2.29–2.35The case here concerns four persons: God the maker; the two parents,…
  7. 2.36–2.40Any educated reader of our works understands that you abuse your…
  8. 2.41–2.47Therefore what passes from those who beget to those born is not…
  9. 2.48–2.52In fact, you tried to infer by argument what the words themselves…
  10. 2.53–2.56Just as the word ‘imitation’ plainly applies in common to different…
  11. 2.57–2.63It is irrefutably established that the apostle shows this sin to…
  12. 2.64–2.69Consider, then, the distance between you and Paul. He says ‘through…
  13. 2.70–2.77Nevertheless, we must consider whether he now at least intimates…
  14. 2.78–2.85And what exists until the law is shown not to exist after the…
  15. 2.86–2.93Prove, then, that what the apostle understood fits your doctrines.
  16. 2.94–2.99But none of these things we have mentioned is known to happen to…
  17. 2.100–2.103But if you say that through Adam’s sin wickedness became natural and…
  18. 2.104–2.105But your opinion will not carry such weight among the wise that,…
  19. 2.106–2.112Consequently, if natural sin is the author of so many evils,…
  20. 2.113–2.116Although what we have already accomplished more than suffices to…
  21. 2.117–2.122Instead, it makes the good better. It raises everyone it receives to…
  22. 2.123–2.130What reason led you first to wound innocence with another’s crime,…
  23. 2.131–2.138He said, ‘Grace is from many offenses to justification’ (Romans…
  24. 2.139–2.144Yet I have argued far too gently. Even if Christ were shown, from…
  25. 2.145–2.149Consequently, they teach us to deny that anyone can be condemned for…
  26. 2.150–2.153Your ignorance or shamelessness is therefore exposed: either you do…
  27. 2.154–2.159How thoroughly this passage opposes your opinion was discussed in my…
  28. 2.160–2.166But since you confess that transgressors under the law are not heirs…
  29. 2.167–2.173Then, when we see the promises of the Testaments being fulfilled, we…
  30. 2.174–2.178For after saying, ‘It passed into all human beings,’ he immediately…
  31. 2.179–2.186Moreover, even if you refer this only to flesh, the stupidity of…
  32. 2.187–2.192For under the judgment of justice, which imputes no sin except one…
  33. 2.193–2.200This division cannot fit natural sin, which, if it existed, would…
  34. 2.201–2.208For if sin transmitted by descent was not imputed before the law,…
  35. 2.209–2.215The apostle does not lie. Therefore Christ’s grace abounded to more…
  36. 2.216–2.220Had he put it that way, the statement would have been shown as…
  37. 2.221–2.223In this sense, then, the offense is rightly said to have abounded:…
  38. 2.224–2.227He was, of course, speaking to living people and telling them that…
  39. 2.228–2.235But this gave occasion for the same question he had explained above:…
  40. 2.236Those whom he strove to amend would more rightly admonish him to…
Book 335 passages · 216 sections · read
  1. 3.1–3.8Respect for every virtue ought to flourish among the human race.…
  2. 3.9–3.13As the prophet David testifies, the fool did indeed say in his heart…
  3. 3.14–3.20In establishing the pattern to be followed in trials, God commanded…
  4. 3.21–3.28Now, then, let my words address the man with whom we are disputing.…
  5. 3.29–3.32This, to our grief, is the monstrous offspring produced in our time…
  6. 3.33–3.35Now apply these examples to the case. Charging children with their…
  7. 3.36–3.38Enough of gentler speech. The brightness of blazing reason now shows…
  8. 3.39–3.45Does God not appear a fully competent defender of his own judgments,…
  9. 3.46–3.49So you are angry with me because I believe God under oath rather…
  10. 3.50–3.54But perhaps you will try to deceive simpler hearers with this…
  11. 3.55–3.60Look at the light, the crowd of pronouncements, the dignity of…
  12. 3.61–3.68But as it is, not even a slight occasion for this opinion can be…
  13. 3.69–3.76Because it weakens and destroys free will, the chief defense…
  14. 3.77–3.84Savage injustice in his judgments.
  15. 3.85–3.86When we came to the apostle Paul’s statement that the advocate of…
  16. 3.87–3.94Where it is said of Christ, ‘The one who sanctifies and those who…
  17. 3.95–3.102Consequently, our answer remains unshaken. It shows that the apostle…
  18. 3.103–3.108But stripped of the substance of catholic faith, you put on its name…
  19. 3.109–3.114Look: just as we did in the first book, we now press you closely to…
  20. 3.115–3.122How, then, do you acknowledge free will when you say it can do only…
  21. 3.123–3.130Catholics acknowledge its reality. The advocates of inherited sin…
  22. 3.131–3.138And God charges people with the crime of his own hands.
