To Florus 1.82
A person can therefore possess a good that is his own precisely because he also has the capacity to do evil. The entire fullness of divine judgment is so closely bound up with this human freedom that whoever recognizes one knows both. Consequently, whoever violates one violates both. Let the freedom of human choice therefore be preserved just as divine fairness is preserved. This is the understanding of free choice that has subjected belief in fate, the calculations of Chaldean astrologers, and the fantasies of the Manichaeans to the Church's truth. This is the understanding that shows you too, along with those we have listed, to be strangers to Christ. Freedom of choice, then, is the capacity either to commit or to avoid sin, free from compelling necessity. It has within its own authority which of the alternatives that arise it follows: either the steep and rugged heights of the virtues or the sunken marshes of pleasures.
Latin
Per hoc igitur suppetit homini habere proprium bonum, per quod ei subest posse facere malum. Tota ergo divini plenitudo iudicii tam iunctum habet negotium cum hac libertate hominum, ut harum qui unam agnoverit, ambas noverit. Unde fit ut harum unam qui violaverit, ambas violet. Sic igitur et libertas humani custodiatur arbitrii, quemadmodum divina aequitas custoditur. Hic intellectus liberi arbitrii est, qui et fatorum opinionem, et Chaldaeorum supputationem, et Manichaeorum phantasias, veritati ecclesiasticae subiugavit. Hic intellectus est, qui cum illis, quos enumeravimus, vos etiam a Christo monstrat alienos. Libertas igitur arbitrii, possibilitas est vel admittendi, vel vitandi peccati, expers cogentis necessitatis, quae in suo utpote iure habet, utrum surgentium partem sequatur, id est, vel ardua asperaque virtutum, vel demersa et palustria voluptatum.
About this text
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.
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.