Note 78 — SECTION II.

The Scholium of Nicephorus upon this passage is as follows: “Synesius (says he) calls the dross of matter, that which the phantasy, descending from the supernal spheres, derives from the natural elements of fire and air. And this he observes it is not lawful to leave in the precipice of matter, viz. in the world every way obscure and dark, but it is requisite to draw it upwards, by the assistance of temperance, continence, and the other virtues, and re-elevate it to the etherial world; since there is a place allotted for nature, and the image, in the region every where lucid. But he calls the image, the phantastic spirit, as being connate to the rational soul, though of a subordinate nature. For as intellect is the resemblance and image of the divinity, but the rational soul of intellect: so the phantastic spirit, or irrational soul, is the image of the rational soul. Hence, as nature or the natural soul, is the image of the phantastic spirit, and of this again the body, and of body, matter: on this account he observes that the phantasy obtains a certain familiar proportion to the natures which communicate with it on each side, by a certain union and affinity, and by a tendency to the same common end. Hence in its descent it not only acquires fire and air, from the rational soul, which has a supernal situation, but likewise from the natural elements, which are placed beneath.” Nicephori Scholia, p. 390.