To Florus 6.18
But by the faithfulness of our God and of humanity! Could such monstrous inventions really have been devised, deliberately and laboriously trying to assert everything upside down? What could be more monstrous than what the Carthaginian says? Things that were natural, he says, did not endure; things adopted by choice adhered to the first formation of the bodily members.
Adam, he says, was made good and possessed natural innocence. Raised above other creatures by a special nobility, he shone with his Creator’s likeness (Genesis 1:26–27). He received free will in his created condition, to move by his own judgment in whatever direction he wished. Through the very condition of his making, which set him above the rest, he obtained the ability to approach either good or evil and withdraw from either. But because he used his independent judgment to adopt a corrupt inclination of the free mind, he overthrew all those admittedly inborn things; only sin and the necessity of sinning clung to him inseparably.
This is what I called a monstrous invention. It is an unheard-of disgrace to say: A living being was well made in whom even natural goods could be lost, while even voluntary evils clung inseparably.
Latin
Sed proh Dei nostri atque hominum fidem! Haeccine potuisse commentorum prodigia reperiri, ut dedita opera impensoque studio in perversum conentur omnia asserere! Quid enim tam prodigiale, quam quod Poenus eloquitur? Ea, inquit, quae erant naturalia, perpetua non fuerunt; et illa, quae studio suscepta sunt, primis coagulis adhaesere membrorum. Bonus, inquit, Adam factus est, habuit innocentiam naturalem; ceteris etiam creaturis peculiari nobilitate praelatus, similitudine sui Conditoris enituit. Liberum arbitrium in conditione suscepit, ut in quam vellet partem suopte iudicio moveretur, facultatemque vel ad bonum, vel ad malum accedendi, vel ab utroque recedendi, ipsa facturae suae, qua ceteris antistabat, conditione sortitus est. Sed quoniam emancipato iudicio usurpavit pravam animi liberi voluntatem, illa omnia, quae ingenita constabat, evertit; solumque peccatum et peccandi necessitas ei inseparabiliter adhaesit. Hoc est, quod dixi prodigiale commentum. Inaudita quippe deformitas est dicere: Bene institutum est animal, in quo amissibilia fuerunt bona etiam naturalia, cui inseparabiliter adhaeserunt mala vel voluntaria.
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.