 Plotinus develops his theory of reincarnation as a reading of Plato’s Myth of Er, which closes the Republic (Rep. 614b-621d). In the Myth, disembodied souls between cycles of reincarnation have a variety of lives to choose between. Which life they choose is entirely up to them, and the gods are not to blame. However, once they choose a particular life, they are bound by necessity to that life and to the events within that life—for instance, a greedy soul chooses the life of a tyrant without examining it closely, only to realize after his choice that he is fated to eat his children. On a literal reading, the myth seems to confine control over what will happen within one’s life to the choice one makes prior to that life, as a disembodied soul. But Plotinus thinks that the Myth is an allegory for how all of the soul’s choices in this life shape what will happen to it in the future (Enn. III.4[15].3; III.4[15].5). It is better to be incarnated in some bodies rather than others—it is better to be a human rather than a wolf, and some humans have bodily temperaments more conducive to goodness than others. Nonetheless, the body one is incarnated into does not determine what one will do; it is up to the soul what it will do given the opportunities available to it within that life (Enn. III.4[15].5).