  23. 3.139–3.143And I showed that most of your inventions require almost more effort…
  24. 3.144–3.145A little later you add: ‘Human nature, whether born from marriage or…
  25. 3.146–3.153Here is my brief answer: far from denying Christ’s medicine to…
  26. 3.154–3.157Thus between you and Mani there is no disagreement about nature’s…
  27. 3.158–3.164These defenses protect the innocent nature of all things, which,…
  28. 3.165–3.172But I am speaking of the virtues we acquire through the use of fully…
  29. 3.173–3.178You surely recognize how explicitly Mani affirms the transmission of…
  30. 3.179–3.186Yet by argument and by appropriating Scripture’s testimonies, you…
  31. 3.187He persists in attacking us and adds: ‘As for those who have dared…
  32. 3.188–3.192It remains to examine your statement which, promising to reduce it…
  33. 3.193–3.200But if nature is vindicated from evils and defended as good, evil…
  34. 3.201–3.208‘Nevertheless,’ he says, ‘I am no Manichaean, although I acquit it…
  35. 3.209–3.216In those baptized, what is removed is not fleshly desire, which is…
Book 427 passages · 136 sections · read
  1. 4.1–4.4I think an attentive reader may wonder why, although I have divided…
  2. 4.5After criticizing this with such solemnity, he proceeds to the rest…
  3. 4.6–4.10Although this was established there with the fullest possible…
  4. 4.11–4.18And your praise of catholic statements comes from your fear, not…
  5. 4.19–4.22I said that you used language entirely belonging to Manichaeus…
  6. 4.23–4.25For he had also said in his Gospel: “The world was made through him,…
  7. 4.26–4.31I treated this passage in the second book of my earlier work and…
  8. 4.32–4.38There is therefore no need to labor over this. Still, I commend the…
  9. 4.39–4.43Just as we received God’s image through the reason of the mind…
  10. 4.44–4.47The time urges us to move on to other matters. But since you plainly…
  11. 4.48–4.50He was not, on this account, someone who avoided offenses through…
  12. 4.51–4.55I showed in the third book of my first work that, if natural sin…
  13. 4.56–4.59When he says that abstinence from foods will be taught, an…
  14. 4.60–4.67Accordingly, there can be no sin in that nature, since no injustice…
  15. 4.68–4.75I therefore had to ask what the devil recognized as his own in the…
  16. 4.76–4.80I, however, find nothing to admire in my own talent because I…
  17. 4.81–4.87Manichaeus did both. Having invented the claim that evil exists…
  18. 4.88–4.90Having completed these points as the subject required, I would like…
  19. 4.91–4.98With what shamelessness, then, do you both approve my statement and…
  20. 4.99–4.104Then your concession that sin does not exist without will is false,…
  21. 4.105–4.112After this reply, he tries to wash away another point on which I had…
  22. 4.113–4.116They may have spoken somewhat simply, or, while examining some other…
  23. 4.117–4.121Suppose, then, that the bishops whose words I am now clearing heard…
  24. 4.122–4.123Yet although Jovinian is accused of hostility to Ambrose, he is…
  25. 4.124–4.128The reader may now be waiting to learn how this testimony should be…
  26. 4.129–4.130“Yet even these,” he says, “you spared as human beings, and sent…
  27. 4.131–4.136A little later it continues: “By chastising them you made your…
Book 518 passages · 64 sections · read
  1. 5.1–5.4The dangers of every age have shown that respect for uncorrupted…
  2. 5.5–5.9But let us now approach the case. In both my earlier work and the…
  3. 5.10–5.11After this he passed over the whole continuous discussion of Abraham…
  4. 5.12–5.15Yet everywhere I marvel at our debater’s consistency. He declares…
  5. 5.16–5.18But let us proceed to what remains. After avoiding Abraham’s…
  6. 5.19–5.21Where, then, is your diabolical crime, which you tried to attach to…
  7. 5.22–5.24But we speak this way to show where your creed ends. The point…
  8. 5.25–5.26To avoid the odium of this name, your mention of various heresies is…
  9. 5.27–5.30You therefore ask where this evil comes from which rightly deserves…
  10. 5.31–5.33You thought it a powerful objection to ask where an evil will arose…
  11. 5.34–5.38Well done for your mighty wisdom! By the rules of a new method of…
  12. 5.39–5.42Not content to win in only one way, I will expose the falsehood of…
  13. 5.43–5.47For what is evil, that is, sin? The will to pursue what justice…
  14. 5.48–5.54He therefore does both evil and good from his own will. Yet he owes…
  15. 5.55–5.59All who declare war on truth suffer this disgrace. Let us gather our…
  16. 5.60–5.62But why turn to infants, when the Manichaeans’ question does not…
  17. 5.63Let the discerning reader therefore hold firmly in mind the great…
  18. 5.64From the same dullness you also produced this other statement: ‘God…
Book 616 passages · 41 sections · read
  1. 6.1–6.7I do not doubt that until now our dispute has been regarded as…
  2. 6.8–6.10He thinks, therefore, that praising those first humans—just two…
  3. 6.11–6.12The alliance between you and the Manichaeans plainly endures: they…
  4. 6.13–6.14What, then, has been established? One of two alternatives is…
  5. 6.15–6.16But let us not press the first part of the contest too hard. Let us…
  6. 6.17–6.19See, by contrast, how real our struggle is against you and Mani,…
  7. 6.20–6.21What parasite ever flattered a boastful soldier’s strength as the…
  8. 6.22–6.23Time urges us to move on, but indignation forces me to linger here a…
  9. 6.24–6.26But why should hostility toward innocence arouse indignation against…
  10. 6.27Enough about the woman; let us pass to the man’s tasks. ‘To Adam he…
  11. 6.28–6.30What, finally, will be said about the serpent itself? Do you think…
  12. 6.31–6.32Enough now about Genesis. Let us turn to the apostle Paul, whom Mani…
  13. 6.33–6.36The outstanding teacher built his argument with great force and gave…
  14. 6.37–6.38‘But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who…
  15. 6.39–6.40‘But someone will say: How do the dead rise? In what body do they…
  16. 6.41In this passage Augustine thinks death’s sting is that ancient sin,…