Posidonius and the Seed of Evil

Abstract I argue that the refutation of Chrysippus’ theory of the origin of evil in Quod animi mores corporis temperamenta sequantur ( QAM ) comes, as Galen claims, from Posidonius: the quotation from Timaeus 69d1, used by Cicero in the same context, goes back to Chrysippus, and all the arguments, especially the appraisal of the Seven Sages, fit Posidonius’ beliefs rather than Galen’s. This allows us to reassess the extent of fragments 35 EK/423 Th. and SVF III 234. In contrast to Chrysippus, Posidonius thought that evil arises from an innate feature of the human soul: he held the effects of pleasure and pain to be rooted in an οἰκείωσις peculiar to the παθητικόν .