Julian excerpt in the intermediary document
Marriage 2.27.44
Through what, then, is sin found in the infant? Through the will? The infant had none. Through marriage? But marriage belongs to the parents’ activity, and you had already said that they did not sin in this act—although, from what follows, it appears you had not really granted that. Are the marriages themselves therefore to be cursed because they caused the evil? Yet they indicate only the activity of the persons involved. The parents, then, who caused sin through their union, are rightly subject to condemnation.
If we follow your view, there can now be no doubt that married people are handed over to eternal punishment, since their activity brought about the devil’s rule over human beings. And where is the statement you made a little earlier, that the human being is God’s work? For if evil enters people through their origin, and the devil gains authority over people through that evil, you are calling the devil the maker of human beings, since from him comes the origin of those being born. But if you believe that God makes the human being and that married people are innocent, see how impossible it is to maintain that original sin is derived from them (Genesis 2:24).
Latin
Quid est ergo quod quaerit a nobis: "Per quid peccatum invenitur in parvulo? Utrum per voluntatem an per nuptias an per parentes?". Sic enim loquitur et tamquam ad omnia ista respondet et a peccato quasi cuncta ista purgando, nihil vult remanere unde peccatum inveniatur in parvulo. Verba denique iam ipsa eius attende: "Per quid igitur - inquit - peccatum invenitur in parvulo? Per voluntatem? Nulla in eo fuit. Per nuptias? Sed hae pertinent ad opus parentum quos in hoc actu non peccasse praemiseras, sed, quantum ex consequentibus apparet, non hoc vere concesseras. Ipsae sunt igitur execrandae - inquit - quae causam fecerunt malo? Sed illae solae opus indicant personarum. Parentes igitur qui conventu suo causam fecere peccato, iure damnabiles sunt. Ambigi ergo - inquit - iam non potest, si tuam sequamur sententiam, coniuges aeterno supplicio mancipari, quorum labore actum est, ut ad dominatum exercendum in homines diabolus perveniret. Et ubi est, quod paulo ante hominem opus Dei dixeras? quia, si per originem malum in hominibus, per malum ius diaboli in homines, diabolum esse dicis auctorem hominum, a quo est origo nascentium; si autem credis a Deo hominem fieri et esse coniuges innocentes. Vide quamstare non possit trahi ex his originale peccatum".
About this text
Intermediary extracts Augustine answered in Book Two — compiler framing labeled where needed. Latin context is on each section when recovered.
English follows the extracts Augustine answered in On Marriage and Concupiscence II. Compiler framing is labeled where needed.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence II (Latin · Extracts of Julian)
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.