Socrates — That is something, for all truth is useful; but it does not seem to me to be such a truth as will well serve for a foundation from which we may penetrate, as one might say, the very bowels of the subject.  I pray you to propound some other.

Phaedo — Truly, Socrates, I cannot, nor can we any of us, for upon nothing else pertaining to the matter are we able to agree.

Socrates — If it please you, then, I will propound a saying and see if you agree with me.

Phaedo — We shall be very glad if you will.

Socrates — I suggest, then, that we begin by agreeing, if we are able to do so, that the gods have given the earth to man for his use.

Phaedo — Surely that seems to be true.

Socrates — I am glad that you think favorably of it, but that is not sufficient if we are to reason upon it, because that upon which we found our argument must be what we accept as absolute truth.

Phaedo — I think the earth was made for mankind, but if in our conversation something should also seem true, and yet contradictory to that, I know not what I should think.

Socrates — Let us, then, think of something else:  The earth is at any rate surely for the use of some beings.  The mighty Atlas would never sustain it upon his broad shoulders if it did nobody good.

Phaedo — That, at least, is certain, Socrates.

Socrates — And it must be for beings who can make use of it and enjoy it.

Phaedo — That also is true.

Socrates — And beings which can use and enjoy the earth must be living beings.

Phaedo — Nobody will deny that.

Socrates — And there are no living things except the gods, mankind, the lower animals, and plants.

Phaedo — I agree to that.

Socrates — And it is plain that the gods did not build the earth for themselves, for they do not live upon it, except on Olympus, and nowhere does the earth produce ambrosia and nectar, which are the food of the gods.

Phaedo — That is true, for the gods live in the heavens and in the nether world, and not upon the earth.

Socrates — And the plants do not use the earth, or enjoy it, although they live upon it, but they are themselves used and enjoyed by man and beasts.

Phaedo — Certainly the earth was not made for the plants.

Socrates — And surely as between man and the lower animals, the earth was intended for man.

Phaedo — Certainly, that is what we think, but I do not know what the lion and the horse and the ox might say, for they certainly use the earth and enjoy it.

Socrates — But man is superior to the lower animals, and the superior cannot be subordinate to the inferior.