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.