To Florus 3.170
And again: ‘Anyone who has lawful intercourse through shameful desire uses an evil well; anyone who has unlawful intercourse uses an evil badly. For what makes both evil and good people blush is more rightly called evil than good. We do better to believe the apostle, who says: “Good does not dwell in my flesh”’ (Romans 7:18; Augustine, Marriage and Sexual Desire 2.36). Elsewhere: ‘Desire is not the good of marriage, but the obscenity of sinners, the necessity of those who generate offspring, the heat of wantonness, the shame of marriage’ (Marriage and Sexual Desire 1.13). And this: ‘What they afterward did in producing offspring is the good of marriage; what they first covered in confusion is the evil of desire, which everywhere avoids being seen and seeks privacy out of shame’ (Marriage and Sexual Desire 1.8).
These and the other things you regularly use for this argument come more from your memory than your intelligence. Mani, then, labored to compose what he thought clever; you were disappointed in thinking you could conceal what you had read and retained.
Latin
Et item: Pudenda libidine, qui licite concumbit, malo bene utitur, qui autem illicite, malo male utitur; rectius enim accipit nomen mali quam boni, unde erubescunt et mali et boni, meliusque credimus Apostolo, qui dicit: " Quia non habitat in carne mea bonum " [n204] ; et alibi: Non est libido nuptiarum bonum, sed obscaenitas peccantium, necessitas generantium, lasciviarum ardor, nuptiarum pudor [n205] ; et illud: Quod postea propagatione fecerunt, hoc est connubii bonum, quod vero prius confusione texerunt, hoc est concupiscentiae malum, quod vitat ubique conspectum et quaerit pu dendo secretum [n206] , vel alia, quibus ad hoc argumentum uti soles, memoria tua magis quam ingenio prolata sunt. Manichaeus ergo afflictus est, ut ea, quae putabat acuta, componeret, tu vero frustratus, qui putasti latere posse, quod legeras et tenebas.
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.