 Following Plato in the Republic, Plotinus repeatedly asserts that for the mind to be controlled by the appetites or passions is a kind of slavery, because the mind is being controlled by something outside of itself (Enn. VI.8[39].2, VI.8[39].3). Reason should rule the person, and an action is free if it proceeds from knowledge (Enn. VI.8[39].1, VI.8[39].6). So Plotinus joins the Stoics in thinking that only the wise person is free. “Freedom” in this sense is primarily an ethical ideal, not a condition on moral responsibility.