To Turbantius — fragments in Against Julian — Book 2
Julian of Eclanum (c. 386–c. 455) was bishop of Eclanum in southern Italy until 418, when he was deposed and exiled for refusing to condemn Pelagius. The most learned Pelagian controversialist, he pursued Augustine across a decade of pamphlet war.
None of Julian's works survives directly; what remains is preserved in the long quotations of Augustine, who answered him book by book. Reconstructed from those hostile pages, Julian emerges as a formidable defender of free will, marriage, and the goodness of creation.
This volume gathers the surviving arguments: the six books To Florus with the earlier fragments and letter material, each with its source locator.
© 2026 SaneApps. This translation is free to share and adapt, even commercially, as long as you credit SaneApps. Draft translation, prepared with AI assistance and not yet independently reviewed. Verify against the original before citing.
The devil creates them, if they are created from the wound the devil inflicted on human nature as it was…§§2.1.2–2.10.36
2.1.2The devil creates them, if they are created from the wound the devil inflicted on human nature as it was first made. Marriage is condemned if it is believed to contain something from which people deserving condemnation are born. Nor are all sins forgiven in baptism if some evil remains in baptized married couples, from which evil people are born. And how is God not unjust, if he forgives baptized people their own sins, yet condemns an infant because, when created by him, the infant unknowingly and unwillingly inherited other people’s sins—even from parents whose sins had been forgiven? Nor can virtue, whose opposite is understood to be vice, be thought capable of perfection: it is incredible that inborn faults could be destroyed. Indeed, these should no longer even be counted as faults. Someone who cannot be anything other than what they were created to be is not sinning.
2.2.4Those who are said to sin are not sinning at all, if, whoever created them, they must live according to the way they were created and cannot resist their own nature.
2.5.11He works at nothing harder than making himself impossible to understand.
2.8.30I do not turn the filth of people’s conduct into an accusation against nature, or find comfort for its obscenities by insulting the apostles and all the saints.
You undermine the wall of modesty.
2.9.31If God creates human beings, they cannot be born with any evil. If marriage is good, no evil comes from it. If all sins are forgiven in baptism, those born from people who have been born again cannot inherit original sin. If God is just, he cannot condemn parents’ sins in their children when he forgives the parents their own sins. If human nature is capable of perfect righteousness, it cannot have natural faults.
2.10.34He would not find anything to do or anywhere to turn, if pressed by the judges’ authority, if standing with me among learned people, if the trumpet of true reason and the weapons of the listeners standing around rang out.
They have lied to the crowd about us; they frighten people with the names “Caelestians” or “Pelagians,” and force agreement from people through fear.
All judges ought to be free from hatred, friendship, hostility, and anger.
2.10.35If he were pressed by the judges’ authority, he would have nothing to do and nowhere to turn, since he could find no answer to my arguments.
Opinions should be weighed, not counted.
A crowd of blind people is no help in discovering anything.
He sets against me the helpless opinion of an ally and, as though panic-stricken, names his accomplices.
2.10.36When judging a case, the noise of the crowds must be put aside. From every walk of life—whether priests, administrators, or governors—we should choose wisdom, rather than mere titles, for the examination of such questions. We should honor the few whom reason, learning, and independence raise above the rest.
He promises to conduct this case against us, one man on behalf of everyone.
It brings me greater glory before God to defend truth when it has been abandoned.
