Direct quotation
Against Julian 4.16.81
Human beings were naked at first because making coverings for themselves was a task for human skill, which they did not yet possess.
It was not, therefore, because they had sinned that they made the sexual organs either diabolical or shameful. Rather, because they were afraid, they covered organs that remained in the same honorable condition in which they had first existed.
Latin
Ideo - dicas - homines fuisse primitus nudos, quia ad sollertiae humanae operam ut se tegerent pertinebat, quae nondum in illis fuit
Non igitur quia peccaverant, genitalia vel diabolica vel inhonesta fecerunt; sed quia pavitabant, in ea qua primum fuerant honestate permanentia membra texerunt!
About this text
Earlier four-book work to Turbantius, surviving as excerpts arranged by Augustine’s witness. Latin source text is on each section when recovered.
English follows Julian’s words as Augustine excerpts them in Against Julian. This is not a recovered complete To Turbantius.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Augustine, Against Julian (Latin · Excerpts arranged by Augustine’s books)
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.