Yet once more consider the matter in this light: When the soul and the body are united, then nature orders the soul to rule and govern, and the body to obey and serve.

Now which of these two functions is akin to the divine? and which to the mortal? Does not the divine appear to you to be that which naturally orders and rules, and the mortal that which is subject and servant?

True. And which does the soul resemble? The soul resembles the divine and the body the mortal-there can be no doubt of that, Socrates. (...)

Ὅρα δὴ καὶ τῇδε ὅτι ἐπειδὰν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ὦσι ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα͵ τῷ μὲν δουλεύειν καὶ ἄρχεσθαι ἡ φύσις προστάττει͵ τῇ δὲ ἄρχειν καὶ δεσπόζειν·

καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα αὖ πότερόν σοι δοκεῖ ὅμοιον τῷ θείῳ εἶναι καὶ πότερον τῷ θνητῷ; ἢ οὐ δοκεῖ σοι τὸ μὲν θεῖον οἷον ἄρχειν τε καὶ ἡγεμονεύειν πεφυκέναι͵ τὸ δὲ θνητὸν ἄρχεσθαί τε καὶ δουλεύειν;

Ἔμοιγε. Ποτέρῳ οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ ἔοικεν; Δῆλα δή͵ ὦ Σώκρατες͵ ὅτι ἡ μὲν ψυχὴ τῷ θείῳ͵ τὸ δὲ σῶμα τῷ θνητῷ. (...)