Julian excerpt in the intermediary document
Marriage 2.6.16
Whom, then, do you confess to be the creator of infants? The true God? But he did not make evil.
[Or the devil?] But he did not create human nature.
If union is evil, the condition of bodies is shameful too; so you also assign bodies to an evil creator.
God distinguished by sex what he would unite in action. Therefore bodily union comes from the one from whom bodies originate.
So many good things—bodies, sexes, unions—cannot have evil fruits. Nor are human beings made by God so that the devil may possess them under a lawful claim, as you say (Genesis 2:24).
Latin
Rursus quippe interrogans dicit: "Quem igitur parvulorum confiteris auctorem? Deum verum?". Respondeo: Deum verum. Deinde subiungit: "Sed malum ille non fecit". Ac rursus interrogat, utrum diabolum parvulorum confiteamur auctorem; rursusque respondet: "Sed naturam hominis ipse non condidit". Deinde quasi concludit atque infert: "Si mala commixtio, deformis et conditio corporum et ideo corpora quoque malo a te deputantur auctori". Cui respondeo: Malo auctori non deputo corpora, sed delicta, quorum causa factum est, ut, cum in corporibus, hoc est in Dei operibus totum placeret, accideret tamen masculo et feminae quod puderet, ut non esset commixtio qualis esse potuit in corpore vitae illius, sed qualem videmus erubescentes in corpore mortis huius. "Deus vero - inquit - divisit in sexu, quod in operatione coniungeret. Ab ipso igitur commixtio corporum, a quo est origo corporum". Iam supra respondimus hoc ex Deo esse, sed non delictum, non membrorum inoboedientiam per carnis concupiscentiam, quae non est a Patre 28. Deinde dicit: "Tot ergo rerum bonarum, id est, corporum, sexuum, coniunctionum malos fructus esse non posse nec homines ob hoc a Deo fieri,ut a diabolo, sicut dicis - inquit - legitimo iure teneantur". Iam dictum est non eos ideo teneri, quia homines sunt, quod naturae nomen est, cuius auctor diabolus non est, sed quia peccatores sunt, quod culpae nomen est, cuius diabolus auctor est.
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.