Latin · §§2.1.2–2.10.36
§2.1.2
Nos asserendo originale peccatum, diabolum dicere hominum nascentium conditorem, damnare nuptias, negare in Baptismo dimitti universa peccata, Deum crimine iniquitatis arguere, desperationem perfectionis ingerere
Diabolus enim creat - dicis - si ex hoc vulnere creantur, quod diabolus naturae, quae primum condita est, inflixit humanae: et damnantur nuptiae, si aliquid unde damnabiles generantur, habere creduntur: nec omnia peccata dimittuntur in Baptismo, si aliquod in baptizatis coniugibus remanet malum, ex quo generentur mali. Quemadmodum autem non est iniquus Deus, qui cum baptizatis remittat peccata propria, parvulum damnat, quia cum ab illo crearetur, nesciens nec volens etiam ex illis parentibus, quibus remissa fuerant, traxit aliena? Nec virtus, cui vitiositas intellegitur esse contraria, posse creditur perfici; quia ingenerata vitia incredibile est posse consumi: quae iam nec vitia deputanda sunt. Non enim peccat, qui non potest aliud esse quam creatus est
§2.2.4
Per unum - inquit - Dominum Iesum salus ventura nationibus declaratur, qui solus non potuit iustus esse, cum generatio omnis erraret, nisi natus ex Virgine generationis obnoxiae privilegio minime teneretur. Ecce, inquit, in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea [n5] , dicit is qui iustus prae ceteris putabatur. Quem igitur iam iustum dixerim, nisi horum liberum vinculorum, quem naturae communis vincula non teneant? Omnes sub peccato, ab Adam in omnes regnabat mors. Veniat solus iustus in conspectu Dei, de quo iam non cum exceptione dicatur: Non peccavit in labiis suis [n6] ; sed: Peccatum non fecit [n7]
Nec peccare eos omnino, qui peccare dicuntur: siquidem a quocumque creati sunt, secundum id quod creati sunt, necesse habent vivere, nec suae repugnare naturae
§2.5.11
Me, nempe, dixisti nihil magis laborare, quam ut non intellegar
§2.8.30
nec conversationis sordes in naturae refundis invidiam; nec earum obscenitates Apostolorum et sanctorum omnium consolaris iniuriis
suffodiunt
murum pudoris
§2.9.31
Si Deus homines creat, non possunt cum aliquo malo nasci. Si nuptiae bonum sunt, nihil ex eis oritur mali. Si in Baptismate peccata omnia remittuntur, non possunt nati de renatis trahere originale peccatum. Si iustus est Deus, non potest in filiis parentum damnare peccata, cum ipsis parentibus dimittat et propria. Si perfectae iustitiae capax est humana natura, habere non potest vitia naturalia
§2.10.34
Tamquam non invenirem quid facerem, quo confugerem, si iudicum premerer potestate, si in medio eruditorum consisterem tecum, si verae
rationis tuba
si auditorum arma circumstantium
concreparent
Quia de vobis multitudini mentiti fuerimus, et quod Caelestianorum vel Pelagianorum nomine homines terreamus, et quod terrore ab hominibus extorqueamus assensum
quod omnes iudices ab odio, amicitia, inimicitia, ira vacuos esse deceat
§2.10.35
Me, si sub potestate iudicum premerer
non habiturum fuisse quid facerem, quo confugerem; cum tuis argumentationibus unde occurrerem reperire non possem
non numerandas, sed ponderandas
esse sententias
ad aliquid inveniendum multitudinem nihil prodesse caecorum
Absit ut audeam caecos istos viros vel cogitare, vel dicere
me imbellem tibi opinionem consortis opponere, et velut consternatum metu, conscios nominare?
§2.10.36
In causa iudicandi, amoto strepitu turbarum, de omni ordine conversationis hominum, sive sacerdotum, sive administrantium, sive praefectorum, ad discussionem talium rerum non sola nomina, sed eligendam esse prudentiam, et honorandam esse paucitatem, quam ratio, eruditio, libertasque sublimat
ut me istam causam contra vos, unum pro omnibus agere pollicerer
maioris tibi esse apud Deum gloriae, destitutam veritatem tueri
quod ei tamquam aemulo inviderit
“The common dregs of sedentary tradesmen,” “stirred up against us.” “Soldiers”; “students in lecture…§2.10.37
2.10.37“The common dregs of sedentary tradesmen,” “stirred up against us.”
“Soldiers”; “students in lecture halls”; “sailors, shopkeepers, fishmongers, cooks, butchers”; “young men who have broken away from the monks.”
“From a crowd of all sorts of clergy,” “because they cannot judge doctrines according to Aristotle’s categories.”
“We are denied an examination and a judgment by bishops.”
Latin · §2.10.37
de plebeia faece sellulariorum
in vestram invidiam concitati sunt?
milites?
scholastici auditoriales?
nautae, tabernarii, cetarii, coqui, lanii?
adolescentes ex monachis dissoluti?
de qualiumcumque clericorum turba
quia non possunt secundum categorias Aristotelis de dogmatibus iudicare
examen vobis et episcopale iudicium denegari