To Florus 6.22
Time urges us to move on, but indignation forces me to linger here a little. Do you dare say Adam sinned voluntarily? Where did this dream come from? ‘Because,’ you say, ‘it would have been unjust for God to count something as sin unless he knew the person was free to abstain.’ What then? Did the prince of darkness whom you worship lend him this justice for a moment, then soon demand it back and strip this god of all fairness? At the beginning he understood that nothing should be counted as sin except what could freely be avoided; afterward, through all remaining time, he knew that every newborn lacked freedom to abstain.
Finally, how do you know that the only just course in Adam’s case was to punish voluntary guilt, unless you know it unjust to charge anyone with a crime admittedly received without will? Either you will consider inherited sin just, so that it can fit God’s judgment when he charges an infant with a sin committed without any will of the infant. Then you will be forced to profess it equally just and fitting for God’s judgments to have charged Adam with a sin he knew arose not from Adam’s will but from the deformity of his substance. In that case there will be no transmission of sin: the nature condemned will not have been corrupted by its agent’s choice, but badly established from the beginning, and you will confess yourself a Manichaean.
Or, coming to your senses, you will say it would be unjust to hold Adam guilty for his nature’s faults. Then it follows irrefutably that it would be utterly wicked to judge Abel, Enoch, Noah, and the whole human race liable for original guilt. If you attach this crime of judgment to your god, he alone will remain guilty in place of everyone. It will appear, as always, that he is not the God whom we catholics worship as perfectly just in the Trinity. But if you stop accusing God, you will condemn the doctrine of Manichaean inherited sin that has pierced you until now, as though returning to life.
Latin
Tempus admonet ut ad alia transeamus; sed in eodem loco restare aliquid indignatione compellor. Tune audeas dicere Adam voluntate peccasse? Unde tibi venit hoc somnium? Quia iniquum, inquis, erat, ut imputaret in peccatum Deus, nisi a quo abstinere liberum nosset. Quid ergo? Hanc iustitiam ille princeps tenebrarum quem colitis, ad momentum ei crediderat, et eam propediem reposcens hunc Deum omni aequitate destituit, ut qui intellexerat a primordio non esse imputandum in peccatum, nisi unde liberum fuerat abstinere, per omne reliquum tempus a cunctis nascentibus noverit abstinere liberum non fuisse? Postremo, unde tu nosti illud tantummodo iustum fuisse, ut in Adam nisi voluntarium crimen non possit ulcisci; si iniustum esse non nosti, imputari cuiquam in crimen, quod fatearis sine voluntate susceptum? Aut ergo opinionem traducis iustam putabis, ut Dei possit convenire sententiae, cum imputat peccatum parvulo, quod sit nulla eius voluntate commissum, et cogeris illud quoque iustum et Dei conveniens iudiciis profiteri, ut Adae imputaverit in peccatum, quod noverat ab eo non voluntate, sed substantiae suae deformitate prolatum; perque hoc ipsum nulla erit tradux, nec depravata operantis arbitrio, sed male instituta ab exordio natura reprehendetur, confiteberisque te esse Manichaeum. Aut si resipiscens iniustum esse dixeris, ut Adam teneretur reus pro naturae suae culpis; irrefutabiliter consequitur, scelestissimum esse, si Abel, Enoch, Noe et omne hominum genus obnoxium crimini originali censeatur. Quod facinus iudicii si admoveas Deo tuo, solus pro omnibus remanebit reus; apparebitque, quod semper, non ipsum esse, quem catholici aequissimum in Trinitate veneramur. Quod si a Dei accusatione destiteris, Manichaeae traducis, qua hactenus confossus es, vel redivivus dogma damnabis.
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.