To Florus 5.54
Failing to perceive this subtle distinction, Mani produced swarms of advocates of inherited sin for us. He argues as follows: ‘Where does evil come from? From will, of course. Where does evil will come from?’ He answers, ‘From a human being. Where does the human being come from? Through God.’ He concludes: ‘If evil comes from a human being, and the human being through God, evil therefore comes through God.’ Then, as though religiously avoiding making God criminal, he supplies a nature of darkness to which we should attribute evil. Augustine follows: ‘Where does evil come from? From will. Where,’ he asks, ‘does that will itself come from? From a human being, who is God’s work.’ He concludes: ‘If evil comes from will, will from a human being, and the human being is God’s work, evil therefore comes through God.’ As though trying to solve this without appearing to call God criminal—which his doctrine of transmission affirms—he offers us, in God’s place, an equally violent nothing: that is, darkness, to which we should attribute this evil. ‘For evil arose in a human being,’ he says, ‘not because he was God’s work, but because he was from nothing’ (Augustine, Marriage and Desire 2.28.48).
As though truth could not answer: with what shamelessness does your God first lie that a human being has a will, and then condemn him, when God knows this evil, sin, arose from the necessity of darkness—that is, ancient nothing? I have declined ‘nothing’ through its grammatical cases to display the prowess of the advocate of inherited sin, who places his hope in nothing. But see the weakness of the God he introduces. He could not overcome even nothing. Having made a human being from nothing, he could not free him from the condition of evil that came from nothing. Instead, embittered by the difficulty of affairs, he accuses the human being for his own faults and condemns nothing’s offenses by destroying his own image. Old Mani treats him more kindly, saying that the race of darkness did not ravage him completely. The advocate of inherited sin introduces so great a weakness in God that he invents the claim that God was defeated by nothing.
Latin
Hanc ergo subtilitatem divisionum non introspiciens Manichaeus, Traducianorum nobis produxit examina. Argumentatur enim hoc modo: Unde malum? Nimirum de voluntate. Unde voluntas mala? Respondet: De homine. Unde homo? Per Deum. Concluditque: Si malum ex homine, homo per Deum, malum igitur per Deum. Et post hoc, quasi religiosus, ne criminosum faciat Deum, dat tenebrarum naturam, cui malum debeamus adscribere. Hinc et Augustinus: Unde malum? De voluntate. Unde, inquit, ipsa voluntas? De homine, qui est opus Dei. Et colligit: Si malum ex voluntate, voluntas ex homine, homo opus Dei; malum igitur per Deum. Quod quasi conatus absolvere, ne Deum criminosum dicere videretur (quod tradux eius affirmat), violentum aeque pro Deo nobis nihil obtulit, id est, tenebras quibus malum hoc adscribere deberemus. Non enim, inquit, ideo in homine malum natum est, quia opus Dei erat, sed ideo quia de nihilo erat [n94] . Quasi veritas respondere non possit: Et qua impudentia primo mentitur Deus tuus esse in homine voluntatem; deinde condemnat, cum malum istud, videlicet peccatum, de necessitate noverit tenebrarum, id est, antiqui nihili contigisse? Infleximus per casus nihil, ut appareret Traduciani virtus in nihilo collocantis spem suam. Vide tamen imbecillitatem Dei, quem Traducianus inducit. Ipsum nihilum superare non valuit; cumque hominem fecisset ex nihilo, non eum potuit a conditione mali, quae de nihilo veniebat, exuere; sed rerum difficultate factus amarior, pro suis culpis hominem criminatur, et imaginis suae exitio nihili delicta condemnat. Benignius cum eo agit senex Manes, ut dicat illum non usquequaque tenebrarum gente vastatum; cuius debilitatem tantam inducit Traducianus, ut commentetur eum a nihilo fuisse superatum.
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.