A benign master still dominates, so freedom requires civic status, not mere non-interference.

Evidence

Whereas the slave lived at the beck and call of a master, the free person enjoyed a status at the other extreme. The free person was more than a servus sine domino, a slave without a master, who might be picked upon by anyone; the liber was, of necessity, a civis or citizen, with all that that implied in the way of protection against interference (Wirszubski 1968). This opposition between slavery or servitude on the one hand and freedom on the other is probably the single most characteristic feature of the long rhetoric of liberty to which the experience of the Roman republic gave rise (Patterson 1991). It is significant, because slavery is essentially characterized by domination, not by actual interference: even if the slave’s master proves to be entirely benign and permissive, he or she continues to dominate the slave. Contrasting liberty with slavery is a sure sign of taking liberty to consist in non-domination rather than in non-interference. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 170

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Freedom from domination rests on normative respect, not fear of sanctions.; Freedom is absent under any master’s power, however kindly that master behaves — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 330; Civic republicans define freedom as non-domination, not mere non-interference — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 68 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom is absent under any master’s power, however kindly that master behaves #contradicts (0.95) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 330
• A kindly master dominates subjects without interfering while well-ordered law interferes without dominating #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 220
• Civic republicans define freedom as non-domination, not mere non-interference #expands (0.90) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 68
• Freedom from domination rests on normative respect, not fear of sanctions. #expands (0.85)
• Freedom can be reconceived as non-domination rather than non-interference or self-mastery #expands (0.85) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 1207