To Turbantius — fragments in Against Julian · §3.19.36 · Julian of Eclanum

Direct quotation

Against Julian 3.19.36

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Complete ignorance should be understood to be called righteousness, because God said to Abimelech, who was about to lie with Sarah without knowing that she was another man’s wife: “I too knew that you did this with a clean heart” (Genesis 20:6). Thus the condition of those who are born is not harmed by the will of those who conceive them. Even if that will were evil, it would not come within the children’s knowledge in any way.

Infants are born neither righteous nor unrighteous; their own actions will make them so. Infancy is simply rich with the gift of innocence.

A human being is therefore born full of innocence, but capable of virtue, and will deserve praise or blame according to the purpose subsequently chosen.

Latin source witness

Latin

Ex hoc intellegi debere perfectam ignorantiam iustitiam nominari, quia dixit Deus ad Abimelech, qui cum Sarra fuerat concubiturus, ignorans quod uxor esset aliena: Et ego sciebam quia in corde mundo fecisti hoc [n49] . Et ideo nascentium statum, generantium voluntate non laedi: quia etsi mala esset - inquis - tamen ad illorum nullo genere scientiam perveniret

Nec iustos nasci parvulos, nec iniustos, quod futuri sunt actibus suis; sed tantummodo infantiam innocentiae dote locupletem?

Homo igitur innocentia quidem plenus, sed virtutis capax nascitur, aut laudem, aut reprehensionem ex proposito accedente, meriturus